mental ray glass material

[smr_VIZ]

There are quite a few mental ray glass material settings and shaders available for use. Could anyone tell me which one is the best for the glass curtain wall?

 

Based on my limited experience, the following are what I found three types of Glass:

1. from Arch & Design template:transparent material > glass >solid geometry

2. mentral ray > surface shader > dielectric material

3. glass (physical phen)

 

Thanks for your input in advance,

[mskin]

let me first say i am not the best qualified to answer this as there are many here with greater mental ray experience than i have. I have found the A&D the easiest to set up and crank a render out with.

 

i have wrestled quite a bit with the settings to get exactly what i want, and often fail... but it seams to be the best suited for the simple, thin walled pieces of glass we are trying emulate.

 

good luck and i look forward to hearing what some of the pros have to say.

[Jennifer]

Hi!

 

The Arch & Design materials are certainly the preferred materials in mental ray 3.5+, and replace to a degree the separate shaders like the Dielectrics and physical phen series.

 

For glass, use the A&D preset for Thin Geometry (Single Faces), as that does not have refraction (bending of light), and by default will not attenuate/change the light based on distance.

 

Have fun!