Reflections

[jkcui1687]

Hello, I'm pretty new to Blender. I can't seem to get my floor to reflect objects using a dynamic camera map. I recorded a video making a small scene to work out the problem. Give it a watch, and If you have the time, I would greatly appreciate any help. It's been driving me a little crazy. I am using the wiki guide for the environment maps.

https://youtu.be/6PPiFVncZXo

Thanks for the help! Hope to be making some fantastic ages for you all!

[ametist]

First off thanks for a very instructing video JKC! Maybe I can help a little because I am also experimenting with the environment maps right now and I do exactly as you do, only I set the opacity on the environment map texture lower, like 70-80 %.
I can see the floor texture through fine. I also set it to 1024 resolution, that made the reflections not quite so pixelated.
I had the same problem as you talk about, the reflection is viewable far off from the reflective object, I think it has to do with where the light is, I can't say for sure, but thats what my testing show so far.

I am still not happy though, so I will keep experimenting with the clipping numbers and other settings.

[jkcui1687]

Thanks Ametist, some things just explain better with a video

On Discord, Dpogue had said:

If you're testing in offline Uru (PotS or Uru CC) then it's because the older version of the engine doesn't support Dynamic Camera Maps. Korman has an export option (which I think is turned on by default) to downgrade planar reflections to cubemaps for the offline engine.

I have been using CC as my offline Uru, so maybe this is why. Going to try to upload via Drizzle into Deep Island as a non-public age and see if that helps, assuming that the DI shard can support the camera maps.

[Doobes]

I have been using CC as my offline Uru, so maybe this is why. Going to try to upload via Drizzle into Deep Island as a non-public age and see if that helps, assuming that the DI shard can support the camera maps.

Sadly, that won't work either, as Deep Island is based on PotS/CC, which doesn't support dynamic camera maps. Korman actually downgrades them to the less-accurate dynamic environment maps for "older" versions of URU.

To test out DCMs, you need to use Destiny shard, which uses an MOUL-based client:

https://destiny.mystler.eu/viewforum.php?f=4

Again, only MOUL-based shards can support DCMs (MOULa, Gehn Shard, etc). Sorry for the confusion!

[jkcui1687]

Thanks for the clarity Doobes! Some more digging through the wiki led me to this as well. I'll stick to the cubemaps for the time being. Guess it's best to just get a first iteration up on DI for feedback, as Destiny Shard looks pretty... Intimidating

[Tsar Hoikas]

It looks like you're doing almost everything right - it's just the lack of actual planar reflections in PotS is biting you. Those things are difficult to set up at the best of times.

Korman 0.10, which is tentatively scheduled to release in the next week, makes a few adjustments to the way dynamic cube maps work, but I'm not sure how much that will help.

[jkcui1687]

Oh nice, I'll have to keep a lookout. Is this update by chance going to work with blender 2.8? It may not help with the reflection problem but at least the new UI is slightly agreeing with what I've been use to over the years.

[Tsar Hoikas]

Unfortunately not. Blender's decision to outright remove the old "Blender Render" engine with no path forward has put me in a position where I will need to rewrite large portions of Korman to make that leap. The working plan is to make a complete Blender 2.79 plugin first, then look at updating the Blender requirement.

[Sirius]

Korman actually downgrades them to the less-accurate dynamic environment maps for "older" versions of URU.

Worth mentioning you can get slightly more accurate envmaps by increasing the polygon count (subdividing) of the reflective surface, and avoid long narrow triangles. This will give slightly less distorted envmaps, since Uru computes a lot of things per vertex. This works for a lot of things actually, like water, dynamic lighting and specular effects.
Granted, it's still not as good as the DCM...