Glass/perspex solid model

[tricky]

Anyone got any good tips for creating a material (as simple as posible as it is for an animation!) which will simulate a glass/perspex material which will be applied to an entire model of a building? I want it to look like the building has been made out of transparent plastic.

[simmsimaging]

The material should be pretty easy, but getting it to look nice and clean can be hard with complex models/shapes.

My tip would be to use a basic VrayMat with reflection (Fresnel) and 100% refraction, but be prepared to play with lower IOR values than the standards for glass etc in order to avoid it getting too crazy busy in there. I have also found that you really need very high reflect and refract bounces (like 30/20 or even higher) to get a realistic dielectric without too much solid colour (usually black) happening everywhere.

I have also played with Multi-sub mats where some of the backfacing or internal stuff gets a clear mat with an IOR of 1.0 to reduce the business that can happen.

Hope that helps.
b

[duke2]

Alot of the problem is also that many/most parts of your building won't have thickness, unless you want your building to look like it's been laser cut out of a solid block of perspex. Because of this, you'll need an IOR close to 1.0 (so like 1.05 or something). Use that an a mixture of opacity and diffuse to get a lighter colour tint to it without blowing out rendertimes by resorting to more physically correct methods, which would involve applying a shell modifier to your building to add thickness.

[tricky]

Thanks for the tips. I have tried a number of these ideas, but haven't really got a good result yet. To be honest, I am not really that suprised. I think I will have a re-think.