What's wrong with these caustics?
node
So I'm working on a simple scene where there's water. I decided to project caustics on the walls to create a better ambiance but... I feel like they look kind of weird.
So...what's exactly the issue here? Why does it look so odd?
I was looking a this screenshot from F.E.A.R. (2005) and I thought that maybe it has to do with contrast? Also, the caustics texture tiling seems to be way lower.
Decreasing the tiling seemed to work a bit, but at least to me, it's still looking weird.
Replies
First thing is, your brightness is really uniform. The Fear example is a lot brighter near the surface of the water, and fades to be quite dark in the upper corner of the room. It also has some broader areas that are brighter or darker, regardless of how close it is to the water.
And you can only see a little bit of caustics on the ceiling.
I think the caustics themselves look pretty acceptably fine; I really do think it's mostly about how uniform they look.
Hmmm, yeah, you're right. I didn't realize that. The caustics are way less noticeable on darker areas.