# Help required in a quartz - mineral material **URL:** \ **Category:** General\ **Tags:** translucency, sss2\ **Created:** [November 24, 2014, 12:23pm UTC](https://forums.chaos.com/t/help-required-in-a-quartz-mineral-material/51782 "2014-11-24T12:23:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![correntes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/edb3f5/32.png) [@correntes](https://forums.chaos.com/u/correntes)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2014, 12:23pm UTC](https://forums.chaos.com/t/help-required-in-a-quartz-mineral-material/51782/1 "2014-11-24T12:23:52Z")
Hello, I’m working in a quartz shader. I came up with nice results with sss2 but its too slow to render. Can someone point me in a direction ? Should I stick with SSS2 or change to vraymaterial + translucency ? Still don’t know for sure the amount of translucency needed but I attached some reference pictures. Thanks in advance ![1601040_10152695521769420_9056035542868440072_n.jpg](https://europe1.discourse-cdn.com/chaosprd/original/3X/9/1/91abe8a2a8e461e69caedacc6e8927ca994a1a89.jpeg) ![10665881_10152695521389420_1238145285798908718_n.jpg](https://europe1.discourse-cdn.com/chaosprd/original/3X/6/c/6cb8a9e717b859c047c45580b2055abcd42a43a8.jpeg) ![Quartz,_Sphalerite,_Pyrite,_Mangano_Calcite,_Rhodochrosite_1.jpg](https://europe1.discourse-cdn.com/chaosprd/original/2X/2/283ff7c70a3e26c5ac8df7dae06c4cea5ac4344b.jpeg) ![Quartz,_Tibet.jpg](https://europe1.discourse-cdn.com/chaosprd/original/3X/a/2/a2e573523a91600e5cc2e1100502e360dbd84b0b.jpeg) ![QuartzArticle_Figure1.jpg](https://europe1.discourse-cdn.com/chaosprd/original/3X/6/f/6fbe0a11bf0dcdd6f5b08232bd5165e9b039ad7a.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![Morbid\_Angel](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/chaosprd/user_avatar/forums.chaos.com/morbid_angel/32/21272_2.png) [@Morbid\_Angel](https://forums.chaos.com/u/Morbid_Angel)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2014, 6:58pm UTC](https://forums.chaos.com/t/help-required-in-a-quartz-mineral-material/51782/2 "2014-11-24T18:58:52Z")
Is it for animation or a still? If for a still I think you can use vray material with interpolated refraction. But for animation there is no easy solution as this is probably one of the worst case scenario for a renderer - glossy refractions 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ben\_hamburg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ba8739/32.png) [@ben\_hamburg](https://forums.chaos.com/u/ben_hamburg)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2014, 11:52am UTC](https://forums.chaos.com/t/help-required-in-a-quartz-mineral-material/51782/3 "2014-11-25T11:52:02Z")
Yeah, worst case scenario right here…I actually was able to fake it quite well on some occasions by using a blend material with SSS2 in one slot and pure refractions in the other, using masks to blend between them gives an ALMOST glossy look, especially if you use some bumps on the refractive material. ---
**Author:** ![correntes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/edb3f5/32.png) [@correntes](https://forums.chaos.com/u/correntes)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2014, 8:10pm UTC](https://forums.chaos.com/t/help-required-in-a-quartz-mineral-material/51782/4 "2014-11-29T20:10:37Z")
Actually is for a still. So in your opinion is better to scrap the sss2 material and use simple vraymaterial with refractions maps to have glossy refractions. ---
**Author:** ![Morbid\_Angel](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/chaosprd/user_avatar/forums.chaos.com/morbid_angel/32/21272_2.png) [@Morbid\_Angel](https://forums.chaos.com/u/Morbid_Angel)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2014, 8:28pm UTC](https://forums.chaos.com/t/help-required-in-a-quartz-mineral-material/51782/5 "2014-11-29T20:28:01Z")
> [@vlado](#): > > Actually is for a still. > > So in your opinion is better to scrap the sss2 material and use simple vraymaterial with refractions maps to have glossy refractions. interpolated refraction will be much much faster, not good for animation but perfect for a still. ---
**Author:** ![correntes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/edb3f5/32.png) [@correntes](https://forums.chaos.com/u/correntes)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2014, 10:29am UTC](https://forums.chaos.com/t/help-required-in-a-quartz-mineral-material/51782/6 "2014-12-05T10:29:52Z")
The problem with using vraymaterial + refractions is the light cache its slow. When I switch to IRR Map + Brute force its allot faster. But I prefer to use one gi solution that i’m familiar like irr map + lc or brute force + lc.