Blurry Glass

[ParkerJames]

I am making a point of learning more about rendering for more realism and making my own textures using images (photos).

This is Redshift Exterior Final.

Why is the door glass so blurry?

[jmcewen]

Can you show the settings for your glass texture?

[ParkerJames]

12 minutes ago, jmcewen said:

Can you show the settings for your glass texture?

Yup.

 

[Steve S.]

@ParkerJames

 

Awhile back, I was looking for a glass texture but failed to come up with anything I liked.

So, I then started looking at water textures, and settled for using one of those

 

The top picture is one of the water textures I used to make this platter sized bowl with imprinted hexagons.

I believe I then took that picture into Affinity Photo and made a NEGATIVE of it and came up the the bottom photo which looks lit from underneath.

 

Maybe you could try a water texture and adjust the scale and depth of the bump to be ever so slight but just enough to catch the light

Maybe that would work?

 

Just a thought.

 

 

[ParkerJames]

That is cool! Thank you.

[Steve S.]

@ParkerJames

 

I played around with putting a sheet of glass in front of some furniture

 

I'm using an entry level 2017 MacBook Pro, so it is to underpowered to use Redshift, thought I did try it.

Using Redshift, I got a strange refraction or something like that. But the glass was relatively clear.

 

Below is what I got using Final Quality and Custom Renderworks

 

The first picture is a clear blue GLASS texture that I changed the color of slightly to something greener.

The second picture is a stained GLASS texture that I edited the Color Image Effects, Transparency Transmission, and the Scale under Render in Object Info Palette

Nothing Blurry in either case below. A bit of haze. But nothing blurry.

 

In your case, I wonder if Redshift is acting up?

Out of curiosity, did you try using Final Quality Renderworks?

[ParkerJames]

Yup---this is Realistic Exterior Final

 

[ParkerJames]

and this is Final Quality Renderworks. The thing is, I have never seen this before.

 

[Tom W.]

18 hours ago, ParkerJames said:

Yup.

 

 

When you edit the Reflectivity/Glass + Transparency/Glass shaders what are the Blurriness settings?

[ParkerJames]

11 minutes ago, Tom W. said:

 

When you edit the Reflectivity/Glass + Transparency/Glass shaders what are the Blurriness settings?

Zero in both.

[ParkerJames]

I changed the glass in the door closest to the ladies to an untouched VW Clear glass.

Something odd is afoot.

 

[Tom W.]

And it's definitely just the door there, no doubled-up geometry?

 

Is the glass displaying normally in this window + if so what's different about it?:

[Steve S.]

@ParkerJames

 

Maybe something is defiled with that texture?

What happens when you change the glass texture to a different clear glass? Maybe like one of the below textures?

[ParkerJames]

21 minutes ago, Tom W. said:

And it's definitely just the door there, no doubled-up geometry?

 

Is the glass displaying normally in this window + if so what's different about it?:

Wow! That is a garage door with solid panels and I have no idea why it rendered this way.

Anyway--this is a window perfectly transparent in normal 'Shaded', but when rendered you can't see through it at all.

 

[VIRTUALENVIRONS]

I seldom render in VW's and you are in far better hands with the others....but.  How thick is your glass?  

 

The Absorption rate comes into play the thicker your glass is.  Check the thickness and reduce to test.

 

Also, I have success with this glass texture when I render in VW's.

 

GLASS.vwx

 

 

 

[rDesign]

@ParkerJames 

1) If you create a VP of that 3D view and put it on a Sheet Layer and render that with either FQRW or Redshift, does it look any different?

2) Have you restarted your computer recently?

3) Also try creating a test file and copy and pasting those problematic doors & windows to the new test tile, and see if the issues still happen.
 

Not knowing your hardware specifications, diagnosing rendering issues on a Design Layer can be more problematic than doing it on a Sheet Layer, as it takes much more computing power to render a full DL than it does on a SLVP.

[ParkerJames]

37 minutes ago, VIRTUALENVIRONS said:

I seldom render in VW's and you are in far better hands with the others....but.  How thick is your glass?  

 

The Absorption rate comes into play the thicker your glass is.  Check the thickness and reduce to test.

 

Also, I have success with this glass texture when I render in VW's.

 

GLASS.vwx

 

 

 

I halved thickness and got the same result.

[ParkerJames]

7 minutes ago, rDesign said:

@ParkerJames 

1) If you create a VP of that 3D view and put it on a Sheet Layer and render that with either FQRW or Redshift, does it look any different?

2) Have you restarted your computer recently?

3) Also try creating a test file and copy and pasting those problematic doors & windows to the new test tile, and see if the issues still happen.
 

Not knowing your hardware specifications, diagnosing rendering issues on a Design Layer can be more problematic than doing it on a Sheet Layer, as it takes much more computing power to render a full DL than it does on a SLVP.

Good suggestion. I will do that. BTW--I am running a punchy Mac Studio and that final Redshift takes about 4 minutes. There is a lot happening in this file for a residence.

[ParkerJames]

1 hour ago, rDesign said:

@ParkerJames 

1) If you create a VP of that 3D view and put it on a Sheet Layer and render that with either FQRW or Redshift, does it look any different?

2) Have you restarted your computer recently?

3) Also try creating a test file and copy and pasting those problematic doors & windows to the new test tile, and see if the issues still happen.
 

Not knowing your hardware specifications, diagnosing rendering issues on a Design Layer can be more problematic than doing it on a Sheet Layer, as it takes much more computing power to render a full DL than it does on a SLVP.

Good suggestion. I will do that. BTW--I am running a punchy Mac Studio and that final Redshift takes about 4 minutes. There is a lot happening in this file for a residence.

 

I restarted the Mac with no change.

I created a VP to a sheet with no change.

I used a test file with just the doors and an object behind with no change

 

Then I switched the glass texture to the one VE attached and its clear as a bell.

What the heck?

[Jesse Cogswell]

Can you copy the wall and windows into a new document and post it on the Forums?  There might be something weird in the texture we're not able to see.  Also add any of your Render Styles that you are using.

[ParkerJames]

42 minutes ago, Jesse Cogswell said:

Can you copy the wall and windows into a new document and post it on the Forums?  There might be something weird in the texture we're not able to see.  Also add any of your Render Styles that you are using.

I changed the glass back to what it was in these 3 windows.

I am using the standard VW rendering in 2025.

Untitled 1.vwx

[Jesse Cogswell]

The windows are using the texture that is tied to the Glazing-Clear class, called Glass Clear RT found within the zNested Textures resource folder.  It has a 15% blurriness applied to both the Glass and Transparency shaders, and a fairly low transmission (70%).

 

 

 

By default, anytime you add a window or door containing glass, a Glazing-Clear class will likely be created and the default Glass Clear RT texture will be imported into your drawing.  Somehow, this texture got changed to add blurriness and that's what is screwing up your rendering.  Blurriness doesn't show up in Shaded render modes (at least I don't think it does, but haven't used 2025 enough to know for sure if this is still the case), so you wouldn't catch it until you did a Redshift or Renderworks rendering.

 

So, you can edit the texture or change the associated texture tied to the Glazing-Clear class.  Some other things that you should know in particular when using Redshift (which may have been fixed in VW2025):

• Redshift calculates refraction completely differently than Renderworks.  Generally, you'll want to set refraction to 1 to avoid your windows from looking like they are full of water.
• Glass reflection shaders don't work properly with Redshift.  I've made it a habit to use a Mirror shader instead.
• Before saving a file to upload on the forums, make sure the active rendering mode is either Shaded or Wireframe and not something with a heavy processing load like Redshift or Renderworks, it takes a much longer time to get the file open and ready for editing.

Edited January 3 by Jesse Cogswell

[ParkerJames]

Thanks, Jesse. I will spend time tomorrow digesting this and digging in.

So much to learn, but I like it.

All of you have been helpful.