Indigo Renderer Forum

I'm new to Indigo (using Indingo with SU).

I'v yet to understand how to create materials… I think in the mean time i've better with using pre-made materials but i haven't found what i search for. I'm searching Polycarbonat material to use in an architectural context.

I'va attached an example. It's that kind of milky PC (polycarbonat) or semi-transparent white plastic if you prefer i'm searching for. I thought it would deb pretty easy to find for or even to create but it seems very difficult for a newly even with watching the videos i found. Any tips or links to material that could render similar ?

A diffuse transmitter material should work or at least should get you started.


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Hi Lexington! Architect here
The material you're referring is NOT polycarbonate, but U-glass (sort of an industrial prefabricated glass, with a L or U section extruded). The frosty look you see comes from the surface treatment, there are many but the most common are little vertical lines, and superficial frosting or speckle.

To represent the polycarbonate material you basically have to MODEL it: each panel is sort of a series of long vertical cells, so the vibrance of the final architectural effect derives from the light being fragmented by the cells.

There's always frosted glass. Try one with really low exponent:

http://www.indigorenderer.com/materials/materials/62

http://www.indigorenderer.com/materials/materials/573

However, for better render time, I think your best bet is a diffuse transmitter. I would put a rough coating layer on top of that, to catch reflections from the sky and environment. Should give roughly the same effect as a more "physically correct" glossy transparent material like frosted glass.

Thanks for your answers.

I get it. Thing is there are lots of different PC. The one i'm tryin to render is called Opale and i got the texture from the manufacturer. But not talking about the texture (i can design it as you said in SU or maybe tryin to emulate it with bumap from the file i got from the manufacturer)… I'm not even close to emulate the material itself wish is something semi transparent AND white. When i apply frosted glass thing it's really 'not white'.

Exemple attached, it's not the real material (i'm searching right now) but it's close enough.

hmmm..

Ok, in my opinion you can try modeling roughly the polycarbonate structure, then apply a white material with a 15/18% opacity. Then, switch it to Phong in the skindigo material panel.

Maybe a blend material between diffuse transmitter and a white phong?

Should be something similar to what I have just suggested. Mine is a more "practical" method
I don't know how it's called, but I know it works

Though this was an interesting challenge, so I did a quick render to try some different methods.

This is a blend between a diffuse transmitter, a white reflective phong, and a null material, the latter just to make it a wee bit transparent. Turned out rather cool

Render time was like three minutes on my four year old laptop, so the material renders quickly.

Cool

Would you share a screenshot of your material setting ?

I'm both tryin to create this material AND learning to make one in general… My lack of knowledge is huge : i'm working with Indigo since… 2 days right now. The process of material creation is definitly someting… i need to learn.

NB. And i'm a bit confused right now what part of this is made in SU and what part is made in Indigo : for exemple there is a transparency setting in Indigo AND one in Sketchup… What is the relation between those 2 numbers is something i need to clarify in my mind…

I'm a SU user and I usually stick with SkIndigo parameters, say 99% of the times.
Indigo and SkIndigo speak a slightly different language, so to say, so make sure in this first phase you don't mess up with different parameters, which are eventually the same only with different names. You can achieve everything you want using just SkIndigo, relax

Don't worry, material setup in Indigo is pretty straightforward.

I'm working in blender, so unfortunately I can't help you with the Sketchup setup. I have attached the material so you can check it out for yourself.

Keep in mind that this material is a bit of a cheat. It's not physically accurate, but on the plus side it's fast and it doesn't require modelled thickness. To get that bright, milky look, make sure you place a couple of lamps inside your building.

Thanks a lot i'm gonna try that tonight, i let you know

Oscar J wrote:Though this was an interesting challenge, so I did a quick render to try some different methods.

This is a blend between a diffuse transmitter, a white reflective phong, and a null material, the latter just to make it a wee bit transparent. Turned out rather cool

Render time was like three minutes on my four year old laptop, so the material renders quickly.

I just love the atmosphere in that pic! This type of blend system is exactly the one I used in several kitchen scenarios, such as this: For such need, the blend with the null material could be done using a texture to simulate fabric, or fibers in structure.

Is that a render? Nice one, show us more!