How to view specular maps

[musashidan]

You have to add a specular lightsource to your scene.a spec map won't reflect anything.It mimics a lightsource reflection.Alot of people(except gaming ind) don't bother with spec maps anymore but instead use real ray-traced reflections.

[soulburn3d]

Alot of people(except gaming ind) don't bother with spec maps anymore but instead use real ray-traced reflections.

Well, not exactly, They still make spec maps. But they're used to modulate the reflection instead of the spec. Or they can modify both, just in case you do decide to use a specular highlight. But yes, more and more people are using real reflections vs specs these days.

- Neil

[musashidan]

Well, not exactly, They still make spec maps. But they're used to modulate the reflection instead of the spec.

- Neil

Neil,would these be reflection maps masking areas where reflection is wanted similar to the effects of old school spec maps?

[biggestkid]

So how do i add a specular light source in 3ds max? Also this is for a game, which is why i decided to use spec maps.

[musashidan]

The lights will have a specular component unless you disable it.just add any light.

[soulburn3d]

Neil,would these be reflection maps masking areas where reflection is wanted similar to the effects of old school spec maps?

Yup. All surfaces have areas of more or less reflectivity. Like dirt on metal, the dirtier areas will be less specular than the metal. Personally, I tend to do these sorts of things with blend materials, so the dirt is one material, the metal is a second, and the mask between them defines the blend. In this case, a spec/reflection map may not be needed, since you already have specular variety on the surface due to masking between two materials, each with different specular properties. But other people like to have a single material, and say paint the dirt and metal on the same map, in which case they'll need a spec/reflection map to vary the reflectivity. Even when using the blend material method you may want to add a subtle spec/ref map to each material to give the surface even more variety, like maybe simulating duller scratches in the otherwise super reflective metal.

- Neil

[soulburn3d]

biggestkid, also, make sure that you move the light around, a specular is just a fake reflection, so there are certain angles between the light and your surface where you won't see the spec. Try placing the light to the upper left of the model, but still from the front, you should see it there assuming that area of your object is specular.

Also make sure the spec map is in the "Specular Level" map slot, assuming of course you're using the "standard" material.

- Neil

[biggestkid]

Thanks for the help soulburn ill go try it now and see if i can get it to work

[sundialsvc4]

Yup. All surfaces have areas of more or less reflectivity. Like dirt on metal, the dirtier areas will be less specular than the metal. Personally, I tend to do these sorts of things with blend materials, so the dirt is one material, the metal is a second, and the mask between them defines the blend. In this case, a spec/reflection map may not be needed, since you already have specular variety on the surface due to masking between two materials, each with different specular properties. But other people like to have a single material, and say paint the dirt and metal on the same map, in which case they'll need a spec/reflection map to vary the reflectivity. Even when using the blend material method you may want to add a subtle spec/ref map to each material to give the surface even more variety, like maybe simulating duller scratches in the otherwise super reflective metal.

- Neil
"Dirt" can affect many things -- specularity, opacity of the 'dirtiness' -- many things. And when you wire-up a render network, each one of those characteristics are (or can be) separate "channels" of information. There are, if you will, "separate knobs" for each, which permit you to "mix-down" the various effects like they do when making multi-track audio recordings.

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