PDA

View Full Version : Looking for Info about real world materials and thier specular colors

itsallgoode9
08-27-2007, 10:25 PM
Trying to find information that discusses what real world materials have colored specular and which ones don't and why this is. I've always been told that it Metals are pretty much the only ones with colored spec/highlights but looking for real info to back that up.

I'm checking google, but not finding any real info, so any help would be great. thanks
Kayumni
08-30-2007, 09:05 PM
I was looking for this same information.

I have heard the same thing...that metals are the main material that has colored specular highlights. However, I see people using blue/purple for human skin spec maps, and colored spec maps for wood, leather, etc...

Anyways, I'll add my request for anyone with information on how do decide what color to make a spec map, or when to leave it black and white.
ienrdna
08-31-2007, 11:41 AM
yep, in real world, metals are only materials that have colored specular reflections.

What people doing in their own cg is their own business
Fess1001
09-09-2007, 01:39 AM
From what i ve heard, specular is a pretty much cheap version of reflection. So i tend to colour it depending on what colour the ambience is going to be - usually if the model is lit by sky and i m not using any advanced lighting methods to reflect that - then i just tint my specular blue - for most surfaces. Metals on the other hand tend to look fine without any colour in their specular (in my experience).
soulburn3d
09-10-2007, 03:01 PM
From what i ve heard, specular is a pretty much cheap version of reflection. So i tend to colour it depending on what colour the ambience is going to be - usually if the model is lit by sky and i m not using any advanced lighting methods to reflect that - then i just tint my specular blue - for most surfaces. Metals on the other hand tend to look fine without any colour in their specular (in my experience).

A specular highlight is a reflection of a point light. In the real world, there are no point lights (an infinitely small point of light), so the highlights you see are actually reflections. So the color of your highlight is a combination of 2 things, the color of your environment tinted by the color of your material, if it's a metal.

Read this for more info...

http://www.neilblevins.com/cg_education/metal_and_refs/metal_and_refs.htm

- Neil
CGTalk Moderation
09-10-2007, 03:01 PM
This thread has been automatically closed as it remained inactive for 12 months. If you wish to continue the discussion, please create a new thread in the appropriate forum.