what is max depth???

[freak]

what is max depth in the vraymtl?? which by default is set to 5......

[DaForce]

max depth is used to limited the maximum amount of times that rays/light bounce around the inside of an object.

[RErender]

Also with reflections it is the number of times the reflection will "bounce" between two objects.

[freak]

well what is it for?? metal material??? plastic???? what's the advantage of it???

[RErender]

Try this, take two mirrors, face them to each other, what you see is an infinite number of bounces, so the closer to reality you want to render the more bounces you want. Less bounces = faster render.

[DaForce]

it would only be effective on materials that area either reflective, refractive or absorbive (if thats a word), in other words, mirrors, metals, glasses, clear plastics & wax it name a few.

[freak]

well, what sorta mtl YOU use it for??? when do you use it?? does it make the reflection dimmer if it's set to 2 instead of 5???

[DaForce]

really you would never need to worry about. I have never found a need to change it. so you may as well just leave it off.

It doesnt make the reflection dimmer, just that after the rays hit the depth they just show up as the color that is chosen.

[freak]

thx alot guys...

[Greg3D]

For refractive objects, depending on their complexity you will have to increase the Max Depth to get rid of areas that render black. If the depth is too low, you don't have enough ray bounces to accurately render all the various levels of refraction through the glass. Change the Exit color to a bright Red, lower the depth to 1 or 2, and render it on some complex (not just a sphere) geometry.

You will see that parts of it render RED. Thats because the exit color is being placed where there are not enough rays to trace the refraction properly because of such a low Max Depth.

5 as a default is way too low for anything other than simple objects...and usually why many people have problems rendering glassware without the black edges.

[freak]

thx dude...very good explanation...i understand it now