About Specular/Glossiness Complex Materials Appearance

Specular/glossiness complex materials offer a better visual quality.

This page discusses:

They are defined by specific parameters that are available in the Appearance Domain dialog box.

Base

The following parameters are available:

Parameter Description
Diffuse Defines the absorbed spectrum.
Specular Defines the reflected color when you observe a surface at 0° angle.
Glossiness Defines the micro-details on a surface.
Anisotropy Defines the anisotropic behavior of the micro-details on a surface.
Note: Use this parameter in correlation with the Glossiness parameter.
Anisotropy Angle Defines the angle of the anisotropic behavior of the micro-details on a surface.
Note: Use this parameter in correlation with the Glossiness and Anisotropy parameters.
Transparency Defines the amount of light that passes through a surface.
Opacity Defines the opaqueness of a surface.
Edge Color Defines the angular color variation of the material.
Edge Color Bias Controls the angular falloff.
Note: Use this parameter in correlation with the Edge Color parameter.
Tangent-Space Normal Map Defines the macro-details on a surface.

For a given point on a surface, it describes the gradient of the relief in a normal, tangent, bitangent basis.

Note: Use this parameter in correlation with the Height Map parameter.
Bump

Defines the relief on a surface.

Note: Use this parameter in correlation with the Tangent-Space Normal Map parameter.
Height Map Defines the macro-details on a surface.

The render engine modifies the elevation of a surface without moving its orientation.

Note: Use this parameter in correlation with the Tangent-Space Normal Map parameter.
Displacement Defines the macro-details on a surface.
Note: Use this parameter in correlation with the Height Map parameter.

Flakes

The following parameters are available:

Parameter Description
Enable Activates the thin and highly reflective particles.
Metallic Flakes Color Defines the flakes color.
Metallic Flakes Color's multiplier See Multipliers and Adders.
Metallic Flakes Color's adder See Multipliers and Adders.

Coating

To activate the additional reflective transparent layers of matter, click Enable.

Emission

The following parameters are available:

Parameter Description
Emissive Color Defines the light illuminated by the appearance, but that only affects itself.
Emissive Color's multiplier See Multipliers and Adders.
Emissive Color's adder See Multipliers and Adders.

Volume

No volumetric effects are available for this material appearance type.

Miscellaneous

The Opacity Behavior parameter defines the opaqueness of a material. Two options are available:

Option Description
Physical The opaqueness of a material is defined by the Opacity parameter.
Diffuse Channel The opaqueness of a material is defined by the Diffuse parameter.

When you define the Opacity or the Diffuse parameter to:

  • 0: the material appears.
  • 1: the material does not appear.

About Colors

Colors from the color picker are converted in sRGB space.

This means that more values are used in the upper end of the spectrum, which allows better control for the artist and better lighting in the engine. An sRGB color is brighter than its linear counterpart.