From water spilling forth from a faucet to a refreshing glass of orange juice, liquids are used across a variety of visuals. The liquid material in KeyShot makes creating a liquid appearance incredibly easy, but the translucent material is also an option for liquids. KeyShot user Torsten was inspired by a forum post where Dries submitted some great examples of his experiments with translucent materials for liquids. Torsten recreated the scene and has provided it for download below. Here’s a look and how you can use translucent to create liquids and what the Translucency settings control.
Translucent Materials for Liquids
You can download the .bip file here. This scene is not only a great example of using the translucent material for liquid, but also shows how to set up your geometry, apply materials and set the correct Refraction Index. The process for creating a liquid using the Translucent material is simple.
- Double-click on the geometry to be liquid
- Change the material Type to Translucent
- Adjust the Texture Color to desired color
The Texture Color is located in the Advance settings, as is the Refraction Index. The Refraction Index, also called the Index of Refraction (IOR) controls how fast light travels through the material. The higher the value, the slower it travels. Water has a IOR of 1.33, glass has a value of 1.5. A higher Refraction Index also makes the material more reflective. The Translucency setting will control how much of the subsurface color penetrates the surface. For a deeper, softer appearance use a higher value for a more dramatic effect you can also type in a higher number.
You can also leave the texture color white and select a mix of colors for the Surface Color (outer surface color) and Subsurface color (color through the material). Ready to try it yourself? Download the .bip.
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