eeshlo refraction plugin

Gabio · November 25, 2003, 5:57pm

I looked over eeshlo refraction plugin, cause i wanted to do a refraction effect [!] The stuff on his web site is looking great but it don’t explaine how it work so i played with it a couple of hours, and couldn’t get more than a rainbow material. :-? I am sure some pp have used it around here, so: how is it working?

theeth · November 25, 2003, 6:44pm

Didn’t you read the text file that is in the example blend file?

Martin

z3r0_d · November 25, 2003, 6:48pm

I have got it to work, it is very annoying

(I don’t know if it will work with later versions of blender, I was using 2.23)

ok, so you have your textures like this
some textures (color I guess)
the refraction plugin
an environment map texture

the refraction plugin is set to be mapped from the window coordinates and apply to only the normal vectors (and set the vect slider to 1.0). (this is all in the material buttons for only the refraction plugin texture)

then the environment map texture coming after the plugin is generated from an empty at the camera’s location. The refraction plugin should make things line up right if you set it up right.

the really annoying thing about this plugin is that you can’t use it with a surface you want to respond to light (even specular dots) or have reflections of the environment with it.

this is all from memory though

checking an image I made using the plugin, apparently you can reflect the surroundings, but lighting is not possible.

some images:
http://home.earthlink.net/~nwinters99/BlenderStuff/Fouantian4-16.jpg
http://home.earthlink.net/~nwinters99/BlenderStuff/FouantainPlayRefractNdReflect.jpg

(I see no need to make the blend files avalible, the sample one is plenty, read what it says closely)

theeth · November 25, 2003, 6:58pm

You can add specularity highlights by copying the object, adding a material with Ztransp, 0.0 Alpha and a high SpecTra value. Than, just add a zOffset to the material and you’re all set.

Martin

z3r0_d · November 25, 2003, 8:49pm

I didn’t feel that would be a good solution at the time, but now that I think about it, it could be done very well.

Have it be a linked duplicate (same mesh) but with a different material (applied to the object instead of the mesh).

at the time I thought it was hack-ish, but it would get the job done very nicely

Gabio · November 26, 2003, 7:45am

Well, now I understand better, but the caustic he did in his demo:

here, the blue ring for example is complex enought, i don’t think he did this with spot as in the blend file…

Rhysy_2 · November 26, 2003, 9:16am

theeth wrote:
You can add specularity highlights by copying the object, adding a material with Ztransp, 0.0 Alpha and a high SpecTra value. Than, just add a zOffset to the material and you’re all set.

Martin

I didn’t feel that would be a good solution at the time, but now that I think about it, it could be done very well.

Yes, that seems to work for me, see the glass pteradactyls in the finished projects !
The easiest way to get the plugin to work is to append the material from the example .blend and change the objects used in the env maps as appropriate. Caustics (I think) are faked by making textures, I don’t think there’s a way to do them directly with blender…(I hope I’m wrong!)