exercise - real anisotropic reflections in Eevee render in #blender.

In theory it means that surface has ‘controlled’ scratches going in same general direction.

My first tests turned out quite pretty, although requires multiple render samples unlike the analytic approach. With Voronoi texture you can make quite convincing scratching. Each cell gives you ‘position’ data that you can shape into a line and rotate via any data value - texture or vector.

Here is a regular voronoi grid, lines are scaled by a photo and rotated by Perlin noise.

Let’s consider the previous thread a ‘teaser’ for this tweet sized introduction into retroreflectivity in CG.

I’ll explain what it is and how to do it yourself in #blender

As before - I will divide it in ‘Theory’ and ‘Praxis’ parts.

So here we go..
🧵 Just a disclaimer. This will be no science class.
In my side job as a Blender teacher in art college, I convert concepts that are difficult to grasp to simpler analogies and I leave out the hardcore stuff (So I don’t scare away my ‘kids’)

That’s a job for universities.

I'm now hooked on developing physical automotive materials in Eevee #Blender3d

This time - suede (Alcantara) with varying fiber direction and fingerprint-y anodized aluminum. The suede material is fully procedural (using Blender built-in Noise) It will look even nicer with real Alcantara surface texture. Fiber flow is again a larger noise color texture, converted to a normal map.

Last day before I take my time off work and I spent it tinkering with car headlights again!
This time I am exploring polarised light and thin-film interference on a transparent body in Blender.

Thank you @KarolMiklas for car model! Beautiful work as always 🙏

Follow the 🧵👇 Polarised light and Thin-film interference are not the same in terms of physics. One is caused by injection moulding of the plastic, other - by a very thin layer of material on the surface of another material.
Both offer similar looks, so I use the same technique to model it.

Physically-based car headlights in Blender. This method is made for Eevee because refraction and reflections in a single material do not interact nicely.
Here is a breakdown of the classic reflector/refractor headlights. If you want to know more, follow the🧵
#b3d Let's start with the reflector - the shiny chrome part behind the glass.
Modelling it accurately is rather important, especially if you plan to have the headlight turned on. @KarolMiklas has done sublime work on those! Even for a low-poly car, the normals are silky smooth!

This little detail goes a long way. Let’s see if you can spot it!
Another water rendering related thread below.
#b3d ‘Contact line’ or ‘meniscus’ as some of you wrote (I just did not know how to call it) is again the same effect I discussed previously about the bent edge of water surface due physics. In this case the border is now touching a half-submerged object not the lens.

Now, let me tell you one of the secrets for a fine looking water surface. And it has nothing to do with the water itself! It’s the environment.
From visual aspect, water is a reflection and refraction of surrounding objects, so a good looking sky is where you should start. #b3d (This is my attempt for clickbaity advertisement)
So you want skies like image above? Buy ‘Physical Starlight and Atmosphere’ addon for Blender and support two brothers, entrepreneurs @_karlisup and me. We call ourselves @PhysicalAddons.
more info:
blendermarket.com/products/physi…

Smooth transition from air to underwater in Blender(work in progress). I’ll do a thread because not often I see it done right in CG.
#b3d I teach things like these in art college. I guide my students through the analytical process of dissecting the effects of physical lighting and materials.

So there are several concepts you have to understand that will let you create the water transition effect convincing.