Method of Simulating Open 3D Mesh Objects
Wire is a method of simulating open Mesh objects, such as wire baskets, radio transmission towers, open Web beams, and so on.
When the Wire option is checked, 3D Application uses the visible edges of a Mesh object to represent wires and the faces become invisible.
The apparent thickness of the wire edge can be adjusted in the Wire section of the Extended Parameters roll out.
The wire thickness can be based on pixels, in which case the wire always appears the same size no matter how close or far from the viewer.
Wires can also be set as unit sizes, so that the closer you are to the object, the larger the wire appears.
Wire Material attributes are an efficient method of simulating complex open Mesh objects.
You should generally check the 2-Sided option above the Wire option so the back side of an open Mesh object becomes visible.
The newest addition to the Extended Parameters section (and a very welcome one at that) is Reflection Dimming.
One of the biggest problems with Reflection mapping is that the maps do not respect light sources all that well.
If every tried to render a Chrome object in darkness or darker scenes, you know the problem.
Essentially, the Reflection Mapped material appears to be somewhat illuminated.
Reflection Dimming corrects this problem.
As a rule of thumb, it is a good idea to turn Reflection Dimming on for just about every material using a Reflection map.
This instantly improves the rendering quality of your scenes, but you can also use Reflection Dimming to your advantage in other ways as well.
You might use Reflection Dimming to accentuate the sun illuminating the surface of the Earth.
You now have a much more believable planet by adding a Reflection map and using the Reflection Dimming feature.
Although this feature can be used in other ways, this example clearly shows how the problem of using Reflection mapping might creep up and how you can solve it.
When the Wire option is checked, 3D Application uses the visible edges of a Mesh object to represent wires and the faces become invisible.
The apparent thickness of the wire edge can be adjusted in the Wire section of the Extended Parameters roll out.
The wire thickness can be based on pixels, in which case the wire always appears the same size no matter how close or far from the viewer.
Wires can also be set as unit sizes, so that the closer you are to the object, the larger the wire appears.
Wire Material attributes are an efficient method of simulating complex open Mesh objects.
You should generally check the 2-Sided option above the Wire option so the back side of an open Mesh object becomes visible.
The newest addition to the Extended Parameters section (and a very welcome one at that) is Reflection Dimming.
One of the biggest problems with Reflection mapping is that the maps do not respect light sources all that well.
If every tried to render a Chrome object in darkness or darker scenes, you know the problem.
Essentially, the Reflection Mapped material appears to be somewhat illuminated.
Reflection Dimming corrects this problem.
As a rule of thumb, it is a good idea to turn Reflection Dimming on for just about every material using a Reflection map.
This instantly improves the rendering quality of your scenes, but you can also use Reflection Dimming to your advantage in other ways as well.
You might use Reflection Dimming to accentuate the sun illuminating the surface of the Earth.
You now have a much more believable planet by adding a Reflection map and using the Reflection Dimming feature.
Although this feature can be used in other ways, this example clearly shows how the problem of using Reflection mapping might creep up and how you can solve it.
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