Ice is another difficult shader to perfect in the 3D world. If you were to take the time to see how ice looks, you'll find it to be a very complicated form of light and shape. Thus imparing us to get a perfect match in the rendering world but we can come close with new techologies and using micropoly displacement. However using micropoly displacement can create circumstances we may not want in certain areas. This tutorial has been split into two parts, today we'll discuss the outer core of the ice. We can simply use PiXELS3D to do this. However we may want to set up our modeling for tempest which i will discuss later.

Pixels3D | studio | v3.6 and above
ShaderMakerPro 1.0

To start we need to use either SM 3.0 or SMP 1.0 to create our shader. If your using SMP, use the example to the right, using the exact values, nodes, and links, then save it out. If using SM in PiXELS3D create a Shapes>Cube then CMD-w to open SM. Follow the image right and values, nodes, links.

Edge Blend - into the opacity, here we can set it so the edges are more opaque than the space between.

Raytrace - into the refraction. This will add reflection of the surfaces behind. IOR at 2.0 will cause les opacity and more distortion of the reflections passed.

Blender - into the bump. Blend the Granite & Black with Turbulence as the.

fBm - displacement. Might want to keep this near 0.0 if using Tempest to render.

Ambient Colour - 0.95 0.95 1.00 (RGB)

Since I'm using a simple Soda Ice for inspiration, I'm using a simple Shape>Cube and rounding the edges. If we were to go witht he REYES approach we might want to develop the Cube more with subdivisions and use less distortion in the shader. Another way would be to use a sphere and Controls>Copy Shape the Sphere into the Cube to create a Spherical Cube shape. This would help to eliminate the cross section on the V ends; as shown below.

With the shape finished, apply the ice shader to the Cube and do a final render. We have the outer core of the Ice Cube. Notice that using the different types of Bump that the Granite node nicely displays some crystalization artifacts.

If we really study the Ice object we'd notice that we are missing the mass of the object to add more realism. This is what I will show in the next tutorial. Can you guess how to create it?