Need help with water reflections
mikethe3dguy
Posts: 515
I'm trying to get a simple light reflection off a water puddle and for some reason am coming up short. The shader on the puddle is DAZ Uber Water Thin (refraction index 1.33), though I have experimented with the base color, trying to make it more visible in the scene. Finally I decided that the best way to do this was to get a reflection sheen off the surface. So far no luck. I set up a spotlight on the other side of the puddle from the camera and directly opposite from it. I matched the spotlight/puddle angle to the camera/puddle angle pretty closely. Attached is my result render (puddle outlined with tiny red dots for clarity) and the camera/puddle/light diagram. What am I missing?
Water Reflection Test.png
262 x 126 - 50K
Reflection Diagram.png
928 x 305 - 7K
Post edited by mikethe3dguy on
Comments
Geez! No sooner than I post the problem do I come up with the solution!
Default geometry of spotlights is "point", and one of the things I did when setting up the spot was to increase H and W size to 20, thinking that would be needed. BUT I FORGOT TO CHANGE THE LIGHT GEOMETRY (to disc or rectangle)!!! Doh! I noticed this right after I posted the OP and changed it: Voila, works great! Oh well, maybe this post will help someone else!
It is always great when a user can solve their own problem before others even have time to read the message! Thanks for sharing your solution.