[Petero]

Jason,

Thanks for your in depth response. I have been scrutinizing your Materials tutorials in the meantime, which are very helpful.

Also I analyzed the difference between 'Clear' and 'Normal' in the Wizard's AGS, and I see now that the normal glass has the same exact layer as the clear glass plus the ghost layer(i mean the settings are the same in both materials for that layer). and i understand that the ghost layer is a simple transparency(..clearness..) regulator.

Someone said in a post somewhere that Maxwell is fantastic, but that you have to accept spending as much time learning the Materials editor as you do for some 3D programs!!

Has there been any initiative by NEXT LIMIT to get creators of Materials in v 1.x to re-edit them as totally up to date v 2 ? I feel like this would be invaluable to people who are starting out. The 'free' materials online are a huge selling point- the sharing is great, the contests in the past are great initiatives, but now one must be an advanced user to rebuild those materials and use them successfully if one runs V 2..

On the other hand i am incited to delve more deeply into the program...but not everyone will have that time, I think, and it seems like the people who invented materials in the first place could certainly very easily update them and put them back online. there should be an initiative for this, I feel!!

best regards-

Peter

[Half Life]

I agree on this point, but as they are free there isn't much incentive I think... I'm often concerned about the impact the warehouse has on the overall quality level of renders new users are getting.

For me the solution is simply to try to answer as many questions here as I can and put as much info into my videos as possible... but I do update my own materials on the warehouse.

Best,
Jason.

[Fernando Tella]

For each piece of glass you could use two geometries; one would be real glass hidden to GI which gives perfect look but casts no shadow, the second geometry would be an AGS hidden to camera + reflections + refractions which would give the shadows.

For this option to work you have to move the second geometry a bit so they are not coincident (just 1mm would be ok) or it will give weird results.

With this option the render is pretty fast.

Here's an example (illuminated by physical sky + sun; SL10):

[Petero]

I will test this this weekend. thanks for the tips!

Peter

[Petero]

Fernando,

i have used your suggestion successfully, and have actuallty better understood the materials in MX as a result! So thanks again.

By the way, your website looks great!

best regards,

Peter

[Fernando Tella]

Great!

Thanks for the kind words.