It entirely depends on the engine/shader. It's extremely unlikely translucency equivalent effects will be ray marched (camera ray is sampled/iterated multiple times along its length), a lot more likely they will be shaded from whatever the estimator in that area finds nearby that flags for those parameters (assuming physically plausible shaders).
In neither case, for the centre of the membrane, watertightness of the mesh will matter at all, towards the outer edges though it most likely will. For the part joining the finger you are more likely to map things into submission than modelling the insides of the limbs. A single flowing and watertight hull for the whole wing is how we did everything insofar from bats to dragons. On Wed, Jul 9, 2014 at 10:52 AM, Mc Nistor <[email protected]> wrote: > Do the sides have to be closed in order for the translucency to work best? > I'm obviously talking about those that go inside the mesh (the > fingers/limbs) not the side that reside outside. > My "gut feeling" tells me that they don't since probably it's the rays > fired through the polygons from various sources (lights, cameras, etc) that > counts, not the topology of the mesh. > > > On Thu, Jul 3, 2014 at 3:15 AM, Raffaele Fragapane < > [email protected]> wrote: > >> If it's a photoreal centre piece, bite the bullet and give it >> topologically aligned thickness. You will pay through the nose later if you >> don't. Translucency/SSS alone will make or break a membrane in 90% of the >> lighting scenarios, and you simply won't get that one right without >> thickness. >> >> >> >> On Wed, Jul 2, 2014 at 11:17 PM, Byron Nash <[email protected]> wrote: >> >>> The creature will be the focal point of one shot and reasonably large in >>> frame. The biggest pain against the single sided membrane I'm working >>> against it getting it surfaced cleanly. The front of the wing has volume >>> and it was modeled with T intersections as it loops back on itself. I just >>> see it being a case where one side or another not being able to hide the >>> seam. I'm most of the way finished adding the other side in and stitching >>> it back around. >>> >>> > -- Our users will know fear and cower before our software! Ship it! Ship it and let them flee like the dogs they are!
