Fresnel Lens material?

[potsked_cg]

I'm working on a concept that incorporates pretty intense use of optical grade fresnel lenses along a surface. I was wondering if there were any material settings out there that would save me 12 hours of modeling really really small curves.

I imagine it would require mapping of some sort of graient map or something, but nothing ive tried has worked out so far.

I should note the primary use of this material is for the effect of looking through it to see a distorted background, as in a magnifying glass

[potsked_cg]

Re: Fresnel Lens material?

I've kinda nword-rigged it by applying a very very slight curve to only one of the lens surfaces and then jacking the IOR through the roof (10) to artificially amplify the effect. However, the perceived image through the glass becomes very washed out and loses a lot of contrast (as if you upped the gamma in PShop).

Is there any way to increase IOR of a glass surface without it messing with the image behind it too much?

[dalomar_cg]

Re: Fresnel Lens material?

You mind posting an image of what you're trying to achieve. I'm not too sure what affect you're actually looking for.