8

1246 Chapter 16: Material Editor, Materials, and Maps
using a special shading type, described later in
this topic.
R epresenti ng M anuf actur ed M ater ia ls
Indoor scene with manufactured materials
Manufactured materials often have a synthetic
color rather than an "earth tone." Also, many
manufactured materials, such as plastics and
porcelain glazes, are very shiny. For manufactured
materials, use the following guidelines:
• Am bi e nt col or: The ambient color depends on
whether the scene is indoors or outdoors, as
previously described.
• Diff use color : Although the diffuse color
doesn’t have to b e an "earth tone," as with
naturalmaterialsyoushouldusedtheobserved
color of the object or a similar object.
• Sp e cular color: Make the specular color close
to white, or to the color of the light source.
White is especially characteristic of plastic
mater ials.
• Glossiness: Set the glossiness to a high value.
R epres enting Met all ic Obj ects
Metallic cup and ice cream scoop
Polished metal has a characteristic "glancing"
high light that appears where the lig ht is at a high
angle of incidence. To generate this effect, Metal
shading uses the C ook/Torrance il lumination
model.
For meta llic materials, you can use the Metal
shading type. This disables the specular color and
highlight controls. The Metal shader calculates its
own specular color, w hich can vary b etween the
diffuse color and the color of the light.
In the diffuse region of a metal material, the
ambient component is greater than it is for other
kinds of mater ials.
The Anisotropic, Multi-Layer, and Strauss shaders
give you further options for modeling polished
metal.
Ifthemetallicobjectisthefocusofthescene,you
can improve realism by using a
Blend material
(page 2–1397)
to combine metallic shading with
a
reflect ion m ap (page 2–1509) .
Tip: When you preview metallic surfaces, it
is useful to turn on a backlight. This displays the
metal’s g lancing highlight. The Backlight button
is to the right of the sample slots.