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Make architectural glass more transparent?

Posted: Fri Apr 23, 2021 11:28 am
by arleoniti
Hi
I'd like my windows more transparent, so I can see more of what's going on outside the windows. Can anyone help me? Have a look at the attached file. I like the look of the architectural/translucent glass with sky reflections, but I can't figure out how to make these windows "less dark". This scene is mid day sunshine but it looks like evening or like there's a tint/sun protection film on the windows.
• Lowering the alpha % of the texture seems to do the trick within Sketchup, but as soon as I go rendering there's no difference between 50% alpha and 0% alpha... So no luck there.
• I've tried boosting the sky/sun/exterior brightness but that only makes the very lightest parts of the exterior shine, the rest is unaffected.
• Never mind lighting and realism for this one – I basically just want to see more of the exterior/garden through the windows.
• I'm using Sketchup on a Mac with Twilight Render V2

I'm pretty new to this so go easy on me :)

Re: Make architectural glass more transparent?

Posted: Sat Apr 24, 2021 6:25 pm
by tuna57
Going out on a limb here but I don't think the SketchUp "Translucent Glass with Sky Reflections" is a good choice for interior renders. First suggestion would be to repaint the glass with "Translucent Glass Grey" and give that a try. Second question are your windows single "panes" with no thickness. If so you want to use the Twilight "Architectural Glass-Common" material template. There are some "work arounds" for this in the Twilight Material Editor window so you wouldn't have to "repaint" the windows but as you've said you're a new user so I'm trying to keep it pretty straight forward.

Re: Make architectural glass more transparent?

Posted: Sun Apr 25, 2021 5:25 pm
by Fletch
arleoniti wrote: Fri Apr 23, 2021 11:28 am Hi
I'd like my windows more transparent, so I can see more of what's going on outside the windows. Can anyone help me? Have a look at the attached file. I like the look of the architectural/translucent glass with sky reflections, but I can't figure out how to make these windows "less dark". This scene is mid day sunshine but it looks like evening or like there's a tint/sun protection film on the windows.
• Lowering the alpha % of the texture seems to do the trick within Sketchup, but as soon as I go rendering there's no difference between 50% alpha and 0% alpha... So no luck there.
• I've tried boosting the sky/sun/exterior brightness but that only makes the very lightest parts of the exterior shine, the rest is unaffected.
• Never mind lighting and realism for this one – I basically just want to see more of the exterior/garden through the windows.
• I'm using Sketchup on a Mac with Twilight Render V2

I'm pretty new to this so go easy on me :)
Use "Templates>Architectural Glass Common" and use a single pane/face of glass. Set "color" to White, Alpha 0.00

Re: Make architectural glass more transparent?

Posted: Sun Apr 25, 2021 6:02 pm
by Fletch
animation demonstrating common window glass - and common problems with windows.

Re: Make architectural glass more transparent?

Posted: Mon Apr 26, 2021 2:05 pm
by Chris
One additional suggestion. If you want to reduce the amount of reflection from the Architectural Glass, reduce the IOR value. I think by default it is 1.52, so try 1.2, 1.1. Just don't go below 1.0. At 1.0 I would expect it to completely disappear, no reflection.