Geometry Shells and Lighting

Jason Galterio

I am not sure if anyone has posted this idea previously...  I found it today while experimenting and it was a game changer for me.

I have a lot of models that have light structures in them; light bulbs, signs, etc, where applying an emissive shader to them makes the scene look like dog vomit. Particularly older models from DAZ that I repurpose into Iray materials.

In the past I have tried creating geometry shells and placing the emissive shader on those but again, this can be hit or miss, particularly if using the Opacity 0.01 trick.

On a whim I decided to try setting the geometry shell offset as a negative number, putting the shell inside the model. I then applied a glass shader to the parent model and...  well, I wish I had thought of it years ago.

With how tempermental Geometry Shells can be I honestly expected DS to crash, or it to just not work at all. Probably why I never tried this before.