Hi chaps, Is it possible to exclude objects from the caustics calculation? I want my nice caustics from a pool to go through some glazing and appear inside the building, but I dont seem to be able to do that in one pass. any ideas? Peter

Photon maps should be world-space afaik

The caustics photon map is completely view-independent. If the caustics doesn’t make through the layers of glass, it may be that the refraction depth in your materials is too low. Best regards, Vlado

thanks Vlado, how about if the glass material has affect shadows ticked?

If you enable Affect shadows, the glass material won’t generate caustics. Make sure the option stays off if you need the caustics effect. Affect shadows option simulates shadows when there are no caustics in the scene. There is no point using this two options at the same time.

I think Peter means “affect shadows” off for the glass where the caustics should just pass through. But maybe I’m wrong.

here is a sketch - for this to work I need to hide the glass, calculate the caustics, then unhide the glass and render with saved caustics solution. so to my original question - can I hide the glass object from the caustics calculation? [FullSizeRender.jpg]

I just rebuild your sketch quickly and see what you mean. But I managed to let the caustics pass through with “visible to GI” ticked off inside the vray properties on the glass window. Only odd behavior is that the glass is pretty dark even with “affect shadows ON”. Uploaded two render: the only di…

Oliver, can you post your scene? Best regards, Vlado

Sure vlado@chaosgroup.com was the correct email? *edit* Sent. Forgot to mention the max version is 2015.

caustics through architectural glass

V-Ray V-Ray for 3ds Max Issues

peterguthrie March 9, 2015, 9:59am 11

I mean affect shadows in the glass material. For architectural glass, relying on caustics to see through the glass is not a practical solution.

Small GPU Render farm

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caustics through architectural glass

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