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Some questions
Posted: Wed Oct 31, 2007 9:05 am
by Stinkie
I gathered glass needs to have a thickness. A window, in essence, needs to be a box, and the white faces need to point outwards.
But, there's a 'thin glass' preset in the exporter. Am I right in thinking that this can be used to apply 'glass' to a single pane? And if so, how should the white side be pointed (I'm guessing: towards the viewer)?
Last but not least: exit portals. Pretty cool, but how are they used exactly? This is my understanding: make a window opening, put some glass in it. Then put an exit portal in the window opening, parallel to the glass, same size as the glass. Something like this?
Re: Some questions
Posted: Wed Oct 31, 2007 9:43 am
by Whaat
Stinkie wrote:
But, there's a 'thin glass' preset in the exporter. Am I right in thinking that this can be used to apply 'glass' to a single pane?
Yes
And if so, how should the white side be pointed (I'm guessing: towards the viewer)?
orientation doesn't matter for Thin Glass
Last but not least: exit portals. Pretty cool, but how are they used exactly? This is my understanding: make a window opening, put some glass in it. Then put an exit portal in the window opening, parallel to the glass, same size as the glass. Something like this?
Avoid using the glass unless you must have reflections. If using glass, the exit portal should be at least 1-2mm outside of the glass. The exit portal can be bigger than the glass. It can even be a big box or plane covering multiple window openings (AFAIK).
Posted: Wed Oct 31, 2007 10:56 am
by Stinkie
Thans alot for the info, Whaat. So the exit portal doesn't affect the geometry around the glass? That's handy.
Posted: Wed Oct 31, 2007 12:38 pm
by Kram1032
it only affects the geometry behind it.
You wont see any geometry behind an exit portal.
The normal is important with it! "in front of" is, where the normal points to

Posted: Wed Oct 31, 2007 5:54 pm
by Stinkie
Last one, I promise.
"it only affects the geometry behind it". So, the portal should be, basically, between the viewer and the glass (if glass is used)?
Posted: Thu Nov 01, 2007 12:04 am
by Kram1032
Sry, no, I didn't say it clear.
The geometry behind it wont show up! Everything behind the portal is invisible, except the absolute background (Sky, Exr, etc)
The portal should be as close to the window as possible, but a minimum distance of 1mm is recommended

the glass should be between the camera and the portal

Posted: Thu Nov 01, 2007 12:16 am
by Stinkie
Ah, okay. That makes perfect sense. Thanks.

Posted: Thu Nov 01, 2007 12:46 pm
by Dave R
The stupid guy in the corner raises his hand.
Why is an Exit Portal used? What's it for?
Posted: Thu Nov 01, 2007 12:48 pm
by Dave R
The stupid guy in the corner raises his hand.
Why is an Exit Portal used? What's it for?
Posted: Thu Nov 01, 2007 5:50 pm
by cpfresh
if i understand them correctly, exit portals are intended to reduce render times by making the render engine only process light which passes through the portal. this way light which never makes it through the window and into the scene is never even considered by the engine so no processing power is wasted ...
result: faster convergence.
Posted: Fri Nov 02, 2007 3:55 am
by Kram1032
yep
Oh, and they're made for Bidirectional. Without that, they might give strange results

Posted: Fri Nov 02, 2007 10:34 am
by Stinkie
Here I am again. Going thru Whaat's tuts. Very informative stuff. Yet: another question.
Here goes: exponent maps, are those the same thing as specular maps?
Posted: Fri Nov 02, 2007 10:44 am
by Whaat
Stinkie wrote:Here I am again. Going thru Whaat's tuts. Very informative stuff. Yet: another question.
Here goes: exponent maps, are those the same thing as specular maps?
I suppose they would be equivalent to a Roughness Map in Maxwell or Fryrender. The IOR of the material is not affected by the exponent map. However, the glossiness of the reflection is.
Look at this thread:
http://www.indigorenderer.com/joomla/fo ... 85&start=0
Posted: Fri Nov 02, 2007 11:01 am
by Stinkie
"I suppose they would be equivalent to a Roughness Map in Maxwell or Fryrender."
Ah, good! I've just ordered the Arroway dvd-roms, so I was wondering about this.
Thanks for the info!