how good is using Vray to render glass curtain wall

[smr_VIZ]

Hi, Everyone said VRAY is quick and good enough for architecture firms. I have struggled to create an convincing glass curtain wall material either for scanline renderer or mental ray renderer in the last couple of weeks. I wonder if anyone can tell me how good is the results if I use VRAY to render such tasks?

 

In scanline renderer, we basically need to use fall off map and raytrace map to make of a complicated material( like Ted's tutorial in this website). Does vray material contains such settings?

[chodney]

Vray is certainly good for anything you can make in scanline. The materials have all the options, and more for more realistic metals, glass, woods, etc.

 

having said that......my preference (after using vray for 2 years extensively) is now Mental Ray 3.5 or higher. The changes to the Arch & Design materials, and rendering speed improvements have sold us in our office. Mental Ray also seems easier to make convincing glass from exterior and interior renderings.

[smr_VIZ]

having said that......my preference (after using vray for 2 years extensively) is now Mental Ray 3.5 or higher. The changes to the Arch & Design materials, and rendering speed improvements have sold us in our office. Mental Ray also seems easier to make convincing glass from exterior and interior renderings.

 

CHODNEY:

 

Mentay ray? You got to help me with the glass material. Do you use dialectic material for the surface shader? Does the glass in MR have similar effects as what Ted's tutorial did for the glass material? Like when we look at the glass directly, the glass is transparent, but the faces parallel to our views have reflctions?

 

Can you post your exterior glass material here? Thanks!

[MasterZap]

Yes, naturally the A&D glass has the proper fresnel falloff!

 

I love Ted (had several beers with him less than a month ago ), but his surfacing tutorials are increadibly old school, I'm sad to say.

 

Things like the Fresnel effect is a built in feature in a modern material like A&D, it's not something a user should bother with. You pick the glass preset ("thin" if your glass is only done with single faces, like most architectural scenes, or "solid" if you have really modelled it with an entry- and exit surface AND made sure your normals are correct... although it actually doesn't hurt to use the "thin" preset for windows regardless, even if you really did model them with two surfaces)

 

Don't know what kind of "glass curtain wall" you are thinking about exactly, but it shouldn't be a problem for mental ray.

 

This page contains some cool glass rendering done in mr.

 

/Z

[Thablanch]

I have to agree that Vray needs more presets...

Basicly, your glass (regular/ accessories/ curtainwall ) is going to be only as good as what you reflect/refract.

 

reflect, nearly pure white (240 to 255), fresnel ticked

refract, about 240, so the tint of the glass itself (diffuse color) can show a little

A little bit of fog if you do have some extra time to render...

 

For more recipies, go to

http://www.vray-materials.de/

quite usefull ressource