I've got various specialty glasses I'd like to use in architectural renders for which I have the complex (multiple) IOR values and related info (such as the Abbe Number values for each point of inflection on a complex IOR curve). I can see that there is no direct complex IOR functionality in the latest version of Arnold, so I have been experimenting with other methods of achieving an analog. Have tried the various experiments with the Abbe Number parameter, but this just gives a single rough measure of overall IOR variability. Have tried the Layered Shader, the Car Paint shader and a few other things with no good results. Any suggestions for other things I might try to get something like a set of multiple IOR values or even a complex curve into one of the available shaders?
Solved! Go to Solution.
Solved by SmokeyBear. Go to Solution.
Oh, I also tried making a compound version of the Standard Surface shader, but that pretty much blows up in my face after adding ("blending?") a third shader.
There is the legacy complex_ior shader, but it is not recommended to be used with standard_surface and is more suited to plastics and metals.
Thank you for your answer. I installed Arnold 6 for Maya 2020 (MtoA) - the default version of Arnold for this version of Maya, and this does not seem to support the legacy complex_ior shader. But, perhaps I can install one of the earlier versions of Arnold. Thank you for taking the time to reply to my question.
Thank you! I must have been looking in the wrong place. I'll hunt this up!