Attached Link: Free Orb and 20 decorative glass shaders

Now if we're working on a shiny painted surface, we have to do some more complicated work.

I used to post a material that was fair, although when I first made it I thought it was very good.

I recently did more research into the mathematics of reflections, particularly the Fresnel equations. In the past I would explain it all, but it's too obscure, so i won't.

What you want to do is just use one of my Orb glass shaders - the first one, Orb001_Opaque.

That shader is basically a smooth opaque glass shader, but it works well also as a clear-coat finished paint.

For comparison, here are two balls. On the left, my new orb shader with 100% accurate Fresnel calculations, with linear lighting and gamma correction. On the right, my old best paint shader.

Notice how the blue of the sky is totally lost in the old one, while the new one manages to capture it, even though the paint color is almost completely the opposite.

Follow the link to the thread where I announced the Orb (glass) shaders. The download link is there.

When you get farther along, and you want a metallic paint effect, come get me. You have a lot to work on already :)

---

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)