To all:
  Here is a contribution to the LightWave ftp site. The Toaster2.0
demo image had (from memory) a picture, two dollar bill, Whiskey
glass and water droplets on a wood surface. All of the components
were rendered with LW 2.0. Below is Allen Hasting's write-up for
creating the Whiskey Glass.

Karl Frederick
Email:  frederik@teleport.com
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Time Price Quality  ... pick any two

Subject: Whiskey Glass Secrets


11 June, 1992
John Foust saw the question about the whiskey glass in the Toaster 2.0
image, wondered about it himself, and used the magic of e-mail to forward
the question directly to Allen Hastings.  Here's his reply:

    I've just called up the shot glass object that I used in the Kiki
2.0 image in case you want to duplicate my settings exactly.  The
glass was modeled after one in my wife's collection, and has the
proper wall thickness and rounded lip. Also, the upper surface of the
scotch curls up a bit where it meets the glass, simulating surface
tension.  The not-so-obvious secret of the object is that each
polygon is included twice, with the two copies facing in opposite
directions and given different surfaces.  Naturally all of the Trace
options on the Camera panel were turned on for the rendering.

    The glass polygons with normals that face out from the glass
toward the air have this surface, which I called
"ShotGlassExterior":  Diffuse 0%, Specular 80%, Reflection Map 10%,
Transparency 90%, Refractive Index 1.6, Smoothing on.  All other
attributes are left with their default values.  Note that the surface
color doesn't matter at all, since there is no diffuse reflection and
Color Highlights and Color Filter are both off.  Also note that the
Reflection Map level is really controlling the amount of ray-traced
reflected light, since the Reflected Image is set to "(none)" and the
Trace Reflection option is on.

    Those polygons that are encountered upon leaving the glass or
scotch and re-entering the air use the surface "ShotGlassInterior":
Diffuse 0%, Specular 75%, Transparency 95%, Smoothing on.  All other
attributes for this surface keep their default values (including a
refractive index of 1.0).  And finally, those polygons that are
encountered upon entering the scotch have the surface "Liquor":
Surface Color 240 180 80, Diffuse 0%, Specular 80%, High Glossiness,
Transparency 90%, Color Filter on (very important), Refractive Index
1.4.  Once again, any items I didn't mention retain their default
settings.

    Don't think that this is the only way to model glass - in many
cases a simpler technique would be fine.  For example, light green
surfaces with specular reflection, transparency, color filtering,
opaque edge, and a touch of reflection mapping make great beer or
wine bottles without even requiring ray tracing.  The rigorous method
of modeling refractive objects I used for the shot glass - explicitly
specifying the new refractive index for each material crossing -
should be reserved for those times when a high degree of photorealism
is required.  Longer rendering times are to be expected when ray
tracing that many layers of transparency.  Also be aware that the
physical phenomenon of total internal reflection is taken into
account by LightWave, so transparent surfaces will act like mirrors
in certain circumstances.  This is why the very bottom of the shot
glass appears gray - it's reflecting the gray backdrop (which is not
directly visible in the image because of the wood tabletop).

-AH
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