Just want to pose if this is something that would be possible to implement
without difficulty and how popular the idea would be.

Quite often I use fresnel reflection for my materials, which requires the
use of 'ior'.  However, this poses a problem if I want to create a single
material with different sub-materials. (e.g. checker pattern with chrome
and plastic tiles).  Each of the sub-materials needs it's own ior value,
however this is part of the material block so it can't be mapped.  Having
the ability to map materials would allow this to be done much easier.

I suppose this can be acheived somewhat by changing the  maximum reflection
values, but I don't necessarily like altering it from 1, and I don't know
what it's effect is on fresnel calculations, (maybe I'll have to test this
out).

I know it could also have odd effects on transparent materials, but this is
something that may be a usuable off-shoot as well.

Personally, I think the presence of fresnel reflection makes this a
worthwhile addition, depending on whether it can be implemented easily or
not.

Other ways to implement this flexibilty would be with interior mapping (not
likely the best alternative) or either being able to move the ior to the
finish block or adding a separate ior strictly for fresnel in the finish
block.

As a side note, does anyone (particularly the more veteran POVers or
developers) know the reason for not allowing patterned textures in layered
textures?  I've always just accepted it, but over the years, I've never had
an explanation why this is the case.

-tgq

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