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Print at Dec 19, 2025, 3:10:38 PM
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Posted by rontant at Jul 9, 2018, 4:11:34 PM
Glass blocks
I am trying to use the glass blocks found in the model library and I also use the service window to accomodate those glass blocks, but for some reasons, the service window just won't allow the glass blocks to fit in even though I have resized the windows.



In the photo, the glass blocks may look fine but actualy they are hovering in front of the window. They are not sitting within the service window frame.

Is there any trick to get around with this?


Another thing I just found out is that the glass blocks are very transparent, so they are not suitable for bathrooms. As a workaround, I hang a light panel #1 outside the window to block tbe view from/to outside (Go away peeping toms!)

Posted by Puybaret at Jul 9, 2018, 5:30:02 PM
Re: Glass blocks
Deactivate magnetism to place the glass block.

Getting a frosted glass effect is not really feasible in Sweet Home 3D. You could try some textures but you will still view through it. The only solution I can think of would to design a 3D model glass with an uneven surface. If you have to the patience to try it, we will be happy to read your findings. For example, in Blender, you could subdivide the side of a box in many small faces, and move a little some vertices.
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Emmanuel Puybaret, Sweet Home 3D creator

Posted by okh at Jul 9, 2018, 9:08:17 PM
Re: Glass blocks
For my - more limited - purposes, a semi-transparent (frosted) texture works pretty well on glass blocks (same effect as the stain glass window) - a slightly blurred view. But it would be quite interesting to see what can be done with a slightly uneven glass surface and optical density... ok

Posted by Puybaret at Jul 9, 2018, 11:49:31 PM
Re: Glass blocks
I couldn't resist to try myself : I created a cube in Blender, divided one of its sides in 64x64 faces with Mesh > Edges > Subdivide menu item, then selected some vertices randomly with Select > Random menu item to move them a little bit on the left, and repeated random selections to move other vertices towards each direction.
The 3D model imported in Sweet Home 3D gives the following result at the best quality level:



Not too bad, isn't it?
The attached frostedGlass.obj file will let you try yourself.
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Attachment frostedGlass.obj (195397 bytes) (Download count: 3200) (Frosted glass object (effect visible at the 2 best rendering quality levels))

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Emmanuel Puybaret, Sweet Home 3D creator

Posted by rontant at Jul 10, 2018, 6:48:47 AM
Re: Glass blocks
@Puybaret, thank you very much. Following your pointers, I used Blender to create the glass blocks. It took me a while getting the right transparency parameters in Blender for the glass block.

Here they are....

Alpha: 0.617
Blend: 1.0
Fresnel: 1.5
Specular: 1.0


I have uploaded the .obj and .mtl to https://sourceforge.net/p/sweethome3d/d-models/485/


Night time view from outside.


Day time view from inside.

I think the existing service window in the library can be too much of a hassle to use with this glass block. I'll see if I can create a dedicated window model using these glass blocks.


Existing service window without glass blocks

Posted by rontant at Jul 10, 2018, 8:39:52 AM
Re: Glass blocks
Alright.... I have created the glass block windows. Inside this furniture library, you will find two glass block windows: 2x8 blocks (Elevation 50cm) and 2x10 blocks with elevation from 0cm.

No need to use service windows anymore. No more hassles.

Enjoy!

https://sourceforge.net/p/sweethome3d/d-models/485/#b874

Posted by rontant at Jul 10, 2018, 8:46:56 AM
Re: Glass blocks
One thing I am not happy with these glass blocks is the casted shadow of subject on the other side of the window. In the photo above, there is one human figure standing outside, behind the window. Look at the shadows casted on the floor. While the shadows of Kitty and the woman inside the room look okay, the shadow of the woman outside doesn't look right.

Posted by Puybaret at Jul 10, 2018, 1:11:13 PM
Re: Glass blocks
Very nicely done. Writing normals during OBJ export generates a twice larger file and I'm not sure it's necessary in this case, but it's not a problem.

About the shadow, I hoped that setting Caustics photons could improve that but I tried and it's not the case sad
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Emmanuel Puybaret, Sweet Home 3D creator

Posted by rontant at Jul 10, 2018, 3:39:22 PM
Re: Glass blocks
Writing normals during OBJ export? I have no idea what that is. Any pointer on how to avoid that? Would large OBJ slow down the photo rendering?

This 1000x1000 pixels took 2.5 hours to render on my I7 2.6Ghz Lenovo laptop. I need a faster computer but...

Posted by rontant at Jul 10, 2018, 3:54:40 PM
Re: Glass blocks
Emmanuel, I have found the "Write Normal" option already in Blender. I have unticked the box. Thanks.

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