Making a Diffused Light Box

[wsutliff]

I am trying to make a hollow platform with one side frosted plexiglas and the other sides solid. I created a box, extruded it, then subtracted all but 2" all the way around except for the side I want to be solid, this I cut through completely. I made another extrude to fill this section. I want to be able to put a light in the box and have it light up the plexi side. When I put a light in and render it, it acts like the box is not there and the light spills everywhere and does not light up the plexi which I added the tecture of transparency to. Does anyone have any idea how this can be accomplished. Thanks.

[Pat Stanford]

Make sure your slight is set to cast shadows in the Object Infor Palette. While they don't cast shadows, lights without this set also don't respect the opacity of objects.

Pat

[Dave Donley]

Hello wsutliff:

Try using the translucency or translucent plastic reflectivity shaders in the Edit Texture dialog. These light up when a light is behind them. You may want to turn off cast shadows for the texture if the texture is being applied to an object that has multiple surfaces that may shadow one another.

You might also layer two separate 3D polygons to make the translucent face, one slightly behind with a translucent texture and one in front with a plastic or glass texture, so that it looks shiny.

Edited September 24, 2007 by Dave Donley