OTOY Forums

HI everyone,

I've got a bit of a problem that I can't seem to figure out. I'm trying to make water droplets that are just see-through, but they're picking up very heavy black reflections. Is there a way to mitigate or eliminate this problem? I've attached a screenshot of what I mean

Thanks so much!

Try increasing the Specular depth in your Kernel Settings...

Primary recommendation from jayroth ^
Secondary would be to double-check that no mesh is intersecting.
It is also recommended to verify that all other settings are properly set as well.

Thanks guys, that got me much further to where I need to be - I'm currently here:
The left is my preview window, and the right is the photograph my commission is based on - I'm trying to get that completely see-through look to the water, but I'm still struggling. Definitely much closer, and now wondering if there's any hacks. I can do

leave2 wrote:I'm trying to get that completely see-through look to the water, but I'm still struggling. Definitely much closer, and now wondering if there's any hacks. I can do

Lighting. Stronger!
The HDRI should not be the only light source. It's likely missing a key light.
Area lights are highly recommended over HDRIs.

Caustics would help.
Either Path Tracing Kernel with blurred caustics (not fully), or the latest Photon Tracing Kernel. This page covers it almost entirely.

Thanks dude. The lighting isn't an HDRI, it's lit by ten area lights. I'd already followed all the instruction on that page, it's a great resource.

This time round I managed to solve by switching to PMC. The bubbles instantly went see-through, exactly like the other image.

Thanks for the help, I wouldn't even have thought to switch to PMC if I hadn't been sent down a path by your responses, much appreciated

You're welcome.

However, technically, the "standard" PT Kernel should produce the same result if setup correctly. It is just less efficient with "hard caustics", a bit more with "soft caustics". The newest and latest Photon Tracing Kernel surpasses the two others regarding caustics.