SandmanNinja

plain material with mrSun and mrSky



HDRI in environment, with glass material




HDRI in environment, with mirror material


Hi...

This is a very basic model of the Sears Tower in Chicago.

I've made the walls (I got the dimensions from the internet and from google earth by measuring the base), then cloned the model and applied a lattice modifier to the clone to get the exterior 'shell'.

I'm wanting to put reflective windows in there, but if I use A&D Glass (I've tried all three), the building becomes see-through.

I've used Architectural material (Mirror) in the bottom render, just to reflect something. I've put a HDRI in the environment slot to give it a bit of realism.

Can someone please advise me on a good way to get glass to reflect but not be like a mirror or point out where I'm going wrong?

Do I need more 'environment' to reflect? Like other buildings and such.

Thanking you...

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Claudio Branch

Your building has not become see-though. It appears that way because of the uniformity of the image you have chosen to use in your environment slot. If the surface were truly see-though, then you would see the lattice work on the backside as well.

Reduce the amount of reflectivity on your material and add a noise modifier to your materials' bump slot. Play with the settings until you get some subtle distortion on the reflections. Most buildings with glass surfaces show this type of distortion because their surfaces are not completely flat.

Try using different images to see how their reflections affect your buildings' surfaces.

You can get quite sophisticated with the environment slot. Try using a hi-res photo for your background, the HDR for it's light/shadow contribution and perhaps even a third image that only appears in the reflective surfaces of your buildings.

The advantage of this approach is alot of flexibility and more creative control.

SandmanNinja

Thanks Claudio!

I'll have a play with it then.

Never thought about adding noise to the glass material.

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illegalalieninbeijing

It always worked for me by just using the default thin glass material from the Arch & Design materials. If I do have to change something, it is often the diffuse color only. Most of the time I keep it as is.

As for the environment, I let whatever 3d object is there to be reflected on the glass. Aside from the surrounding 3d objects, you can use or use it together with bitmap images used as diffuse map /opacity maps surrounding your 3d model. A good example of this is using a half sphere on top of your 3d model.

SandmanNinja

Thanks Cecil.

I'm under major work load at the moment, but will try these tomorrow.

Thin glass? Cool!

So what's the difference between thin, thck and physical glass?
I usually use thick glass for coke bottles...

Cheers guys

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illegalalieninbeijing

I think that's how it is. Thin glass are better used for windows. Physical glass are suitable for more volume and heavy looking objects like glass blocks or glass sculpture. I think I tried the physical glass once and the refections came out some what concaved or distorted. It is like looking at those funny mirrors inside a glass/mirror houses. I think somewhere in it there is a parameter with a fresnel or falloff effect applied to it but I forgot.

Here's an example where A&D glass is applied with very minimal tweaking. I used 3DS Max 9

Attached Images

Glass-Reflect.jpg (99.8 KB, 85 views)

stylEmon

If you look at glass on most skyscrapers, the windows look a little wavy. I would use some type of bump/displacement map (possibly the stucco material, then smooth out the contrast of the colors) to get that wavy quality.

I have a sample on my home computer, I'll try to remember to post it.

Along with the noise suggestion above, this should pop the windows out and separate them from the background.

SandmanNinja

very good ideas.

I hope to spend some quality time this weekend and have a play with reflections.
I'm modelling an environment this weekend, and that would be a good time to drop a skyscraper in to see how it reflects.

Thanks - 'preciate the replies

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willrogers

If you're still interested, I had a similar problem, an after alot of trial and error found adding a Lume(glass) shader to the Surface map of the A&D Thin Glass material made it alot more reflective of the environment.

Brian Bradley

Hey Will,

Do you mean surface as in 'diffuse' slot or as in the
MR Connection rollout?

Regards
Bri

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