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[Maximilianibus]

Hey guys! I've got a question(which is, to be honest, not Anim8or related ^^"):
ATM I'm working on some kind of a.. top secret project and I have to simulate some mirrors and such... Is this possible with a raytracer?
I mean things like this:

If I can't do that with a raytracer, do you have an idea for simulating such things?

Greetings ^^

[davdud101]

Aw, yeah, man! Anim8or's ART raytracer totally allows for reflections and stuff. (wait, you didn't already know that, did you?)

[Maximilianibus]

I knew that but I was asking if the rays would do the exact same thing as in reality ^^

[$imon]

They should act the same, maxim.. Here is a quick setup I made, getting the proper result.. With some adjustments you should be able to get every effect you want.

Not sure how this benefits you though - since the mirage only looks 3d - just like any other 3d object you make. The visual effect of a real life version is lost.

[Maximilianibus]

oh, ok, thank you $imon ^^

[dwsel]

I knew that but I was asking if the rays would do the exact same thing as in reality ^^

That depends... Classic raytracers like ART can't do caustics and GI so for example you won't be able to do prism or to see focal point of curved mirror or transparent lens as a bright spot on a plane (mind that any other renderer will require a lot of tweaking and long time of computation to be able to reproduce these effects with precision), but this specific experiment you mentioned can be easily reproduced.

Here's my version. Distortion comes from fact that I didn't use true parabolic mirror but only two 1/4 parts of sphere.

Articles I took a look at while making this image:
http://www.optigone.com/3D_hologram.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parabolic_reflector
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curved_mirror
http://dev.physicslab.org/Document.aspx?doctype=3&filename=GeometricOptics_RealImages.xml