Mirror material not producing reflections

[FlightDeck]

Hi, I've assigned the Mirror material to the glass panels of some sliding doors and the reflections are not appearing.  For example see attached screencap:

 

 

The small door on the left has had the Mirror material assigned to the glass panels and it shows reflections, while the large sliding doors on the right do not.  Both door types are set to Glass.  I tried reversing the facing of the sliding doors in case the reflections only render on one side, but it made no difference.

 

While researching in the support resources I found a comment that the object needs to be largely flat in order to render reflections.  If I assign Mirror material type to walls or floors, they will render.  If I assign it to a flat door trim or baseboard moulding, they will not.  If I assign it to the frame of one of the mirror objects in the library (bevelled mirror), the frame is not reflective.  So, I can see that some objects will not render reflections, however I can't understand why the glass panels in one door type will render reflections while another will not.

 

Any ideas?

 

Thanks and regards,

KDJ

[FlightDeck]

...I can also add that the library obect "Mirror Door SC01" also does not reflect for me, although "Door S01 (mirror on back)" does.  For the former, its properties showed that the mirror portion was assigned the "Thinset Mortar" material, lol!  I changed it to Mirror, and still no reflections.

 

This model has been doing some strange things.  A while ago a large number of objects in the model had inherited a wicker material.  It was everywhere..., car bumpers and mirrors, door and window frames, cabinet hardware, faucets, etc.  Somehow the Default Settings had gotten this material assigned in multiple places.  I reset them all manually.  This thinset mortar incident is making me wonder if it's happening again, and if that might somehow explain why some mirror doors are not working. 

[FlightDeck]

...okay if I assign the Mirror Door SC01 to the large sliding doors (instead of using the Glass door type), and then change the inexplicable Thinset Mortar material to Mirror, the doors show reflections:



If I instead directly place a Mirror Door SC01 in the model, it will not show reflections.

 

Still need the Glass door type to show reflections though like it does for the small pocket door, as that's the only door type that lets me change the frame widths around the glass portion.

[Kbird1]

this was new in 2015 , but AFAIK , you have to use a specific mirror material AND have the Preferences setup correctly but also mirrors cannot reflect mirrors which maybe your problem with the two doors being too close together.

 

check this out

http://www.homedesignersoftware.com/support/article/KB-00858/49/Home-Designer/Materials/Showing-Mirror-Reflections.html

[FlightDeck]

Hi Mick,

As mentioned mirrors are working correctly in general, it's just that some objects will not show the refections when assigned the Mirror material property.  Also I made the small door into a mirror only to show the problem here on the forum; the large doors did not show reflections even before that, so it's not a mirror vs mirror problem.

 

So, still don't know why some Glass doors will mirror and some will not.

[Kbird1]

HD's old mirror material is NOT reflective and is still in the library and is probably still on older library items as the default.

 

And the reflection in the Room's door cannot show the closet doors or vica versa

[FlightDeck]

I did more testing and believe I've uncovered a bug in the software.  Just sent a report into tech support about it. 

 

It appears that the default "Glass door" type does not show reflections for all door types.  If instead of using the default "Glass" door type you use a different door from the Library, it appears that any door containing glass will mirror correctly after applying the Mirror material.

 

Some examples attached.  From left the doors are Swing, Sliding, Pocket, and Bifold.
 

Using the default "Glass" type for all, the Sliding door does not show reflections:

 

 

 

If the Bifold door is opened, it does not reflect either:

 

 

 

If instead of using the default Glass door type I use the Mirror Door SC01 from the Library, all doors mirror correctly even in the open positions:

 

 

I also tried the french Door F01 and it mirrored correctly.  I believe any door with glass will work correctly, and it's only the (legacy?) default "Glass" door type that is not correctly supporting the use of the Mirror material.

 

Until the bug is fixed it appears the workaround is to simply use a glass door from the Library instead of the default "Glass" door type.

 

Edit:  I should be saying "Glass" door *Style* (not Type).
 

[Kbird1]

the "grey glass/mirror" is the old Mirror glass AFAIK ( non reflective),   did you try just changing the material for the mirror/glass in the "standard glass door" to the new mirror material?

[FlightDeck]

Yes as I already explained, I apply the Mirror material from the Library to the glass portion of the door.  If the door Style is set to the default "Glass", it will not work for some door types and/or positions, as I already explained.  If the door Style is instead set to Library and any glass door from the Library is chosen, it works for all door types and positions.  I tested many types of glass entry doors, decorative stained glass doors, etc., and they all mirror fine.  It is only the default "Glass" style that does not work.

While this bug may be related to the "new" feature, I don't believe it's an "old vs new mirror" thing.  There is only one Mirror material in the Library when I search for "mirror".  Also, all mirror glass always shows as grey and non-reflective unless the scene is rendered in final view or this setting is enabled to do the render in realtime at all times, that is normal.  The fact that the mirrors always work correctly using this Mirror library material for every glass door type in the library indicates to me that the "new" material is working fine.  It's the legacy "Glass" door style that seems to have the issue.

 

[Kbird1]

I was just curious as I have seen this reported several times on Chieftalk with X6 , and they were using the old material not the new but have not played with this myself , the old standard door ,was probably built in Chief way back when , but I am not sure why applying the new mirror to it doesn't work as expected. 

[FlightDeck]

Here's my theory (not that it matters  )...  The mirror reflection rendering engine is limited to single flat planes and can't handle objects with multiple planes.  All the door types have only a single reflective plane except for two of them:  Sliding and an open Bifold.  For these cases each panel is on a different plane.  If the door Style is set to Glass it appears that it's being passed to the rendering engine as a single object, and then getting rejected because the mirror faces are on more than one plane.  If instead the Style is set to Library and any glass-containing door is picked from the library, it appears that the software is sending each *panel* of the door set to the rendering engine individually, rather than the entire door set.  Since each panel is only a single plane the rendering engine processes it okay. 

 

I suspect then that the fix is for them to update the code so that it sends the Glass Style to the rendering engine as separate panels rather than as a complete door set, in order to better support the new mirror capabilities.