"nemesis" <nam### [at] gmailcom> wrote:
> Indeed.  But specular is itself a fake, a rough shortcut to the real deal:
> specular is really diffuse reflection on very smooth surfaces.

If I may correct you: They are in fact *specular* reflections on a comparatively
*rough* surface...

> I've seen people advocating the use of (glossy) reflection to more realistically
> achieve that effect.

.... which is why that advocated approach works to very good effect.

The idea is simple: Make all light sources actually visible. Make all your
surfaces somewhat reflective, and rough them up using a "bump" normal, scaled
to dimensions much smaller than two adjacent pixels on screen. Render the
thing, making sure Antialiasing or focal blur take many samples per pixel.
Voila: Blurred highlights done just the same way as mother nature does.

Works great with HDR light probes for sky or backdrop.

Takes a lot of samples though to get flat and comparatively rough surfaces to
look good, so be prepared for overnight renders.

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