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Refraction Color – Specifies the refraction color of the material. Note that the actual refraction color depends on the Reflection Color as well. A node can also be used to control this property.

Refraction Glossiness – Controls the sharpness of refractions. A value of 1.0 creates perfect glass-like refraction; lower values produce blurry or glossy refractions. A node can also be used to control this property.

Refraction IOR – Index of refraction for the material, which describes the way light bends when crossing the material surface. A value of 1.0 means that the light does not change direction when hitting the material surface. A node can also be used to control this property.

Affect Shadows – This parameter causes the material to cast transparent shadows. This creates a simple caustic effect, dependent on the refraction color and the Fog Color. Note: For accurate caustic calculations, disable this parameter and instead enable Caustics Rollout. Simultaneous usage of both Caustics and Affects Shadows can be used for artistic purposes but does not produce a physically correct result.

Refract Thin Walled – When enabled, simulates thin translucent surfaces such as soap bubbles, leaves, curtains, etc. The SSS Color defines the backside color, while the SSS Amount controls the translucency effect.

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Example: Refraction Color

This example demonstrates the effect of the Refraction Color the Refraction Color parameter when creating glass materials. For the images in this example, the material has a gray Diffuse  Diffuse Color and a white Reflection  Reflection Color, and the Fresnel Reflections option is enabled.

Example: Refraction IOR

This example demonstrates the effect of the Refraction IOR parameter. Note how light bends more as the IOR deviates from 1.0. When the index of refraction (IOR) is 1.0, the render produces a transparent object. Note: in the case of transparent objects, it might be better to assign an opacity map to the material rather than use refraction.