Liquid was done by using partial information from the complete glass, again in a loft.
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Duplicates, I manually changed the liquid levels for each glass. Rotated alternative ones 45deg
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This is the lighting set up without the softboxes and scene includes to show the position and amount.
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Final shot. The lighting idea came from greyscale gorilla's lighting rigs and the textures were made from adaptations of those in the content browser. Render with AA, AO, GI put these as high as possible with the time contraints you have to get the most detail. Also add caustics if you are able to.