Like a dog chasing his tail

[RSgraphics]

Hey Octane fans,

Instead of me asking for a really nice realistic chrome material for octane 3 i will ask a pretty good question.

How am i suppose to dial in a perfect chrome material if I don't know if the HDR is the appropriate lighting for the chrome? The problem Im having is that my chrome doesn't have the depth that it should. Also, the reflections are like a mirror and I think chrome would darken the reflection as it reflects objects further away. If I adjust the "Index" the metal gets darker but thats it. The reflections still have no variation. Please keep in mind, the surface is a flat piece of chrome which is challenging because their are no curves the vary the reflection.

Lets say my image is too dark. But the HDRI is a sunny picture with lots of light. I would adjust my metal "Index" to brighten up the metal. But how do I know its just not the HDRI?

I hope this makes a little sense.

[RSgraphics]

And one more thing.

Im not getting any shadows or ambient occlusion that i can see. The model is of a plaque with a displacement used in the chrome material to give it some letter forms. But there are no shadows around the letterforms. It's just all reflection.

[niestudio]

Have you watched this one from Raphael Rau about dialing in proper metal settings?
https://vimeo.com/260024495

You would then go here https://refractiveindex.info/
and search for the metal you're looking for

You might get additional help if you post these more general questions to the broader user board since they aren't c4d specific.

[RSgraphics]

It must be the HDRI. But I've tried many and the chrome never looks any better. Im using Octane 3 so I referenced the refractive index.info and used the "GROUP INDEX" of 4. But i've tried multiple indexes.

I think the biggest issue is that there is no shadows in the displaced chrome surface.

[bepeg4d]

Hi RSgraphics,
what about the Specular depth in the Kernel settings?
ciao Beppe