Ring Caustics

Ed · June 26, 2013, 01:37:08 AM

I wanted to try the classic ring interior shot with ver 4.1 caustics. Light rays reflect off the concave interior of the ring and converge at the center to form a cardoid shape.

Thought I'd try a procedural marble floor too.

Ed Ferguson

DriesV · June 26, 2013, 01:46:40 AM

Awesome!

Ed, those caustics must be an extremely valuable addition to your toolset, I reckon?

Dries

Ed · June 26, 2013, 01:57:29 AM

Dries - Every little bit of added realism helps; it's all icing on the cake

Wonder how long it would take to animate that? Glad I upgraded to an i7-3930K 6-Core last year.

Ed

DriesV · June 26, 2013, 02:05:18 AM

Have you tried using a point light to generate the caustics?
Caustics are rendered much faster using point lights than just using an HDRI with a very bright light pin. At least this has been my experience.

Dries

Ed · June 26, 2013, 07:08:23 AM

Yes - I used a single point light with the HDR brightness turned down. I positioned the light by watching the shadow. The floor material had some influence on the caustics as well. As it turned out, the procedural marble worked well.

Ed

Despot · June 26, 2013, 07:18:38 AM

I like caustics, and these are cool renders Ed, but for me caustics like this are 'old hat' I'm afraid... I was doing this 12 years ago with Cinema 4D, Volume Caustics as well...

They do enhance realism, but it's really rare (if ever) to see them in product shots, or anything really...

But what I would say is, it is awesome to see them being rendered in real time, now that I couldn't do years ago...

edwardo · June 26, 2013, 07:24:46 AM

I cant wait to see some nice glassware, throwing out costics on to the tabletop. Thats gonna take some bottle/packaging renders into the next stratosphere

These are nice renders. Im curious to see what happens if you put a bit of roughness on the ring material.

Ed(wardo)

DriesV · June 26, 2013, 10:54:40 AM

Quote from: The Metal Master on June 26, 2013, 07:18:38 AM
...
But what I would say is, it is awesome to see them being rendered in real time
...

Exactly, the appearance of the rendered caustics may be 'old hat', but the process of making them appear most definitely isn't.

KeyShot strips the 'error' out of the 'trial and error' method. It's so nice to see light/caustics react to manipulations within a scene.
Realtime caustics are also indispensable for creating intricate caustic patterns.
Even the brand spanking new '4102 deepsknuB' can't do advanced caustics in the realtime viewport.

Only available for offline rendering. Trial and error again...

Dries

Ed · June 26, 2013, 11:28:29 AM

"... but the process of making them appear most definitely isn't. "

I agree. I like to experiment. The speed of KS allows me to try several combinations of materials/environments/positions etc. in a very short time. Real-time feedback makes it possible.

Other render programs are like bowling with a scarf tied over your eyes. Wait for the result, guess at the next adjustment, try again.

Ed Ferguson