Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
Making use of IOR values
Just how much distortion or bending takes place will depend very much on the
amount of directional change that is forced on the light rays as they enter into the
glass object's volume. Again, this will be determined by the physical properties of the
object, density being one of the big contributing factors here.
Does this mean that in order to recreate realistic glass for our scene materials, we
would need to know and include all of the complex molecular information contained
in every type of glass known? Fortunately, the answer to that question is no. Instead,
we can make use of a piece of measured data that is made readily available to us in
the form of an index or table. This is known as the index of refraction, and it contains
numeric values that describe the slowdown and so directional change of light as it
passes into and through all transmissive objects.
The following table includes a number of averaged IOR values that can be used to
describe the refractive properties of a number of fairly typical transmissive materials:
Search WWH ::
Custom Search