PM - Shader (Transparent)

Owned by thomas (Unlicensed)
Last updated: 24 Apr, 2014
2 min read

This shader mimics reflection and refraction effects by performing some simple calculations with the angle between the mesh’s normals and the user’s (or camera’s) point of view. The "Transparent" shader is not aware of the mesh’s shape and recognizes only the visible part of the surface. This means that two completely different meshes will be shaded exactly the same way when observed from a certain point of view.

 

 

 

Shader Type

RealFlow offers a total of 4 different methods with additional options: “None”, “Transparent”, “Displacement” and “Custom”. It is also important to know that a mesh’s colour selection from the "Node" panel can influence the final appearance of some shaders. Each entry unlocks a set of completely different parameters. The default mode is "None" and does not provide any options or functions.

Depth

This parameter mimics the amount of refraction, but on a very simple level. A value of 0.0 means that there is no refraction at all, while higher settings lead to more distortion. Please note that this is not a physical accurate calculation of dielectric materials, it is more an approximation. Also this effect is not always clearly visible, because it strongly depends on the current point of view and the environment map used.

Mix ratio

Here you can specify the ratio between refraction and reflection. Smaller values reduce the refraction and create a chrome-like look. Reflections always require an environment map and the transparent shaders do not calculate reflections between nodes from your scene. Inversely you can also enhance the influence of refraction by increasing “Mix ratio”.

Environment Map

To show reflections it is necessary to load a map that will be projected onto the current mesh. With spherically projected maps you will get the best and most accurate results, but any other image will work as well, though there might be visible seams. You can use TGA, BMP, PNG, TIF and JPG files. This function will surely create the best results, and it is also very fast.