Managing glass on large scale buildings/projects.

[DanSHP]

So we deal with large residential glass skyscrapers. Sometimes there are 2-3 within a scheme maybe 40-50 stories each. Our views are usually at ground level within the schemes public realm looking up to the towers.

I generally give all my glass objects a basic not too reflective glass material so I can work in reflection/refraction quality in post. Working up glass in post like this take a lot of time and sometimes doesnt give satisfying/realsitc results. Using a HDRI with clouds can sometimes provide chaotic reflections, a HDRI with no clouds can result in boring flat results. V-ray sun looks teririble.

I've looked into many diferent approaches in regards to this and wondered what other approaches other take! How do you all deal with it?
Much appreciated, cheers. Dan

[s_gru]

hi. well for me, i pretty much go with whatever HDRI map i'm using in the scene. look at my camera angles, the angle of the hdri. but mostly end up having to put in trees down low to help get something on lower levels floor. but i usually only deal with up to 8 floors.

doing in post should be pretty ok as long as you have a mask for the windows. you can put in an image of sky or sunset and mask off just the windows. then i play with levels/curves/HSL of the cloud image.

do you have any quick renders you might not be happy with as an example?