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 Starting
Point
Let's use ShaderMakerPro to get the feel of setting up our shaders and
visualizing them easier for this tutorial. Open up ShaderMakerPro.
Create
a Simple Reflective Image Map
First link an Image Map node ( apply an image ) to the Reflection Colour
input of our Shader node and set the value to 1.00. And save the shader
as reflect1.
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Now
Create the Scene
Open up Pixels3D, and move our first light to the z 0.0. Now, let's create
a sphere object - Shapes>Sphere and hit ok. We should also Scale the
sphere to take up most of our Camera View - Control>Scale.
Apply
our Reflective Image Map
With our sphere still selected open up ShaderMaker ( CMD-w ) and open
our reflect1 shader we made in SMP.
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Quick
Render
If we were to render it we would see our Image map being mapped on to
our sphere, though unlike mapping it directly to the sphere using a Diffuse
Colour, reflective mapping is "distorted" much like a fake mirror.
This technique is referred to as "Reflective Mapping".
Now
the Cons
Reflective Mapping has its problems, actually one, a major one, it doesn't
reflect objects in a scene.
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Reflect
Objects in our Scene
Another form of utilizing reflections is reflecting objects in our scene.
Unlike Reflective Mapping our object will actually act more a mirror a
reflect any surface onto its own.
Create
Any Other Shape
Create another primitive ( Shape Tool ), a Cone for instance. Rotate and
Scale the cone like on the left - ( Rot -90x ) Control>Park the Cone,
then Control>Move and Control>Scale. Also if you like, add a shader
to the new object ( I used my Candy Cane shader for this Tutorial )
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Setup
our Sphere for Relfections
CMD-Click on one of our Sphere object then re-open ShaderMaker. Open our
shader and change our Reflection Colour to Raytracer node, and set the Environment
to Black ( only a black colour will relfect surfaces ) as shown to the left. |
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Quick
Render
If we were to render it we would see our cone being reflected on the surface
of our sphere, like a mirrored ball. |
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Utilizing
the Two Reflective Worlds
If we were to render our scene using our Reflective Mapping techinque, you
would see something like our image to the left. It reflects our Image Map
but excludes our candycaned cone. We'll with the power of ShaderMaker we
can use both wonderfully. |
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Wrong
Way
You might have thought, we'll what about creating a "stratosphere"
to get both, wrong. Creating another sphere and scaling it 50 times then
adding an ImageMap to its Diffuse Colour and rendering will produce the
image to the left. Not exactly touching nor Reflective Mapping. Lets try
another way which can be more powerful. |
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Back
to SMP
Let's create a Gold Christmas Ornament.
A
Gold Ornament
First, start by giving our shader an orange-yellow Diffuse Colour. Now
create an Edge Blend node, set the Outer Colour to a deep red-brown and
link the node to the Ambient Colour as shown to the left. Next create
a Raytracer node, set the Environment to a Black colour, and then link
to our Reflection Colour. Next create an Image Map node like our first
shader ( apply and image ) and link to our Refraction Colour. Set the
Reflection Value to 0.333, the Refraction Value to 1.00, and then the
index of Refraction to 2.00. Save our shader as ReflectiveGold1.
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Back
to Pixels3D
With our Sphere selected open up SM and load and apply our ReflectiveGold1
shader. ( CMD-Click to remove our old shader in SM ) |
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Quick
Render
If we were to render, we would see our cone being reflected on the surface
of our sphere, like a mirrored ball while also reflecting our Image Map.
Have
some Fun!
This is your first start to creating reflections, next time we'll discuss
more uses and troubleshooting of different scenes.
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Next Tutorial
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