Forum: Poser - OFFICIAL

Subject: Please help me get reflection : (

jjroland opened this issue on May 08, 2007 · 212 posts

bagginsbill posted Wed, 09 May 2007 at 10:43 AM

I'm going to say some key things again - everybody remember them next time somebody has trouble with reflection/refraction.

1) It is better to have a completely enclosed environment to reflect and refract. Failing that use a Sphere_Map plugged into a panoramic image. Do not plug gray into the background - it will look stupid. Better is black if you can't do anything else.

  1. You must turn on raytracing, with at least  1 bounce for reflection, at least 2 for refraction, and at least 4, better 6 if you're trying to see glass in/through glass (reflections of reflections of refractions, etc.)

3) ALWAYS DISABLE Reflection_Lite_Mult - NEVER NEVER USE IT.

  1. ALWAYS DISABLE Reflection_Kd_Mult - NEVER NEVER USE IT.

  2. The Fresnel node sometimes does double refractions when simulating a lens. (Thin curved object). If your'e getting this, stop using it and do Reflect+Refract+EdgeBlend.

  3. Things don't look real unles you do the Fresnel effect. Read my tut.

  4. Metal colors its reflections - nothing else does.

  5. And the golden rule - conservation of energy: Reflection_Value + Refraction_Value + Diffuse_Value must be <= 1. If you're using nodes to vary one of them, make sure you use subtraction nodes to offset the others.

Renderosity forum reply notifications are wonky. If I read a follow-up in a thread, but I don't myself reply, then notifications no longer happen AT ALL on that thread. So if I seem to be ignoring a question, that's why. (Updated September 23, 2019)