Modeling Glass in SU

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Modeling Glass in SU
Stanistreet First message : 2009-09-17 19:21:12 Stanistreet 11 posts	Date : 09/17/2009 19:21:12 Hi guys, Real newbie here, still finding my way in Artlantis. Learning by doing! Anyway.. glass. When I model glass in SU I typically extrude a 2D rectangle to create a rectangular prism. Hence, creating two materials, or faces, 5-10mm apart. I've got a feeling this is stuffing me up when I come to rendering. No matter what settings (reflectivity, transparency, etc.) I use for the glass material in Artlantis I keep getting almost opaque looking glass. Seems to merely reflect the light in the model space even though I have tried turning reflectivity down to 0! Any help would be appreciated. I'll get a jpeg up in the morning if need be!
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Re: Modeling Glass in SU
Jeremy First message : 2009-09-02 03:06:29 Operating system : Windows Vista RAM : 4Go Computer model : Custom Ibuypower Processor : QuadCore Graphic card Type : PCI-E Card name : Nvidia Video memory : Quiktime : 7.5 Network card : ethernet Jeremy 647 posts	Date : 09/17/2009 21:17:14 Getting a good glass would be best handled by dragging the Fresnel Glass shader onto the glass material. It is under Shaders > aShader in your catalog. Alternatively you could use the expert shader or just take the material that you are using from sketchup, set the transparency to about 90 out of 100 then set the reflectivity to about 25 and the shinines to almost 1000. This will give you some decent reflections and it will still look good. I have to recommend using the Fresnel Glass shader though, it probably looks the best and is still pretty simple to use. When using it drop the fresnel transition a bit, to maybe 2 or so, set the reflectivity color (white is total reflection) and then set the waviness to zero. Perfect glass made easy!
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Re: Modeling Glass in SU

Stanistreet

First message : 2009-09-17 19:21:12

Stanistreet

11 posts

Date : 09/18/2009 06:04:50

Posted by jeremy

		Getting a good glass would be best handled by dragging the Fresnel Glass shader onto the glass material. It is under Shaders > aShader in your catalog. Alternatively you could use the expert shader or just take the material that you are using from sketchup, set the transparency to about 90 out of 100 then set the reflectivity to about 25 and the shinines to almost 1000. This will give you some decent reflections and it will still look good. I have to recommend using the Fresnel Glass shader though, it probably looks the best and is still pretty simple to use. When using it drop the fresnel transition a bit, to maybe 2 or so, set the reflectivity color (white is total reflection) and then set the waviness to zero. Perfect glass made easy!

fantastic. thanks for taking the time to write that, jeremy.

i didn't even know about the catalog until you mentioned it!

using the fresnal glass shader the glass is vastly improved, but could probably do with some further tweaking.

is altered the reflectivity colour from the (default?) grey to a blue from the sky. is there anyway that i can reflect the sky itself?

also, seems there is a vast amount of option involved with shaders - are there any handy (basic) tutorials floating about?

thanks once more.

Re: Modeling Glass in SU
Jeremy First message : 2009-09-02 03:06:29 Operating system : Windows Vista RAM : 4Go Computer model : Custom Ibuypower Processor : QuadCore Graphic card Type : PCI-E Card name : Nvidia Video memory : Quiktime : 7.5 Network card : ethernet Jeremy 647 posts	Date : 09/18/2009 06:34:41 You can use colors with the reflectivity I to give the glass a tinge of color reflectivity. Normally I leave my in as a greytone and let the reflections do the work for me with the Fresnel shader. You might try clicking the Heliodon button up top and turning on the clouds to give the glass something to reflect. Make sure that you have the reflectivity of the glass set high enough (make it a grey color kindof close to white) that it will actually reflect objects and just make sure there is something there to reflect so you can see the effect. The sky, clouds, and everything else in the reflections path will reflect as long as you have the right angle in your view screen. The best thing I think you could do at this point to learn more is to sign up on the Artlantis Objects website (its free) and check out all the tutorials they have. They have tutorials for shaders, animations and just about anything else you would need to know. It's already all on video just waiting for you. Check it out! http://artlantisobjects.com/html/tutorials.php Have fun!
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Re: Modeling Glass in SU
Stanistreet First message : 2009-09-17 19:21:12 Stanistreet 11 posts	Date : 09/24/2009 05:11:17 thanks for your help, jeremy. think i'm starting to get the hang of it all! a couple settings i'm struggling to get my head around are 'flatness' and 'smoothness'. can anyone give me a layman's breakdown of these parameters? for example, what's the best setting for glass? logic tells me to put 0 for flatness and 1 for smoothness - is this correct? would this be the same for say, some opaque plastic panels? and smoothness - this is essentially just how 'flat' a surface is - 1 being 100% flat and 0.01 with bumps, right?
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Re: Modeling Glass in SU
Stanistreet First message : 2009-09-17 19:21:12 Stanistreet 11 posts	Date : 09/24/2009 05:13:46 also is there an easy way to duplicate materials? say, i have two materials in my model, and i set the fresnal shader on one with particular settings - how do i copy the same fresnal shader settings onto the other material? tia!
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Re: Modeling Glass in SU
Jeremy First message : 2009-09-02 03:06:29 Operating system : Windows Vista RAM : 4Go Computer model : Custom Ibuypower Processor : QuadCore Graphic card Type : PCI-E Card name : Nvidia Video memory : Quiktime : 7.5 Network card : ethernet Jeremy 647 posts	Date : 09/24/2009 05:42:53 There are a couple ways you can do this simply. You can open the list and click your Shader button up top. Next click the texture that you wish to copy. It will be highlighted in the List. Next click and drag the texture name from the list and drop it onto the object or geometry in the 3d preview window that you want the texture applied to or drop it on the geometry name in the Scenes shader list. Done! Alternatively you can just click the texture in your 3d window that you want to copy, hold the Alt button (not sure the button on MAC) you will know when to drag when you see a small plus sign show up on your pointer icon, click and drag the texture to the object you want to apply the texture to then release. Done! Hope this helps!
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Re: Modeling Glass in SU

Jeremy

First message : 2009-09-02 03:06:29
Operating system : Windows Vista
RAM : 4Go
Computer model : Custom Ibuypower
Processor : QuadCore
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Type : PCI-E
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Quiktime : 7.5
Network card : ethernet

Jeremy

647 posts

Date : 09/24/2009 05:47:18

Posted by Stanistreet

		thanks for your help, jeremy. think i'm starting to get the hang of it all! a couple settings i'm struggling to get my head around are 'flatness' and 'smoothness'. can anyone give me a layman's breakdown of these parameters? for example, what's the best setting for glass? logic tells me to put 0 for flatness and 1 for smoothness - is this correct? would this be the same for say, some opaque plastic panels? and smoothness - this is essentially just how 'flat' a surface is - 1 being 100% flat and 0.01 with bumps, right?

As far as glass smoothness is concerned, I personally rarely use this effect. Basically just set the glass to zero and you can just leave the smoothness at any number, it will have no effect with the Flatness set to nil. I think smoothness and flatness would both come into effect if you were trying to produce rippled glass or something like glass block effects. I am not exactly sure how that works 100% but just set the glass to zero for an easy fix for architectural glass.

Re: Modeling Glass in SU

Ildikó

First message : 2009-09-21 16:42:57
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Ildikó (Moderator)

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Date : 09/24/2009 12:02:54

Posted by Stanistreet

		thanks for your help, jeremy. think i'm starting to get the hang of it all! a couple settings i'm struggling to get my head around are 'flatness' and 'smoothness'. can anyone give me a layman's breakdown of these parameters? for example, what's the best setting for glass? logic tells me to put 0 for flatness and 1 for smoothness - is this correct? would this be the same for say, some opaque plastic panels? and smoothness - this is essentially just how 'flat' a surface is - 1 being 100% flat and 0.01 with bumps, right?

Smoothness is a general parameter for all shaders, you can find in the lower side of every shader inspector. It is set to 0 by default, but if you change the value it will eliminate the roughness of the surface, especially for curved surfaces. Imagine a wheel that in Artlantis looks not as a nice round surface, but as if it was composed of flat plans. This "Smoothness" slider will correct this for you.

The "Flatness" is a parameter only for Fresnel Glass shader, and it controls the flatness of the glass surface. By keeping it at 0, the glass will be very smooth and flat, and as you move it the surface will become irregular, rough more and more, the maximum value is 1.

Ildiko