9

Understanding Shaders 1469
• Phong: A classic shading method that was the
first to enable specular highlights. Suitable for
plastic surfaces.
• Strauss: Suitable for metals. Allows you to
control the degree of met allic characteristics of
the material.
• Tr anslucent Sha der : Tr anslu cent shading
is similar to Blinn shading, but it also lets
you specify translucency. A translucent
object allows lig ht to pass through, and also
scatters light w ithin the object. You can use
translucency to simulate frosted and etched
glass.
Comparing Shader Parameters
A shader is an algorithm that tells the program
how to calculate surface rendering. Each shader
has a unique set of characteristics in order to serve
aparticularpurpose.
Compar e t he pa ra meters of di ffer ent shad er ty pes:
1.
Open the Material Editor and click an available
sample slot.
2. In the list on the Shader Basic Parameters
rollout, change Blinn to Anisotropic.
The Blinn Basic Parameters rollout changes
to the Anisotropic Basic Parameters rollout.
Observe the differences in the available basic
parameters.