Rendering challenge: Neon tubes and gas.

[Mfranquelo]

Dear all,

I am trying to render some photo-realistic neon tubes and glowing gas, however i'm in a dead end and in need of ideas! I am not an expert in Arnold, not even intermediate.

Let me resume my shaders:

1. Gas:

a)Meshlight:

Color temperature sets color

(Just color would give me an unrealistic look since the center of the gas won't render brighter) I've tried using a ramp plus samplerinfo + facingratio but it just doesn't give me the effect. Otherwise, i can't control much more.

b)volumetric atmosphere:

Density: 0015 + Attenuation: 1 gives me good results.

2. Glass:

Some glass tubes have been chemically attacked on their insides so that the surface is rougher. I guess that this helps to diffuse the light generated by the gas. So their inner surface needs a separate glass material with increased roughness. The outer surface has a conventional glass shader, with no maps yet.

What i am missing:

Looking at references for the neon tube & light, it seems like the gas looses some intensity here and there. Also, it has more intensity around the center of the tube than on its sides. For this, i would think of attaching the samplerinfo + ramp + facingratio in the intensity slot, but there's no map in this parameter...

I have attached a few screenshots of my scene, the latest is more advanced but still misses something.

I guess i am in need of some sort of guidance!

Thank you very much,

Manuel.1.jpg2.jpgneon-tubes-in-box.jpg1-1.jpg1-2.jpg

[lee_griggs]

Have you tried converting the mesh to a volume?

[Mfranquelo]

No yet, lets see what comes out of that. Thank you!