Rendering workshop - Whisky Glass

Al Hart

I was looking around the 3D Warehouse for something else, and found this Whisky Glass by tomer1981.

Also, earlier this week I uploaded Solo's Basic Studio to the 3D Warehouse

This is a good background to use when you are trying to get some good, smooth, studio lighting.

So this might be a good time to combine the Whiskey Glass, the Studio, some lighting, transparency settings, etc. to try to make a good rendering.

Setting the "Bar" (excuse the Pun)

The 3D Warehouse model includes a pretty good rendering already. Some of us may be able to make a better rendering, or some of will be satisfied just learning how to make good renderings with our own "Renderer of Choice".

Take a shot, (oh no - another pun), see what you can do, and be sure to offer tips for those of us who are not familiar with some of the things which help make better renderings.

Guidelines

These Workshops are not a contest. People new to rendering can use them to experiment and get feedback and advice from other SCF readers. People with more experience can show us what they can do and demonstrate interesting techniques.

This Workshop is about rendering, not modeling. You can modify the model, add other geometry, add other 3D warehouse items, etc. But keep in mind that we want to see what you can do to make these existing models more presentable.

This is about all aspects of rendering - SketchUp, external add-ons, post processing, PhotoRealistic, and Non-Photorealistic. Feel free to try anything.

Upload you images, your questions, your ideas. Lets see what we can do.

Al Hart

My first pass - with no special settings, was pretty dismal.

This uses the default transparency from SketchUp, but the ice cubes weren't even transparent in the SketchUp model.

I will change some transparency settings and try again.

Also, some lighting might be helpful with a model like this

Al Hart

This whiskey glass model is pretty "High Poly" - making it slow to work with.

If it is too slow, we may have to wait for Solo, or someone else, to provide or suggest a better model.

Rich O Brien

Al Hart

@unknownuser said:

Whiskey Glass

Nice rendering. Any tips?

(I don't mean tipping the glass)

Al Hart

I added a light, made the ice cubes transparent, set Index of Refraction to 1.08 for the glass and 1.31 for the whiskey. I set the glass as "caustic" to get the interesting shadows on the ground.

I also marked the glass, whiskey and ice cubes as "thick" - meaning that they were modeled as solid transparent objects rather than using a single face for a single pane of glass.

I did place the glass in Solo's studio. The tricky thing there is that it is difficult to orbit and zoom on the object because the studio is so large. It worked better when I put the studio in a layer and left if off until I was ready to render.

solo

Al, here are the correct IOR values:

Ice: 1.310

Whiskey: 1.352

Heavy glass: 1.650

Rich O Brien

My try was abismal

But i'm just playing with Twilight to get good ice and failing each time. I downloaded the basic studio and damn that thing is BIG

Anyhow, i like the workshop and when i'm happy with the ice i'll post again.

Here's #2 ,i did PP with Photoshop, and let i cook for 2hrs

Anyone got tips on good ice in Twilight i could try? Currently using thick warped glass....

Al Hart

@solo said:

Al, here are the correct IOR values:

Ice: 1.310

Whiskey: 1.352

Heavy glass: 1.650

Thanks,

I'll try them.

I pulled the IOR off of the ice because it added too much to the rendering time, but maybe I'll give it another chance overnight. (I think the number of Hi-poly faces in the ice accentuated the effect.)

Also, I would like to find a better color for Irish Whiskey. I may have to go out an purchase some and "sample" it. (whoops - another pun)

Al Hart

@solo said:

Al, here are the correct IOR values:

Ice: 1.310

Whiskey: 1.352

Heavy glass: 1.650

I gave these settings a shot. I also rotated the glass so that some of the ice was seen directly. The ice looks pretty good.

honoluludesktop

Solo, How did you know that? Do you just remember, or do you have a spread sheet of successful settings?

Al Hart

@honoluludesktop said:

Solo, How did you know that? Do you just remember, or do you have a spread sheet of successful settings?

I was wondering that too. To get numbers that precise, he must have a measuring device where he passes light through a material and sees how distorted it gets.

thomthom

@honoluludesktop said:

Solo, How did you know that? Do you just remember, or do you have a spread sheet of successful settings?

Lots of lists available. Just search for IOR or Index Of Refraction. Here's one: http://www.robinwood.com/Catalog/Technical/Gen3DTuts/Gen3DPages/RefractionIndexList.html

solo

Nice list Thomthom, I have this ratty looking, frayed notebook that I write stuff in as I learn it, most of the time I cannot find where I wrote anything and have to use Google to relearn it.

Scratch that...I'm a genius!!

museummaker

I ended up on that same site-- its very interesting.

Anyone know of a similar table for reflectivity?

thomthom

@unknownuser said:

Anyone know of a similar table for reflectivity?

You mean for Fresnel material? Think you use the same tables...
For instance, the list includes non-transparent material, such as metals. (note - I'm a bit unsure here - but it's what I do and it seem to look ok...)

http://interactagram.com/physics/optics/refraction/
http://www.texloc.com/closet/cl_refractiveindex.html

Al Hart

@thomthom said:

@honoluludesktop said:

Solo, How did you know that? Do you just remember, or do you have a spread sheet of successful settings?

Lots of lists available. Just search for IOR or Index Of Refraction. Here's one: http://www.robinwood.com/Catalog/Technical/Gen3DTuts/Gen3DPages/RefractionIndexList.html

I guess I have a lot to learn about IOR.

What are the refraction indices for metals used for?

Metals
Aluminum 1.39
Copper 2.43
Gold 0.47
Mylar 1.65
Nickel 1.08
Platinum 2.33