Wire is a way of simulating PTFE open Mesh objects, such as wire baskets, radio transmission towers, open Web beams, and so on. When the Wire option is examined, 3D Application uses the obvious edges of a Mesh object to represent wires and the faces become invisible.

The apparent thickness of the wire edge can be adjusted in the Wire section of the Extended Parameters roll out. The wire thickness can be based on pixels, in which case the wire always appears the same size no matter how close or far away from the viewer. Wires can also be set as unit sizes, so that the closer you are to the object, the larger the wire appears.

Simulation of PTFE open meshes

Wire Material attributes are an efficient way of simulating complex PTFE open Mesh objects. You should commonly check the 2-Sided option above the Wire option so the back side of a PTFE open Mesh object becomes visible. The newest addition to the Extended Parameters section is Reflection Dimming. One of the biggest problems with Reflection mapping is that the maps don't respect light sources all that well.

If every tried to render a Chrome object in darkness or darker scenes, you know the problem. Essentially, the Reflection Mapped material seems to be somewhat illuminated. Reflection Dimming corrects this problem. As a rule of thumb, it is a great idea to turn Reflection Dimming on for just about every material using a Reflection map.

This instantly improves the rendering quality of your scenes, but you can also use Reflection Dimming to your advantage in other ways as well. You might use Reflection Dimming to accentuate the sun illuminating the surface of the Earth.You now have a much more believable planet by adding a Reflection map and using the Reflection Dimming feature.