Frosted Glass ...
 

What is the best method for creating frosted glass? I'm using Maya 2011 on a Mac Pro. Tried Mental Rays mia_material with the "Frosted Glass" preset with no luck.

Re: Frosted Glass ...
 

why no luck?

Here is my problem. Everything remains the same. I simply switch from the “Thin Glass” preset to the “Frosted Glass” preset. What gives ???

are you using sun and sky lighting?
you could increase your raytrace settings and try some direct lighting.

No. I'm using a simple HDRI. It's working fine for the "Thin Glass". I've noticed I can rid myself of that crazy dark shape that shows up, as well as the top surface shine by decreasing the refraction index to 1 instead of 1.5. But I'm still not sure that is the way to go. I'm just stumped as to why just switching presets isn't working as expected.

Just looking at your settings, I'd have to agree, that's looking a bit odd for a frost glass preset. I've never tried using frost glass with an HDRI image though. Adjusting the refraction does adjust the way the light bends (changes direction) as it goes through the glass but still, I would think the glass would at least keep the frosty look even if the refraction was too high or too low.