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How to make a mirror reflect? Question about Reflect Me prop

nowefgnowefg Posts: 557
edited December 1969 in New Users

I installed the Reflect Me props yesterday, loaded one with a figure in front of it, but there is no reflection in the mirror..

The readme is online-only, and I don't have access to it from my home machine, so I couldn't see if there are specific instructions for using mirror props.

I did notice a "sheen" on the glass surface as I rotated the thing relative to my light source, but no reflection; tried upping "reflection" for the glass in the Surfaces tab. No change.

Anyone know how to use this prop?

Comments

  • wancowwancow Posts: 2,708
    edited December 1969

    Start with these settings as a DAZ Studio Default Shader

    Diffuse Colour 255 all around (white)
    Diffuse Strength: 0%

    Glossiness: 100%
    Specular Colour: 128 all around (Gray)
    Specular Strength: 100%

    Reflection Colour: 255 all around (White)
    Reflection Strenght: 100%

    That should get you started.

  • nowefgnowefg Posts: 557
    edited December 1969

    Thanks, wancow.

  • NeilV_1NeilV_1 Posts: 442
    edited December 1969

    make sure the DS Mats are loading in with these as they have some very nice mirror settings with them (Not me this time) otherwise load them from the pose folder "ART_ReflectMe" some times you do need to move the position of what you want reflected to get a good reflection I tended t make sure I have a good 360 degree environment to make sure I get the best reflection I can.

    here is a test Image I did during testing.

    reflect_me.jpg
    600 x 800 - 367K
  • nowefgnowefg Posts: 557
    edited December 1969

    Thanks, NeilV 1,

    I hadn't thought to check for additional mats, as the props load with the wood looking right already. Just expected that the glass/mirror portion of the mat would load automatically, too, and so there must be some settings "trick" to getting the prop to work like a mirror.

    Great image! Makes me wonder (if i can get that basic effect to work, too), whether mirroring a mirror produces the infinite regress effect that real mirrors have.

  • wancowwancow Posts: 2,708
    edited December 1969

    nowefg, doing the infinite mirror to mirror thing is a function of ray trace depth in your render settings. The higher they are, the more reflective bounces they are. it's impossible to get true infinite bounces (in our render settings for 3Delight, at least for now) but that would be a never-ending-infinite render anway...

  • RarethRareth Posts: 1,458
    edited December 1969

    wancow said:
    nowefg, doing the infinite mirror to mirror thing is a function of ray trace depth in your render settings. The higher they are, the more reflective bounces they are. it's impossible to get true infinite bounces (in our render settings for 3Delight, at least for now) but that would be a never-ending-infinite render anway...


    Wancow is correct, the number of relfections between the mirrors would be in a direct relation with the ray depth you set.

    here is an example from Bryce with a ray depth if 32 I believe..

    mirrorball.jpg
    1754 x 875 - 429K
  • nowefgnowefg Posts: 557
    edited December 1969

    Thanks, wancow, and Rareth,

    You know, sometimes the render results are so compelling that I lose immediate touch with the fact that it's not really three-dimensional; that it's just numbers crunching. I haven't worked with most of the render settings yet, but the helpful info about raytrace encourages me to explore a bit more, now.

    Amazing image, Rareth!

  • NeilV_1NeilV_1 Posts: 442
    edited December 1969

    I normally render with my raytrace set to 2 but for the render above If I remember correctly I set it to 6 to help get the nice reflection but these means you are always going to get a hit on render time. You also need a nice light set up to really bring out the reflection as I was testing in DS3 at the time so I used one of the light dome pro 2 (very lazy of me) presets which gave me a nice sunny light set which raytrace shadows (again I took the hit on render time) so make sure you have a good light set as well.

    If you are using a UE light set you may need to add a couple of extra lights to bring out the specular of the reflection more.

  • Llola LaneLlola Lane Posts: 9,050
    edited December 1969

    Hi Everyone.. don't mean to butt in.. but I thought I'd share MY experiences with this reflection stuff I did last night... (has a headache) Please note my raytrace is set for max = 16 in DAZ... the only box is the center one.. all the rest are reflections... As you can see I am missing the back bottom 2 reflections.. :( I think it is too complicated for Daz... every time I render these boxes .. a DIFFERENT box (or two) is missing. I spent the whole day doing different renders yesterday and I can't get it to render all 12 boxes. I usually get 8-10 boxes only... So maybe you can't have more than 10 reflections??? Not sure.. anyway.. enjoy my little "experiment" :)

    COLOR_CUBE_reflection_testTt_3_SIDES_numbers.jpg
    1024 x 1024 - 232K
  • Llola LaneLlola Lane Posts: 9,050
    edited December 1969

    Here is a sampling I did with the mirrors colored... left mirror is RED.. back mirror is YELLOW...right mirror is GREEN.. and bottom mirror is PURPLE (Please note the missing reflections.. I only have 9 boxes this time.. above I had 10)

    BOX_MIRROR_wCOLOR_walls.jpg
    1024 x 1024 - 190K
  • Llola LaneLlola Lane Posts: 9,050
    edited December 1969

    llolalane said:
    Here is a sampling I did with the mirrors colored... left mirror is RED.. back mirror is YELLOW...right mirror is GREEN.. and bottom mirror is PURPLE (Please note the missing reflections.. I only have 9 boxes this time.. above I had 10)

    Not sure WHY there is a RED box under the YELLOW one.. shouldn't it be reflecting the YELLOW box?? (head is spinning)

  • Llola LaneLlola Lane Posts: 9,050
    edited December 1969

    nowefg said:
    Thanks, NeilV 1,

    I hadn't thought to check for additional mats, as the props load with the wood looking right already. Just expected that the glass/mirror portion of the mat would load automatically, too, and so there must be some settings "trick" to getting the prop to work like a mirror.

    Great image! Makes me wonder (if i can get that basic effect to work, too), whether mirroring a mirror produces the infinite regress effect that real mirrors have.

    Hi Nowefg... I've uploaded an experiment I did yesterday with mirror... reflections in reflections.. think it may answer your question.. check this thread at the bottom for my samples... (sighs... has a headache figureing it out... lol) Daz has max raytrace max of 16 which I used.. i'm wondering if someone has written a script that will let us bump that number up???? not sure... :) Enjoy my samples.

  • ChronopunkChronopunk Posts: 291
    edited December 1969

    This thread is relevant to my interests - I'm considering making a scene in which a figure is standing in front of an "infinity mirror" a-la Spock's mirror from Star Trek (you know the one, the mirror with all the little lights around the edge, with a second glass pane over it, making the lights look like they're reflecting into infinity?) - and I'm wondering if my attempts to do so may end up causing the universe to implode (or at least cause a plethora of crashes).

    Anything I should know, sacrifice to elder gods, attempt to summon as protection, etc. before I begin?

  • ChoholeChohole Posts: 33,604
    edited December 1969

    This thread fascinates me. I like playing with mirrors http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/media/folder_117/file_1169074.jpg

  • Miss BMiss B Posts: 3,071
    edited December 1969

    Very nice Cho, and not just the mirror reflections. I like the whole composition of the scene, as well as the way you "framed" it. ;-)

  • SzarkSzark Posts: 10,634
    edited December 1969

    Here is some more info on render settings nowefg http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/15210/#222187

  • vindazivindazi Posts: 667
    edited December 1969

    NeilV 1 said:
    make sure the DS Mats are loading in with these as they have some very nice mirror settings with them (Not me this time) otherwise load them from the pose folder "ART_ReflectMe" some times you do need to move the position of what you want reflected to get a good reflection I tended t make sure I have a good 360 degree environment to make sure I get the best reflection I can.

    here is a test Image I did during testing.

    The mirror read me says

    "You can find new icons for this product in the following DAZ Studio Categories:
    “Materials:Props”
    “Props:Furnishings”
    “Props:Personal”

    There is no Materials folder in my Daz library and The props folder does not contain Furnishings or Personal. The only place I find the Reflect Me fcontent is in the poser library and the Materials content there does not give me a reflection.

  • Richard HaseltineRichard Haseltine Posts: 96,718
    edited December 1969

    Does the thumbnail in the library pane have a scroll icon at top-left? If so the DS materials are there - however, you do need to have something present in the scene and lit for the mirror to show.

  • joe buckjoe buck Posts: 7
    edited December 1969

    I tried it in the dream home master bedroom furniture mirror and it worked, thank you. But it didn't work in the dream home bathroom mirror, strange, help!

  • Llola LaneLlola Lane Posts: 9,050
    edited December 1969

    JBbuck said:

    I tried it in the dream home master bedroom furniture mirror and it worked, thank you. But it didn't work in the dream home bathroom mirror, strange, help!

    Hi JBbuck... I just saw your post... no one else has seen it I guess.. I'm no expert...but.. make sure there is something for the bathroom mirror to reflect. if it's a blank wall then there will be nothing in your mirror to reflect but the wall... Watch your camera angle.. sometimes you have to move something into the angle of the mirror to get the mirror to see it. Hope that make sense. This is where geometry comes in... gotta watch the angles of the mirror and camera. ughh math.. bah... lol.. Good luck!

  • Pentax67IIPentax67II Posts: 7

    I've just been experimenting with this, but don't seem to have mirrored planes.  Since vectors scale to any size, I changed a garden variety mirror into a gigantic mirror, under my scene, and then rendered it with the scene in the upper half of the frame.  Not bad for a first try!   

  • SaphirewildSaphirewild Posts: 6,648
    edited August 2017

    I just found this thread thanks to Dracorn and I am sure going to try this out on this render that has been driving me crazy with trying to figure out how to get a reflection into a mirror on the dresser/vanity stand.

    !!Pizza Night with the Girls3.png
    1500 x 1500 - 3M
    Post edited by Saphirewild on
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