Picture Frame / Reflected image

[mtbmarsh]

Hi guys:

I'm using a Rhino Picture frame to reflect a street scene and sky in my building. The problem is that when I make the Picture frame high enough to reflect the sky with clouds in the upper windows...it blocks the physical sun out. How do I get my street scene to reflect + reflect the sky with clouds in all the windows? I tried using a sky image in the reflection environment, but it seems to stretch and expand it so it looks fake...
I there a way to get the Picture frame to work? It seems very simple

[Micha_cg]

Re: Picture Frame / Reflected image

No way around the shadow of the picture frame surface (I suppose so it's on the wishlist), but you could use a highres HDRI environment, for example from www.spectralogue.com .

http://www.spectralogue.com/textures/index.php

[Micha_cg]

Re: Picture Frame / Reflected image

I think about your problem more ... and find a solution, I hope so. ;D

Set your picture frame surface with a textured emitter material and set the transparency color at 254. So, your picture frame surface should not show a visible shadow, maybe a very little bit. And now increase the intensity of the emitter texture until you can see the surface again. Ready. I havn't tested this trick so I'm very curious now. Maybe you must disable the reflection/background environment.

[dalomar_cg]

Re: Picture Frame / Reflected image

Very interesting solution...I'll have to try that and see if it works.

[mtbmarsh]

Re: Picture Frame / Reflected image

That doesn't seem to work, just makes the image gray. Any other way to workaround this? I've cut out the buildings in photoshop, but the picture frame applies a white background. It seems impossible to have my building image, and a sky to reflect in some windows...and show through others?

[Micha_cg]

Re: Picture Frame / Reflected image

Best you use a 360° for background/reflection - standard jpg or HDRI. Simple method: download a sky from www.100skies.com and if it is half spherical only, set vertical repeat 2. For highres textures look at flickr.com (search at the forum here for the flickr.com thread).

[mtbmarsh]

Re: Picture Frame / Reflected image

The part about reflecting the sky environment I understand. But I need to show the contextual buildings that are across the street in: a) window reflections, and b) through the ground level windows. The reflections aren't quite as important, but seeing through the glass is VERY important, to show what is opposite the building...

[Micha_cg]

Re: Picture Frame / Reflected image

Ok, so let us don't forget, if you place building pictureframes, than it is not a problem that this build cast a shadows - that's life. So, you could create the area around your building with simple box buildings with textured facades - a scale model city area - high detail main building and textured box buildings around.

If you need buildings without shadow, than it seems to be, the best way to use a HDRI of a city environment. Here you could find a high res free street HDRI:

http://www.spectralogue.com/textures/index.php?path=50

Also at flickr.com you could find high res city environments.

http://www.asgvis.com/index.php?opti...sg8783#msg8783

Or the two-pass-method: your render your scene without picture frames around and black environment. Than you disable all lights/GI (global switches) and render the scene again with selfemitting picture frames and background like you want. The goal is to get a rendering with reflections only that can be combine with the first one - the diffuse color rendering. Should not be so much extra work - the rendering without lights/GI should be fast. So, you could get maximum control.

For the view through the ground level windows: you could place a large soft studio ground and map a photo on it. The key word is frontal or camera mapping. A mapping tool can be found at the render tool thread and you can see some example images at my gallery.

http://news2.mcneel.com/scripts/dnew...m=249193&utag=

http://news2.mcneel.com/scripts/dnew...m=249660&utag=

[mtbmarsh]

Re: Picture Frame / Reflected image

In terms of seeing through the ground floor windows, wouldn't placing a plane behind the building cast a shadow, the same as a picture plane?

[Micha_cg]

Re: Picture Frame / Reflected image

Hmm, yes, but your sun is not so low and I think, you could place the soft studio ground plane so, that no shadow is visible. I see, it's not easy.