Datasheet
Material Types and Critical Attributes 7
Keep in mind that 3D specular highlights are an artifi cial construct. Real-world specular
highlights are actually refl ections of intense light sources, such as a day sky or a bright lamp.
The intensity of the Maya specular highlight is controlled by the Specular Roll Off
(Blinn), Whiteness (Phong E), and Fresnel Index (Anisotropic). With the Phong material,
you can adjust the specular intensity by changing the Specular Color.
Using Specialized Materials
In addition to Lambert, Blinn, Phong, Phong E, and Anisotropic, Maya offers several spe-
cialized materials. These are available in the Maya section of the Hypershade Create tab.
In addition, a large number of mental ray materials are included in the mental ray sec-
tion. Although the mental ray renderer can render either Maya or mental ray materials,
the Maya Software renderer can render only Maya materials. Nevertheless, while textur-
ing and lighting the headphones, we’ll work solely with Maya materials. Information on
mental ray materials is included in Chapter 7, “Texturing and Lighting an Environment,
Part 1.” Of the specialized Maya materials, Surface Shader, Use Background, and Layered
Shader are perhaps the most useful. Descriptions of each follow:
Surface Shader The Surface Shader material is a “pass-through” node. It carries no shad-
ing properties and does not take into account any lights or shadows. A surface assigned to
a Surface Shader material will appear self-illuminated. Hence, the material is appropriate
for any surface that needs to retain a maximum intensity regardless of the scene’s light-
ing. For example, a half-sphere assigned to a Surface Shader with a sky photo mapped to
its Color attribute does not need to be lit. As a working example, a Surface Shader mate-
rial will be assigned to the Light_Box geometry later in this chapter.
Use Background The Use Background material picks up the color of the camera’s Background
Color attribute (which is black by default) or an image plane attached to the camera. If you
assign Use Background to surfaces that are receiving shadows, the shadows are trapped in
Figure 1.8
(Left) Nonspherical
highlight of Anisotro-
pic material. (Middle)
Anisotropic high-
light on human hair.
(Right) Anisotropic
reflection on choppy
water
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