hello,
my first post..
my first few days with indigo...
and so far i love it!

I worked with vrayforc4d (ultimate speed!) and maxwell (nice material database) before..
But indigo has big potential

anyway just a simple question..
i downloaded a few materials, tinted green glass and blue rubber plastic.

But in my rendered preview its a little bit darker... how is that possible?
i mean preview scene should always be exactly the same right? because it uses interal units/lighting etc...
Im using cindigo 1.18 RC2... and 1.18 indigo core.
Ill post pics later if necessary..

greetings,
Camiel


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first of all, Indigo itself changed since those days... second, your previews also are noisier, so overally, it might turn out to be a bit brighter in the end...

If both are incorrect, the last thing I could guess is, that in fact the preview-scene itself got a bit updated/optimized, but I'm not sure about that

Since those old test-renders, Indigo for instance changed its definition of emitters: any material can be an emitter now, too... it could be, that the more general formulae result in slight change of apprearance - maybe even to more reality...

yes i just did a test with 1.0.9... and it seems brighter..
but i noticed alot of differences yes.. so ill go back to 1.18.

since im new, here's two newbie questions:
could you give me some tips on how to change the dark edges? (without changing the rest of material.. cant seem to find this setting)
the edges are almost black.. in my rendering.. they should be lighter.

And whats the difference between gamma and gain in simple words..
i mean if i want to make a green more filled glass.. i change gamma to 2.2 or i increase the gain... but is that the correct way?

gain is just a simple multiplier. i should have named it multiplier, but gain was shorter
gamma is gamma.

you can do it both ways, but for me gain is easier to contol (since its linear).

what do you mean by dark edges?

dark edges..
ehm like in the picture above, where you look perpendicular on the surface (on the foot) its almost black.
so if you look straight on surface thickness...
you understand what i mean?
i think its like 0 and 90 degrees reflectance in maxwell..

ah, ok. that is because the environment is dark. the refracted rays go in the environment and hit something dark somewhere.

This in Indigo is called specular reflectivity. Certainly by default all colours should have a gamma of 2.2.

Gamma and gain on a colour haver very much the effect of reinhard's pre-scale and post_scale respectively on the final image. Specifically, gamma leaves the black and white points untouched while weighting the mid tones, pretty much what you want I suppose.

ps: I'm talking in a general fashion, not a c4d user.

thanks for all the quick replies, thats really nice about indigo..
theres a good community here

but i cant follow completly what you write.. alot is new to me..

the whole story from my side:
im trying to create a lightguide material.
under the lightguides there will be around 12 LED's.
this will light up a payment terminal.
i want to add all LED lights as IES files.
(yes i know im not starting the easiest way..)
i did some quick tests but got strange purple/pink lighting..

the lightguide material is blue LEXAN (polycarbonate injection molded plastic)

so i should use a specular material with transparency right?
(or glossy transparent?)
the ior is 1.583 I believe.

for now i did this (without ies for now, only a HDRI as env_map):
i downloaded the tinted green glass material, changed ior to 1.583 and gamma to 2.2..
it looks sorta ok.. but it gets really dark on the edges.. (what i meaned above)
or do i need SSS on? and SSS gamma 1.0 or 2.2?

And is there a way to load the preview scene in cinema4d? i mean the blue light guide material below is just the preview of the material.. can i load the entire scene? so i can see the settings etc.

Ow one more.. i have 3 area lights but not using them right now, because i dont know how to hide them in reflection etc... there's no invisible option is there? or how can i realise this?

Thanks again for all help

To answer one of your questions, i know in maxwell you can hide certan objects... but thats not real possible in real life, so i belive that there is not a option todo that in indigo...
Correct me if i'm wrong someone

so i improved on the dark edges.. but dont know if its the correct way..
they keep getting dark, although my scene is not dark...

but now i made a blend material of the old one combined with a gloss layer (phong material) and 0,15 blend factor.
Is this a good solution?