No, Margus is right, it's not possible to simulate it with current features,
because transmit and filter don't have the same lighting model as is
necessary to create translucent effects (for Johannes, translucency is like
the sort of effect you get from shinning light on rice paper - the shadows,
and also like candle wax - the object actually seems to have a density).
While I guess this could be simulated with media it would be very difficult
to get the right effect and would be slow to render...

What I propose is a finish statement translucency keyword...  The way the
calculation is made is by taking into account what translucency really is...
that is, non-directional diffuse reflection... (*gulp*).  Now because the
diffuse color of a surface depends on the angle between the surface normal
and the light, what you do to get translucency is ignore the surface normal
alignment... (if that makes ANY sense to ANYONE I'll be happy, because it's
hard to explain...).

Um, yeah, so there you go... also if you combined with ray distance (into
the object) with another bias value you could get a "thickness" for the
translucency... like, 0.4 would be glue, 0.8 would be wax etc etc

Anyway, just an idea...

--
Lance.


---
For the latest 3D Studio MAX plug-ins, images and much more, go to:
The Zone - http://come.to/the.zone

Post a reply to this message