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Note: This feature has been deprecated as redundant and will be excised from future versions of the RedSDK editor.
Transparency
This category is relevant for transparent glass and plastic materials. For example, "Eroded" transparency simulates a bumpy or uneven glass surface.
Not all glass or plastic materials have Transparency defined. For example, "Tinted Glass" is smooth, and its transparency is actually defined as part of the "Glass" reflectance.
This is a good example of how complex, and powerful, the TurboCAD materials engine is. You can get similar results by defining parameters in different categories.
In other words it controls how light moves through a material.
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Note: If Fresnel is not checked reflection may overpower transmission effects.
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If set to color, that color will be the degree of transmission of the material.
If a texture map is selected the mapped image will be used to control the transmission of the material.
Both the color and any texture map rely on classical RGB format coding for the reflection. White (RGB 0, 0, 0) equals total transmission, and Black (RGB 256, 256, 256) equals zero transmission.
Color also affects the color of light transmitted through the material.
Transmission color set to grey, and the Diffusion color is set to white.
Transmission color set to red, and the Diffusion color is set to white.
Transmission color set to grey, and the Diffusion color is set to red
Transmission color set to red, and the Diffusion color is set to red.
As for the reflections, transmission can be glossy or not. Therefore, the same glossiness controlling parameters that are available for reflections are available for transmission.
IOR (Index of Refraction)
What makes the transmission effect acting like a magnifying/minifying glass is the Index of Refraction (IOR) of the material. Users can enter the value they need in the IOR field of choose one in the drop-down list (amongst various real-life material IORs).
IOR set to 1.00
IOR set to 2.00
See how in the previous image, the Total Internal Reflection (TIR) increases with the increasing IOR. In jewelry, where materials have strong IORs, the TIR effect is responsible for most of the final appearance of the object and must be carefully handled.
Example of an applied texture map for transmission
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Note: IOR has zero affect when transmission uses a texture map.
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Texture
This category enables you to make a surface appear rough or bumpy. The rendering engine simulates shadows along the surface to create the textured effect. For example, you can define a Leather texture.
"Ice" is defined with a rough texture.
Wrapping
This category defines how a pattern or image wraps around surfaces of a 3D object.For materials, such as Granite, the wrapping is defined as "None," which pastes the pattern without distortion onto faces along the three major planes.
The "UV" wrapping is similar to "None" except that you can specify how the pattern is scaled.
With "Auto Axis" the pattern is oriented according to the WCS, regardless of where the faces of the 3D object are located and oriented.
You can also specify the axis along which the pattern will be projected.This allows you to give more details to surfaces without paying the cost of detailed modeling, users can setup their materials to use bump mapping.
The supplied texture map is automatically converted to a normal map and therefore must be given in a classical RGB format to encode the elevation. The amount of bump can be tuned through the scale factor. White (RGB 0, 0, 0) equals the highest points in the map, and while Black (RGB 256, 256, 256) equals lowest points in the map.
