I'm trying to do a reflection of V4 in a mirror, but nothing shows up in the render - no reflection is cast. P-2012, raytracing checked, reflective material in the mirror, firefly render, IDL and a single specular light. What gives?

I'm checking my breath and sniffing my armpits.

Try this for your mirror material. And make sure you have some raytrace bounces in your render settings ;).

That material was posted by BB awhile back.

How many bounces? Do you have transparency? It is 4 for reflection through transparency.

 

Quote - I'm trying to do a reflection of V4 in a mirror, but nothing shows up in the render - no reflection is cast. P-2012, raytracing checked, reflective material in the mirror, firefly render, IDL and a single specular light. What gives?

Thanks Laurie, I'm giving it a try now.

Eric, I'm trying Lauie's settings, so no transparency. I've got it set for 8 bounces. (?)

Visible in raytracing?

8 bounces is too many. 2 should be sufficient since the glass is a mirror and not transparent ;).

Laurie

Okay, I thinkI have it figured out. The angle of the mirror - though right in front of the character I was trying to reflect, was wrong. Had to turn the mirror to a much less than obvious angle. At least it is working in test renders.

is this just an angle-of-incidence = angle-of-reflection thing? Then the normal of the mirror should point to something in the middle of Vicky and the camera. Just try it at home, with a real girl and a real mirror. It's basic optics / geometry.

As the material is concerned, I don't know why one should have reflection = 1  AND Specular = 2 as all channels together should not exceed 1 in the first place. I would say: reflection = 0.95 + specular = 0.05 and the reflection color might be a bit cyanic dus to the glass (again, try this at home; put a colored object in front of a mirror and compare the colors).

 

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Usually I'm wrong. But to be effective and efficient, I don't need to be correct or accurate.

visit www.aRtBeeWeb.nl (works) or Missing Manuals (tutorials & reviews) - both need an update though

Depending on how many "Mirrors" you use your bounces should be set to between 2 and 5. A Room with four walls of mirrors would be 5 bounces. Two walls is 3 bounces. etcetra... this way they reflect not just the scene but also each other.

WAIT! Are you saying that Vicky is not real??

Interesting details- does the glass absorb some of the red? I'd not noticed that.

Quote - i Just try it at home, with a real girl and a real mirror. It's basic optics / geometry.

As the material is concerned, I don't know why one should have reflection = 1  AND Specular = 2 as all channels together should not exceed 1 in the first place. I would say: reflection = 0.95 + specular = 0.05 and the reflection color might be a bit cyanic dus to the glass (again, try this at home; put a colored object in front of a mirror and compare the colors).