9.5.2

832 • CHAPTER 18
MATERIAL EDITOR • 833
Use the Reection page to set a material’s ability to reect. The color that you set determines the color
of the reection. You can also use a colored texture — this is known as a reectivity map. The color of
a pixel will affect the color that is reected from the corresponding area of the material.
Figure 1, below, illustrates some reectivity effects including a reectivity map. The ask has a simple
reective material. Note how the reection of the rod is distorted as you would expect in real life.
Look closely and you will see that the ask itself is reected on the tiles. Look even more closely and
you should see that the ask is reected on the tiles, but not on the joints, even though the tiles and
joints are part of the same tiled material.
Figure 1: Some reectivity effects using a
reectivity map.
Figure 2: Blur Dispersion values of 85%
(left), 0% (back) and 65% (right).
The effect in Figure 1 was created by using a grayscale reectivity map. The reectivity map was based
on the original tile and joint texture. In the areas covered by a tile, the reectivity map is white. In the
joint areas, the reectivity map is black. The resultant map means that only the tiled areas, not the
joints, are reective. This is just one example of how you can combine several properties to create
more realistic materials.
Texture, Mix Mode, Mix Strength
For details on these settings, look up ‘texture settings’ in the index.
You can blur the transparency using the Dispersion, Min Samples, Max Samples and Accuracy settings.
The Dispersion value denes the strength of blur for the transparency. 0% means no blur. Increase the
value to increase the strength of blur.