Re "Mirror Mirror"
Prince Wao
Posts: 373
Can anyone please tell me how I get these mirrors - the "Mirror Mirror" product only - to reflect? I did search the forums but can only find details about other mirrors, and Mirror Mirror doesn't have the same menu of settings. EG: I've used the Atlantida mirror in three different complete compositions and in two it instantly reflected, while although it didn't in the third, all I had to do was increase the "reflection strength" setting to get it to reflect. However, in Mirror Mirror that reflection setting doesn't exist - there's only "reflectivity" set at a 50% default, but lowering or heightening it makes no difference. I've tried fiddling with all of the settings, but have failed over and over again - over months! - to get any of the mirrors to reflect anything. If I give the centre part of the mirror a glass shader it does reflect but very pathetically. I now really need a wall mirror for a new composition, but I can't use the Atlantida one as it's inseparable from it's stand.
Daz 3D is part of 
Connect
DAZ Productions, Inc.
224 S 200 W, Suite #250
Salt Lake City, UT 84101
Licensing Agreement | Terms of Service | Privacy Policy | EULA
© 2024 Daz Productions Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Comments
Iray or 3Delight?
3Delight in this instance, but advice on both would be good.
Thanks. 
Is the mirror surface set to it's own material zone?
If it is, then you can just select the material zone and apply a mirror shader that you know works.
The Mirror Mirror set has materials for Iray only. Should work fine in Iray (I tried it just now) providing you have something in the scene to reflect - I just picked a HDRI render preset with draw dome on and hit render and the "back" of the dome was reflected perfectly. If you want to use it in 3Delight you'll need to copy the settings from (say) the Atlantida mirror and paste them into the Mirror suface in Mirror Mirror.
ETA: Here's my Iray example - the lower mirrors are tipped backwards a bit to reflect more than just sand.
Thanks for your reply James.
I've just loaded two "Mirror Mirror" mirrors (dizzying to write that!) into a set I already have which contains the Atlantida mirror. I apply set materials to the new mirrors and render (in 3Delight as the set I need the new mirror for has to be that). The Atlantida mirror instantly reflects, while the new 2 don't. All of the settings for "Mirror Mirror" are the default, as are the settings for the Atlantida (though this has a differing menu of settings). So I assume the "MM" is set to it's own material zone, though I don't know what you mean by "zone" as there's no such wording in the settings. I don't have any mirror shaders other than basic glass which sometimes creates excellent reflections when applied to water; but the "MM" product, being mirrors, shouldn't require an added shader which the purchaser may or may not have.
STOP PRESS: I've just logged-in to paste the above, so I'll leave it in, but Melanie's new reply has solved the mystery - thanks, Melanie! :) There's absolutely nothing on the product page (nor in Content Library) which states that "Mirror Mirror" only works with Iray (which is naughty). As soon as I read Melanie's reply I began rendering the above image with 3 mirrors using Iray and both of the "MM" mirrors are instantly reflecting while the Atlantida now isn't! Unfortunately, whether 3Delight or Iray is selected in render settings, the "MM" and the Atlantida products have totally different settings menus under "Surfaces" so it seems there's no way of copying the settings.
As there's no mention of "MM" being purely for Iray I would still assume that somehow the mirrors can be made to reflect in 3Delight, but it's now down to someone already having done it to advise me.
Actually for those of us who've been around the DAZ3D Store for a long time there is a clue on the product page - it says it has Iray material presets but does not say anything about 3Delight. I agree it could be clearer though.
On copying the settings from a 3Delight surface to one of the Mirror Mirror set, the easiest way is to select the Atlantida mirror in your scene, go to the Surfaces tab, expand the Atlantida Mirror using the little down arrow next to its name, click on the reflective surface (I'm sorry I don't have Atlantida so I don't know eactly what it is called but with luck it may say "mirror" or similar) and save that as a Shader Preset (from the menu bar File - Save As... - Shader Preset). Call it something you will be able to remember and note where you saved it. The select the Mirror Mirror one in the scene, go to Surfaces again, expand it, pick the "mirror" surface then go to wherever you saved the shader preset in your content library and double click it. That will change the shader type to a 3Deight one as well as copying the settings. Good luck!
Of course you can do this in reverse - pick the mirror surface of the Mirror Mirror one and save that as a Shader Preset, then you can apply it to the Atlantida one. Perhaps call one preset "3Delight Mirror" and the other "Iray Mirror" so you can find them easily in future?
Thanks very much Melanie for your reply! Unfortunately I've tried what you said and it doesn't work. Re the Atlantida mirror, under Surfaces and under "Mirror" is this list:
> Light
> Mirror
> Mirror_bz
> Mirror_g
> Mirror_r
The _r is the mirror glass surface, the rest parts of the frame. If I save Mirror_r as a shader preset then apply it to the mirror surface in a "Mirror Mirror" mirror what appears pre render in that mirror is just a part of the Atlantida mirror's original graphic (I don't know what it's called, but it's the flattened version of all that's in the 3D mirror product). When I render I do get a reflection but the rest of the graphic is also still there. I tried saving each of the above (Light to Mirror_r) as shader presets just in case, but oddly I get the same result in the pre-render.
Under Mirror_r is the usual list of General, Diffusive, Specular, etc, etc. If I select Reflection from that list and save that as a shader preset I again get exactly the same result as above: the flattened Atlantida mirror graphic appears in the "MM" mirror, then when I render, that graphic remains but I do get a vague reflection.
Could it be that saving a 3Delight facet as a shader preset doesn't work when applied to an Iray prop? Or is it just an anomaly re these two products?
Oh, sorry - didn't realise the Atlantida mirror was going to use a texture for the mirror surface. OK so I think there are some free shaders around that might do the job. I'll have a hunt and try and find them.
ETA: OK the one I was remembering was for Iray so that's no use. Try this thread for settings uou need: https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/16927/
You'll need to set the surface to the DAZ Default shader first.
Why make things complicated? Apply the daz default shader (for 3DL) and set reflections to 100%, should work now.
Maybe tint the diffuse with a green or sepia color, set specular glossiness to maybe 70-90%, set spec. strength to about 60%.
Now you should have something that looks like a mirror
Make sure you have raytrace depht set to min 1 in the render settings pane!
Ah, didn't notice Sven's post when I updated mine. Go with that!
Thanks Melanie and Sven. The link given I've seen before when searching the forums but doesn't help, alas. Re applying the Daz default shader,etc, I do get a reflection from the "MM" mirror, but it's milky, dull and pinky-ish. I tried the various settings - glossiness, spec strength, raytrace and a few others - but none make any noticeable difference.
Please consider this thread closed as I've decided to only use the "MM" mirrors in Iray sets in future, while I'll find another mirror for the 3Delight project I currently need one for. Many thanks to everyone who responded and gave up some time to think about it!
