CompuServe Thread

#MagnifyingGlass

5 messages in this thread
#970From: Jim JonahSep 27, 1994 10:31 PM
Hi, I am trying to animate a magnifying glass. I have it modeled and the motion all set up, but I am not happy with the glass. I can't seem to make the glass clear and refract at the same time. I duplicated and edited the GLASS.mat with the material editor, changing the refraction to 50 then 100. That looks cool as long as the MagGlass is on an angle, the illusion of "Magnifying" works. My problem is that the glass still has color. I tried changing the RGB values of 10 to 0 then to 100 and finally 150. At 150 the tint matches the color of the object that is refracted, the the refracted object is ghosted. A real magGlass should make the object clearer. Any ideas?? Thanks in advance, Jim Jonah.
#975From: Pawel BodytkoSep 28, 1994 9:26 AM
Jim, >>> My problem is that the glass still has color. I tried changing the RGB values of 10 to 0 then to 100 and finally 150. At 150 the tint matches the color of the object that is refracted, the the refracted object is ghosted. A real magGlass should make the object clearer. Try to make the color black R=0, G=0, B=0 and set the transparency value to 95… Add 8% of reflection, totally smooth surface and refraction between 15 and 20. I wouldn't even play with this in materials, just do it in Character… Pawel
#1027From: Jim JonahSep 30, 1994 4:58 PM
Pawel, Thanks. If I remember right, I started apply the glass values directly in character, but wasn't happy with the refraction, so I the opportunity to explore the Materials editor. While in the Materials editor, I kept bumping the refraction up, the higher the better (since I'm trying to simulate a Magnifying Glass, the drastic shift of a high refraction helped the illusion.) I'll try it again in character, with my high refraction value. I did have r=0 g=0 b=0 and transparancy even at 100%, but it still darkened the object behind the MagGlass. Basically I want NO color change with a HIGH refraction. I'll let you know if reverting to character works. Thanks, Jim Jonah //Just lovin' those splines and channels!!!//
#1037From: Pawel BodytkoOct 1, 1994 10:11 AM
>>>I did have r=0 g=0 b=0 and transparancy even at 100%, but it still darkened the object behind the MagGlass. To control how dark the image appears through the lens you need to play with the Ambience value of the MagGlass… You have to be careful though because even the small values have a very drastic effect on transparent objects. I ususally like other objects or images showing through the glass a little darker, so I keep my Ambiance=0, If that's too dark try 1, than 2 and so on… (It is much smaller than the values for non-transparent elements where good ambiance is around 30-40) Pawel
#1040From: Jim JonahOct 1, 1994 1:03 PM
Pawel, >>To control how dark the image appears through the lens you need to play with the Ambience value of the MagGlass.<< I didn't want the image showing throught the MagGlass to be any darker at all, a real magnifying glass would make the image clearer. I found the answer though. I had one convex segment for the glass. No matter what settings I had for transparency, RGB values, ambient, etc. I could not get the glass to be clear, and yet still have a High refraction (to simulate the effect of a magnifying glass). The answer is to have TWO pieces of glass. I added the lens segment a second time, flipped it over and applied the same settings, except on this segment, I set the refraction to zero (with both pieces of glass set to 100, it produced a wild — cool — effect, but it wasn't realistic). Now the glass is perfectly clear, with a great looking refraction happening. Thanks for helping!!! Jim Jonah.