User Manual

Table Of Contents
Phong [3PH]
The Phong node
Phong Node Introduction
The Phong node is a basic illumination material that can be applied to geometry in the 3D
scene. It describes how the object responds to light and provides multiple texture map inputs to
allow fine control over the diffuse, specular, and bump map components of the material.
While producing a highlight similar to that produced by the Blinn model, it is more commonly
used for shiny/polished plastic surfaces.
Inputs
There are five inputs on the Phong node that accept 2D images or 3D materials. These inputs
control the overall color and image used for the 3D object as well as controlling the color and
texture used in the specular highlight. Each of these inputs multiplies the pixels in the texture
map by the equivalently named parameters in the node itself. This provides an effective
method for scaling parts of the material.
Diffuse Material: The orange Diffuse material input accepts a 2D image or a 3D
material to be used as a main color and texture of the object.
Specular Color Material: The green Specular Color material input accepts a 2D
image or a 3D material to be used as a highlight color and texture of the object.
Specular Intensity Material: The magenta Specular Intensity material input accepts
a 2D image or a 3D material to be used as an intensity map for the material’s
highlights. When the input is a 2D image, the Alpha channel is used to create the
map, while the color channels are discarded.
Specular Exponent Material: The teal Specular Exponent material input accepts
a 2D image or a 3D material to be used as a falloff map for the material’s specular
highlights. When the input is a 2D image, the Alpha channel is used to create the
map, while the color channels are discarded.
Bump Map Material: The white Bump Map texture input accepts only a 3D material.
Typically, you connect the texture into a Bump Map node, and then connect the
Bump Map node to this input. This input uses the RGB information as texture-space
normals.
When nodes have as many inputs as this one does, it is often difficult to make connections with
any precision. Hold down the Option or Alt key while dragging the output from another node
over the node tile, and keep holding Option or Alt when releasing the left mouse button. A
small drop-down menu listing all the inputs provided by the node appears. Click on the desired
input to complete the connection.
Chapter –82 3D Material Nodes 1780