Some questions

[Stinkie]

I gathered glass needs to have a thickness. A window, in essence, needs to be a box, and the white faces need to point outwards.

But, there's a 'thin glass' preset in the exporter. Am I right in thinking that this can be used to apply 'glass' to a single pane? And if so, how should the white side be pointed (I'm guessing: towards the viewer)?

Last but not least: exit portals. Pretty cool, but how are they used exactly? This is my understanding: make a window opening, put some glass in it. Then put an exit portal in the window opening, parallel to the glass, same size as the glass. Something like this?

[Whaat]

But, there's a 'thin glass' preset in the exporter. Am I right in thinking that this can be used to apply 'glass' to a single pane?

Yes

And if so, how should the white side be pointed (I'm guessing: towards the viewer)?

orientation doesn't matter for Thin Glass

Last but not least: exit portals. Pretty cool, but how are they used exactly? This is my understanding: make a window opening, put some glass in it. Then put an exit portal in the window opening, parallel to the glass, same size as the glass. Something like this?

Avoid using the glass unless you must have reflections. If using glass, the exit portal should be at least 1-2mm outside of the glass. The exit portal can be bigger than the glass. It can even be a big box or plane covering multiple window openings (AFAIK).

[Stinkie]

Thans alot for the info, Whaat. So the exit portal doesn't affect the geometry around the glass? That's handy.

[Kram1032]

it only affects the geometry behind it.
You wont see any geometry behind an exit portal.
The normal is important with it! "in front of" is, where the normal points to

[Stinkie]

Last one, I promise.

"it only affects the geometry behind it". So, the portal should be, basically, between the viewer and the glass (if glass is used)?

[Kram1032]

Sry, no, I didn't say it clear.

The geometry behind it wont show up! Everything behind the portal is invisible, except the absolute background (Sky, Exr, etc)

The portal should be as close to the window as possible, but a minimum distance of 1mm is recommended the glass should be between the camera and the portal

[Stinkie]

Ah, okay. That makes perfect sense. Thanks.

[Dave R]

The stupid guy in the corner raises his hand.

Why is an Exit Portal used? What's it for?

[Dave R]

The stupid guy in the corner raises his hand.

Why is an Exit Portal used? What's it for?

[cpfresh]

if i understand them correctly, exit portals are intended to reduce render times by making the render engine only process light which passes through the portal. this way light which never makes it through the window and into the scene is never even considered by the engine so no processing power is wasted ...

result: faster convergence.

[Kram1032]

yep

Oh, and they're made for Bidirectional. Without that, they might give strange results

[Stinkie]

Here I am again. Going thru Whaat's tuts. Very informative stuff. Yet: another question.

Here goes: exponent maps, are those the same thing as specular maps?

[Whaat]

Here I am again. Going thru Whaat's tuts. Very informative stuff. Yet: another question.

Here goes: exponent maps, are those the same thing as specular maps?

I suppose they would be equivalent to a Roughness Map in Maxwell or Fryrender. The IOR of the material is not affected by the exponent map. However, the glossiness of the reflection is.

Look at this thread:
http://www.indigorenderer.com/joomla/fo ... 85&start=0

[Stinkie]

"I suppose they would be equivalent to a Roughness Map in Maxwell or Fryrender."

Ah, good! I've just ordered the Arroway dvd-roms, so I was wondering about this.

Thanks for the info!