Material : Fresnel Reflections

Fresnel Reflections are a naturally occurring phenomenon that states that an object becomes more reflective the greater the angle at which it is seen. An example of this principle would be a window that is seen from straight ahead as opposed to at an angle. Through manipulating the Index of Refraction (IOR) the reflective characteristics of an object can be changed. A lower IOR means that a larger angle is needed between the observer and the surface before the object begins to reflect.

A higher IOR means that a smaller angle is needed, which in turn causes the object to reflect sooner. To have your renderings be more physically correct it is recommended to have the IOR of an object correspond to its actual IOR.

Below are six rendered samples each with a different Fresnel IOR. The last one is a rendered with full reflection to creae a chrome material.

Reflections and Highlights

Wondering why V-Ray rendering engine doesn't have the highlight option built into it? The truth is that the highlight is created by reflecting a very bright object or light in the scene. It also called lightsource.

Some rendering engines use Highlight to create lightsource if there isn't any lightsource in the scene. But current V-Ray for SketchUp version does not support this option. So you must create Rectangular Light or other self lit object as lightsource for the scene.