Translucent settings question

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TSPCo
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Translucent settings question

Post by TSPCo » Tue Jan 25, 2022 2:55 am

Is there a resource available that tells what settings do what, and how they interact? This question came to me yesterday when I was tweaking the opacity and translucency. I didn't get the exact look I wanted, so I just used "shade".

majid
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Re: Translucent settings question

Post by majid » Tue Jan 25, 2022 9:24 am

Do you mean all the settings in detail? :!

TSPCo
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Re: Translucent settings question

Post by TSPCo » Tue Jan 25, 2022 10:08 am

I will say yes, if you use anything other than default things dont work out well. Surely there is something tells what the translucent percentage does.

Fletch
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Re: Translucent settings question

Post by Fletch » Tue Jan 25, 2022 9:15 pm

We don't really have "instructions" as we have never received any such information from Giannis on these settings. It has been through much time and effort experimentation that we have the materials we supply in templates and libraries.

If you can provide a model, I'd be glad to show some different settings and their results.

There are two different types of models you need to think about:
single face ("thin")
thick face with two sides ("thick")

The key to translucent materials is a combination of the proximity of the light source to the model, and the model type (thin/thick). Then it's a combination of the thickness of the model, and the brightness of the light source.

I'd honestly suggest looking at the many different light models (150) available in the Resources section. A lot of them have had a lot of careful adjustments made to them to get the lights to look good.

I like to make my model for lamps have a "thick" model for the lamp shade and I adjust that thickness but usually start at 1mm thick. Then I typically use the Library materials for Lamp shade, as opposed to the Template Lamp Shade.

Finally, to learn, you can set up an experimental scene. If you think about it, you can usually come up with a good idea for a scene. A light emitting surface under a surface that varies in stepped thickness from 1-10mm in thickness, for instance.

*edit*
Regardless of these factors, the render setting used in combination with the type of light source (sun/sky only, spot or point, projector with png with transparency involved, light emitting surface material) will all have a huge impact on the outcome.

Each render setting allocates different amounts of time and effort to the "trace translucency" factor. Easy 09 (MLT) also traces translucency completely differently from Easy 08 (PTP) and Easy 10 is a combinations of (MLT/BiPT) so that caustics and translucencies in Easy 10 are factored in from all light source types. Easy 09 ignores points/spots for caustics, and it's (my guess) the same can be said for translucence.

TSPCo
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Re: Translucent settings question

Post by TSPCo » Wed Jan 26, 2022 2:08 am

Thank you!

Fletch
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Re: Translucent settings question

Post by Fletch » Wed Jan 26, 2022 6:28 am

added this important point to other points I made above:

Regardless of these factors, the render setting used in combination with the type of light source (sun/sky only, spot or point, projector with png with transparency involved, light emitting surface material) will all have a huge impact on the outcome.

Each render setting allocates different amounts of time and effort to the "trace translucency" factor. Easy 09 (MLT) also traces translucency completely differently from Easy 08 (PTP) and Easy 10 is a combination of (MLT/BiPT) so that caustics and translucencies in Easy 10 are factored in from all light source types. Easy 09 ignores points/spots for caustics, and it's (my guess) the same can be said for translucence.

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