How do I make glass?

You can use the following Attribute setting for a default glass:

                   RED  GREEN  BLUE   VALUE
    COLOR          0    0      0      *
    REFLECT        0    0      0      *
    FILTER         255  255    255    *
    SPECULAR       255  255    255    *
    DITHERING      *    *      *      255
    HARDNESS       *    *      *      255
    ROUGHNESS      *    *      *      0
    SHININESS      *    *      *      0     (Very important see below!)

    PHONG = ON
    INDEX = 1.50
    FOG LENGTH = 0.00

This should give you glass.

One thing many people get confused by is:

1. Shininess must be set to ZERO. If you set this to anything but 0, the FILTER setting will not work. This is just the way Imagine works since FILTER usage assumes shininess automatically.
2. No background. To get glass, you need surroundings. If you render a glass cup on a pure black screen, you'll probably just see the highlights. Adding global colors for Scanline and Ray Trace will give your object something to refract.
3. Ray Trace. To get refraction of surrounding objects exactly, you need to Trace, though scanline WILL approximate refractivity.

Last Update: July 13, 1995
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