Reflected Light

[markdd]

I would like to reflect a spotlight off a mirrored surface. Is there a way to render the reflected beam?

I would really grateful if anyone is able to give me a walk through of the procedure here.

Many thanks

Mark

[Jonathan Pickup]

To show the beam of light you need to use lit fog.

http://learn.archoncad.com/2014/09/19542/vectorworks-tip-144-visualisation-lit-fog/

Edited July 4, 2016 by Jonathan Pickup

[markdd]

It was the resultant reflected light that I wanted to see. Any thoughts?

[Jonathan Pickup]

Only the reflected light?

[markdd]

Both would be good. But its the reflected light that I am interested in. I would like to use it as a tool to work out here to place the source to get the reflection where I need it.

Many thanks

Mark

[michaelk]

You will need to use 2 lights.

VW won't show the beam for the reflected portion of the beam (after the mirror).

But you can fake it.

Put the focus point on the mirror.

Focus your instrument onto it.

Mirror that instrument around the mirror object.

I'll attach an example that will make more sense than my explanation. It's pretty easy to do with Spotlight instruments, but I think you could do it with regular light objects as well.

hth

mk

Edited July 5, 2016 by michaelk

[markdd]

Many thanks Michael

That's a great solution.

Mark

[Dave Donley]

Another thought would be to use caustics (in the Obj Info palette for the light).

[michaelk]

…it's more of a hack than a great solution.

But it works :-)

mk

[markdd]

I don't know. I've been testing caustics and they seem to work well, but the render times seem to be rather epic!

[michaelk]

Dave

How does that work to make the visible beam "bounce"?

mk

[markdd]

Not sure I really understand your question but of you turn on Caustics for the lighting fixture, and play around with the settings on a mirror texture then you can see the resulting reflections in final quality renderworks. (Haven't tried it in Custom renderworks yet)