Nekar Xenos <j-p### [at] citywalkcoza> wrote:
: Talking about specular highlights, I was considering removing them from my car
: and simulate it with an area light and/or looks_like. Would this work?

  The problem with reflection is that it's linear. This means that if you
have a reflection 0.1, then *everything* which is reflected is multiplied
by 0.1. This means that a "light source" (with a looks_like object) of
color <1,1,1> will be multiplied by 0.1, so only <.1,.1,.1> is reflected.
  However, in realitity bright light sources are reflected in polished surfaces
more than dim light. This is exactly what the specular lighting model tries
to simulate (and succeeds a lot better than reflection alone).

  One idea: I haven't tested what happens if your looks_like object is
colored with <10,10,10> (while the reflecting surface has a reflection 0.1).

  Note that this only works for *perfect mirrors*. In reality surfaces are
seldom perfect mirrors, but they instead scatter light to all directions
(but not evenly: they reflect more light than they scatter to all directions,
and this is what causes highlights). That is, the reflection has a mirror
component and a scattering component.
  The result of this is that highlights are often fuzzy (except for very
polished/smooth surfaces, such as glass or polished metal). Objects do not
reflect the light source as a perfect mirror, but the light source is reflected
fuzzily/blurred.

-- 
#macro N(D,I)#if(I<6)cylinder{M()#local D[I]=div(D[I],104);M().5,2pigment{
rgb M()}}N(D,(D[I]>99?I:I+1))#end#end#macro M()<mod(D[I],13)-6,mod(div(D[I
],13),8)-3,10>#end blob{N(array[6]{11117333955,
7382340,3358,3900569407,970,4254934330},0)}//                     - Warp -

Post a reply to this message