Broken glass in iray
stmercy2020_9aea6b9c04
Posts: 88
in The Commons
So... a year ago, I hired a friend to do this picture: http://fav.me/d9ga13l
It's a very cool picture.
The thing is, LQ did the picture in 3Delight and, recently, we were wondering if there was a product or method for achieving similar effects with iray. Everything we've tried so far has ended up being, ironically, too transparent. It makes the glass either invisible in the render, or else a mere shadow instead of a sharp, jagged mess. Any ideas?
Daz 3D is part of 
Connect
DAZ Productions, Inc.
7533 S Center View Ct #4664
West Jordan, UT 84084
Licensing Agreement | Terms of Service | Privacy Policy | EULA
© 2026 Daz Productions Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Comments
Are you using the Iray glass presets? If not I'd reccomend trying one of those first.
Make sure Cutout opacity is at 1, and you'll want to set Thin Walled to off and Abbe to at least 55 (these are taken from the glass dispersive preset that comes with the Iray shaders)
I've attached a quick, not even complete render of the Glass, Solid, Clear dispersive rainbow preset as an example.
Thanks! I'll give it a shot. :)
http://www.daz3d.com/colored-and-broken-glass-iray-shaders
^This one's pretty good. Used it in this image:
http://www.daz3d.com/gallery/#images/243941/
But it has lots more colours and about six different broken/shattered glass effects.
(In the image, the actual shattered pieces are a blender explosion, but you can see the texture on the model)
Edit: Finally got to see the image you mean (was at work before and didn't look as DA said something about 'mature content' - can't imagine what from the image).
So yeah - just use one of the iray glass shaders on the pieces - make sure 'thin walled' is off in surface tab (should be if you use the default shaders) - and have stuff in the scene to refract/reflect
That black ceiling can be made to work in 3Delight but Iray will need something actually there to reflect.
You can also use the crystal shader from this set: http://www.daz3d.com/iray-frozen-brothers-for-genesis-3-male
I've noticed in Iray that if there's no background that glass can go transparent in some places/views. Make sure your scene is entirely surrounded with something to reflect other than the neverending transparency of the default blank scene background.
Laurie
Yes.. big problem with gems too.. you can also just make sure there is a backdrop in the environment tab, even if it's just a grey color (I use 70/70/70 usually)
With Iray...if using the Iray Glass (solid if the mesh has thickness), there shouldn't be any need to do anything, if using the dome with an hdri in it. The first is 'Draw Dome: Off' and the second is with it on. No need for anything else.
If using Scene Only, then yes...you'll need something for it to interact with/reflect.
Yes, I found that out too ;) Very strange. LOL
Laurie
I've put a couple of broken glass items in products (in Everyday Junk / Everyday Display Cases), and my method is to give the edges their own material - glass_edge. That allows you to use different settings to get the effect of broken glass.
You can probably use the Geometry Editor to apply a new material to the edges.
^great tip, thanks :)
Thanks for thos glass settings. They really enhanced the look of the glass.
After
Before
Where/what was the broken glass called in Everyday Display Cases?
Er...... color me embarrassed, I just looked and I can't see any in Display Cases. I could have sworn there was something, but I'm wrong. Sorry about that.