Glass Settings & Spline Array's

[cek]

I've been trying to achieve a translucent (milk white glass) for a light fixture lens.

For those day renderings I want the surface to appear white and during the night to glow white. Essentially the same effect you get with a frosted incandescent bulb.

Any suggestions?

The incandescent bulb object brings me to the second question. Any ideas on how to create a string of light bulbs for feston lighting a plaza. Ideally I would like to generate a spline path and have it populated with light bulb objects (with light values) at a prescribed spacing. Essentially an array defined by a spline.

Any idea's?

Thanks for your help in advance.


cek@profiledesigninc.com

[bclarch]

I remember seeing a glowing glass material defined for use in light fixtures. It is in one of the rendering material libraries that comes with the program. I don't remember exactly which library it is in but you should be able to find it rather quickly.

[Andre Baros]

For the festoon lights, you should be able to modify a handrail family. Use the luminaries as balusters and the rope as a railing. This does not work along a spline in the Z axis but you may be able to cheat it with a series of railings. If it's really important to show the catinery curve of the rope with the weight of the festoons, then you will need to create a custom family.

[SkiSouth]

I've been trying to achieve a translucent (milk white glass) for a light fixture lens.

For those day renderings I want the surface to appear white and during the night to glow white. Essentially the same effect you get with a frosted incandescent bulb.

Any suggestions?

Under material creation, you can set the transparency and for the material to "glow" per Robert's suggestion. The "glow" of the top line (shading) relates to the Revit shaded view. The frosted look in rendering is under the material creation of Accurender materials, second tab, "Transparency". You can play with the settings for your glass here to set both transparency and the amount of frosting.

The actual light will vary, depending on where you place the light source in the light family. If inside the glass, obviously, then the glass itself will effect the amount of light issued to the rest of the scene. If you "cheat" and place the light outside the actual light bulb, and then control its intensity, you might quicker results for your render.

[Max Lloyd]

Hi Skisouth. So that 'cheat' that you refer to, is that something that you use on a regular basis? It seems like quite a good idea. Where and why would you consider using this teqhnique? (pros and cons)