Modeler
Load Modeler and create a 2 x 2 x 2cm box as shown on the left.
Rename the „Default“ surface setting to something appropriate.
I named mine „IceCubes“ .o)
Hit „Tab“ to make it a subpatch object, we'll need more polys later as we will use Bump Displacement to deform the ice cubes.
Save your object.
Now add a plane approx. 1 x 1 meter or use an object of your liking. Save this object, too.
Layout
Load Layout, load the plane and the ice cube.
Clone your ice cube once and place it slightly behind the first one, so you can see the Surface Thickness later.
Now change your light type to a Point Light, put it left to the cubes, clone it, place it right to the cubes and uncheck „Affect Diffuse“ as we simply want to have more Specular highlights to make them look more interesting...
Furthermore, I would suggest to set „Ray Recursion Limit“ to 4 - higher values will increase render time!
Also, check the „Ray Trace Refraction“ button because we are using refraction to give the ice cubes a more realistic look.
Surfacing
Select the „IceCubes“ surface for some basic changes.
Click on the Surface Editor image on the left hand side to see my settings.
Don't worry about the „T“ buttons, I will explain them later.
Check „Smoothing“ and „Double Sided“.
F9ing :o)
If you want, you can do a quick render by hitting F9.
Your image should look similar to mine.
Gradients: Color
I wanted the center of the object to be non-transparent with a gradually increasing transparency towards its outer area. We will do the settings for that in the Transparency Channel later.
First we will define two colors to strengthen the thickness effect. The upper key defines the color of the transparency towards the outer area of the ice cube, the lower key the color of the opacity in the center. I have chosen a range from 0 to 4cm instead of 0 to 1cm* for a smoother transition between the colors.
* Remember, our ice cube's dimensions are 2 x 2cm, so the center would have been reached at 1cm distance.
Color Gradient applied
Gradients: Luminosity
Though the Incidence Angle hasn't much to do with the Surface Thickness (maybe it's different in the real world) it looks more interesting when the edges are brighter than the middle of the object.
Color & Luminosity Gradient applied
Gradients: Reflection
The ice cube shouldn't have too much reflections at the edges but more at the sides, so I have created another Incidence Angle.
Color, Luminosity & Reflection Gradient applied
Gradients: Transparency Surface Thickness
Here comes the most important part for creating Surface Thickness.
By playing around with the values you will notice that the smaller the distance from key 1 to key 2 is, the sooner the non-transparent areas will appear.
I placed mine at 1.75cm.
Color, Luminosity, Reflection & Transparency Surface Thickness Gradient applied
Gradients: Transparency Incidence Angle
To achieve transparency resp. opacity in relationship to the point of view I defined one more Incidence Angle Gradient.
Color, Luminosity, Reflection, Transparency Surface Thickness & Incidence Angle Gradient applied
Bump Maps: Layer 1
This is the first layer with a smaller bump map size...
Bump Maps: Layer 2
...and this the second layer with a bigger size to achieve more variations of the bumps.
Color, Luminosity, Reflection, Transparency Surface Thickness & Incidence Angle Gradient & Bump Maps applied
Bump Displacement
Now go to the Object Properties Panel and check „Bump Displacement“ and enter a value of 5cm. This is enough to deform the overall shape a bit.
Color, Luminosity, Reflection, Transparency Surface Thickness & Incidence Angle Gradient, Bump Maps & Bump Displacement applied
That's it!
I hope this tutorial was helpful to you.
Now at the end of this tutorial have a great party with your ice cubes and some cocktails :-)
For those who are not willing to struggle around with the settings simply download the scene file (LW 8.5 and 9.5 scene file).
If you have any questions, comments or ideas for a new tutorial, I would be happy to hearing from you. Just drop me a line. Don't forget to change the eMail address to „icecubes@...“, otherwise your mail will end up in Nirvana.
Before your next party you may want to read my other tutorial about better scaling results with Photoshop.