Open new rendering tricks with Ray Portal BSDF in Blender Cycles 4.2

Blender Foundation has released Blender 4.2, the latest version of its open-source 3D software for artists working in VFX, animation, game development, and visualization. Notably, Cycles – Blender’s renderer has a new Ray Portal BSDF node, which transports light rays from one location to another in a scene and opens new rendering tricks.

In this article, iRender will provide an overview of Ray Portal BSDF in Blender Cycles 4.2!

In Blender Cycles, the Ray Portal BSDF node routes rays to another location in the scene. It can be used to render portals for visual effects and other production rendering tricks.  This specialized shader is designed to improve the rendering of interior scenes, particularly when light enters through openings like windows, doors, or other portals.

This node works like a transparent BSDF: the render passes are passed through and it is affected by the maximum transparent reflections of the light path. Users can specify a new starting position and direction for light rays passing through the portal and color the rays after they pass through.

Note

However, there are some notes you should consider when using this node:

• The Ray Portal BSDF only allows rays to pass through it in one direction. Add a second portal at the target location to make the rays go in the other direction.
• Light sampling does not work well through portals. This can lead to increased noise from lights on the other side of the portals. Small lights in particular can be very noisy or not pass through at all.

The importance of Ray Portal BSDF

The Ray Portal BSDF is important as it addresses a common challenge in rendering interior scenes with openings like windows or apertures. When light enters through these openings, traditional rendering methods can struggle to simulate the interactions and reflections of light within the space accurately. This node provides supplementary information to Cycles, allowing it to calculate the behavior of light passing through these openings. 

Essentially, it gains a deeper understanding of how light interacts within interior spaces, leading to faster and more accurate renders. Lastly, Ray Portal BSDF improves rendering quality, reduces noise, and overall efficiency, and empowers artists and designers to achieve more realistic and immersive interior renderings in Blender Cycles. 

Inputs

Color: Tint rays pass through the portal.

Position: Ray started a position at a new location. Defaults to the current position, matching the Position output of the Geometry node.

Direction: Ray direction at the new location. Defaults to the current view direction, which is the same as the negation of the Incoming output of the Geometry node.

Properties

This node has no properties.

Outputs

BSDF: Standard shader output.

Connecting two spaces to produce effects like a portal to an alternate dimension or “impossible spaces,” where something is bigger or smaller on the inside than expected, is one use case for the Ray Portal BSDF.

To set up a Ray Portal BSDF, you can modify the Position and Incoming outputs of the Geometry node to set the exit point and direction of the ray through the portal. Here are a few instances:

Ray position is offset by this basic node configuration. The ray is offset in this case by 0 units along the X, 4 units along the Y, and 5 units along the Z axes.

In this example, drivers are used to retrieve the Location of Portal Target and Rotation of Portal Target vectors from a target portal object.

For effects such as a camera feed on a screen, it is possible to replace the ray position and direction in addition to boosting the rays themselves.

Replicating the appearance of a camera feed on a screen with the Ray Portal BSDF

Node setup for replicating a camera feed like effect on a screen.

By harnessing the power of Ray Portal BSDF, you can achieve more realistic and visually stunning renders, especially in interior scenes with artificial lighting. Experimenting with Ray Portal BSDF will not only enhance the quality of your renders but also streamline your workflow, making the rendering process more efficient and enjoyable. So, dive into Blender Cycles 4.2, explore the potential of Ray Portal BSDF, and elevate your 3D projects to new heights.

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Images and References: blender.org, cgchannel.com