Neon Translucent Plastic

[DaveMDarcy]

Hello,

How can I replicate coloured translucent plastic that appears to glow at the edges? We have this plastic material that almost looks as if it's being illuminated from within and the edges appear to glow, even though it is only the ambient room lighting illuminating it. I'm doing this in the standard/physical renderer and I've tried playing with transparency and the absorption colour. It almost gets me there but it doesn't quite achieve the glow effect at the edges. Any tips or advice would be much appreciated thanks.

Kind Regards
Dave

[Dr. Sassi]

Hi Dave,

Would this technique help? (Or do I miss what you like to have: Neon-plastic has that light on cut edges, see P.S.)
https://www.youtube.com/live/j0UBCJ1dQXo?feature=shared&t=1340

Typically, the fastest way would be a Post FX> Bloom, but it might affect other areas to look natural, which is perhaps not wanted.
CV4_2025_drs_25_RSng_01.c4d

Let me know if that works for you.

My best wishes for your project

P.S.: CV4_2025_drs_25_RSng_11.c4d

[DaveMDarcy]

Hi Dr Sassi,

Thanks for the advice I didn't know about Bloom, that could be very useful in future.

I've still not managed to nail the material yet. I've almost got there but not 100% The plastic I'm trying to emulate is transparent with a slight colour. On the large flat surfaces the colour is very weak, but at the edges the colour is much stronger, almost as if the light is bouncing around inside and exiting out of the edges and concentrating the colour. It does this in ambient room light but it really looks like it's illuminated from within, almost like it's radioactive!

The attached image is a sample of it that I took on my table in just normal room light.

I tried using Transmission and set the absorption colour and distance according to the manual, and it almost gets me there but, on mine the edges are dark and not bright like the real thing. I tried putting a bit of luminance in but it makes the whole thing look illuminated (not just the edges) and adding glow just creates a glow around the outside of the object. I'm not sure where to go from here?

Kind Regards
David

[Dr. Sassi]

Hi David,

Thank for clearing which one it is.

Please have a look here, it is a combination of setting RS Open PBR node> Geometry Thin Walled and using a Ray-Switch Node. Disable one or both, if you like to have both ends "luminescent".

CV4_2025_drs_25_RSng_21.c4d

Is this coming closer?

Enjoy your weekened

[DaveMDarcy]

Hi Dr Sassi,

Wow that's amazing! It's pretty much the result I'm after. I just need to make a few alterations to mine to get it to look the same. On your model in the example, that's practically there what I need, but when I put those materials on my model, the bright green colour is too strong and doesn't look as transparent as it needs to be on the flat surfaces. Is it possible to turn down the effect of the bright one, rather than turning it off?

I haven't encountered these RS Open PBR and Ray-Switch nodes yet, I will need to read up on these and do some study on them Thanks very much for your advice

Kind Regards
David

[Dr. Sassi]

Hi David,

Thanks for the feedback,

The material that uses the Selections to work only on the "small sides" of the object can be "dimmed" down in the Emission Settings, set the Luminance down (or in other materials, that is the weight parameter.
Transparent and immutable, it is both; it is a balancing act.

Cheers

[DaveMDarcy]

Hi Dr Sassi,

Oh dear it seems I didn't notice the selection That's why it looked different on my model, I'm such an idiot
Once again thanks so much for your advice, I was pulling my hair out on this one.

Kind Regards
David

[Dr. Sassi]

Hi David,

There are no mistakes, only gained experience.

Enjoy!