Working mirrors in cars.

[stevefal]

I have a shot into the rear view mirror of a car. In the car I'm using (the yellow convertible), the mirror doesn't reflect. Maybe some car mirrors work, but I haven't tried all of them.

In either case it would be great if all these mirrors worked. Car mirrors are often used in film shots, especially dialogue. Since the driver and back seat passengers don't face each other, the rear view mirror is a party to those conversations.

[jamesw]

Actually, they do work, but because reflections have a significant impact on rendering speed, you don't always see the reflections.

If you take the yellow convertible into the Green Room, one of the "Part Options" called "reflective mirrors" has choices "reflective on set" and "reflective in snapped shots". The second option, which is the default, only shows reflections in snapped shots. So, you can change it to "reflective on set", position everything the way you want, and then maybe change it back to "reflective in snapped shots" for efficiency.

Of course, the settings on the View > Lighting, Shadows, & Mirrors menu also come into play.

[stevefal]

Ah, excellent. I've used the new mirror props with no rendering time problems, so I assume I'll be able to leave car mirrors on as well. Of course I have no reason to do that if I'm not using the mirrors within a given set.

Thanks.