modeling headlights questions

[pit]

http://www-gap.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Fresnel.html

Observation and understanding :lightbulb is the key to good shaders. Trial and error will bring you part of the way. Here is what I do, when there is something I don´t know (and really need to know to get a step further - for example what exactly fresnel is): do a google search, look it up in the dictionary, go to the library -> simply get all the information you can on the subject and then read it -> understand it. Not much instant help, I know, but a piece of good advice....

[LucentDreams]

internet searches are your friend, look up terms like fresnel and such, maybe radiosities little 3D dictionary thing would have those definitions. Mostly its trial and error, but for many of us, we've learned basically what each thing does, best way to do that is not to read a definition but try each thing out. So first learn what each channel does, some of these seem farily obvious, like bumbp. but biggest mistake I see in bumpmaps is people starting with either black and white and then painting the opposite onto it, really you shoudl start off with 50% grey and then use both black and white and different values of grey for a much better bump map, bump goes in tow dierection not one, so white goes up, black goes down and 50% grey is as if there is no change.

When looking at a channel like transperency work on one feature at a time, see what the colour settingin transperency does, then try refraction, then try fresnel, key thing is don't change all the settings at one and then see the result, do one at a time, learn what each setting does one a t a time, and then start figuring out what real world materials consist of. Like when someone does a car paint material the first thing before the make the material is usually to look at what a car paint material consists of. Well car paint has colour, typically a fairly matallic finish but still its paint so its aspects are a little different. Being paint, its not perfectlysmooth (most materials aren't anyways) its refelective typically really shiny because shine is actually just reflection of light, so the shinier something is the the more reflection its going to have. So already you know you need a colour channel, reflection, bump and specular. small steps are the way to go.

[sebek27]

thanks for the tips!

[knight42]

Check the Tutorials thread - I posted a MAX tute in there which was very useful.

J

[sebek27]

thanks for the tips, here is a link to my car, the last 2 images on the page is my own material settings i'm tweaking
http://www.webstormdigital.com/headmodel.htm

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