[fuso]

Hi everyone,

I am currently working on an old project in 1.6. What I need to render
sounds relatively simple but still gives me plenty of headaches.

It's a facade with a simple layer of clear rectangular glass sheets (AGS)
on the outside. I used the AutoCad layer and simply extruded it about
10mm.

Right behind should be a layer of dots (same sheet, offset and extruded it
about 1mm) which should appear as a fritted white material. I used a
simple material with one layer and a huge clipmap to define the dots.

It works fine for the daylight view but the problem appears for the night
view. The whole facade system is backlit and the dots should pick up and
scatter the light from behind (slightly frosted, semi-transparent look).

What is the best strategy to get an SSS-like material which renders quick
and clears up well enough? Does the 'dotted' layer really need a thickness,
SSS and roughness to achieve this effect?

I haven't managed to install 1.7 yet, would it be easier to tackle the
problem by doing this? God, I can't wait to try it anyway!

Any help and advice is much appretiated.

Thanks a million in advance...

Jost

[fuso]

Posted two weeks ago - not a single reply. Has the forum changed that much? What has one to do to get any help around here - talk about SSS or displacement??

[Fernando Tella]

I would trust in roughness for this job. A 1mm thick thing on a building facade can be considered planar and thus, scatter under the surface should be negligible... and render speed will be better too.

[Mattia Sullini]

Have you tried removing first AGS? It could be an SSS-under-AGS issue...

[Bubbaloo]

I'd like to see your render so I can get an idea of what it looks like.

[fuso]

Hi all,

Thanks for the comments so far. I have uploaded some tests so you get a
better idea what I'm talking about. The night shots are faked a bit to get
closer to the desired effect. I simply rendered the dotted layer seperately
(only night time) and blended them over in photoshop.


day time with dots


night time with dots


day time closeup with dots


night time closeup with dots


desired effect (photo of a mockup)

Thanks again for any advise!!

J

[Mihai]

I don't think you'll get what you want using AGS, perhaps real glass will get closer and you could use a weightmap that covers the 'dots' and use a more frosted glass for those. Or try with 1.7 and an SSS component with low abs and just a bit of scattering, basically making a glass material. Mix two SSS components using weightmaps, and make the dots have more scattering than the rest of the glass.