This page provides links to tutorials on how to generate procedural and photon-mapped caustics using V-Ray for Blender.
How to Render Progressive Caustics Through a Displaced Pool Surface
In this tutorial, we use the Progressive Caustics method to render caustics on the bottom of a pool. The surface of the pool is displaced using a Displacement node, creating small creases in the water surface, which allow caustics to take place. Watch the video for the full tutorial. You can download the scene from here:
How to render caustics using a Photon Map Through a Glass Cup
In this tutorial, we generate a Photon Map (which is only available when Production rendering) for the caustics generated when light passes through this red glass cup. See the full tutorial:
Notes
- If you would like to use the Caustics Render Channel alone, there is another step you need to consider when adjusting the V-Ray material - setting the Refraction Advanced > Affect Alpha parameter to All channels. Sometimes, photons can fall behind in refractive surfaces, and they are then calculated towards the Refraction render channel, instead of the Caustics render channel. This does not affect the final render, but it does create inaccuracies when working solely with the render channels. Because of this, the Affect Alpha channel needs to be set to All channels to ensure the Caustics render element also contains the photons fallen behind refraction.
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- These scenes were generated with V-Ray for Blender Beta. When you first open them, a popup window appears asking you to update to the latest version of V-Ray. Accept the request by clicking OK.
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