Translucent Highlights

Like the Blinn shader, the Translucent shader has circular highlights.

• Material Editor > Standard material > Basic Parameters Rollout (Standard Material) for the Translucent Shader > Specular Highlight group

Procedures

To increase or decrease the strength of a highlight:

• Change the value of Specular Level.

  The intensity of the Highlight curve and the highlight in the preview change. At 0% specular level, there is no highlight. At values greater than 100%, the curve is overloaded: It grows wider, and a wider area is at the maximum highlight intensity. At 100% specular level, the curve is at its maximum height with no overloading.

  The shape of the Highlight curve affects the blending between the specular and diffuse color regions of the material. The steeper the curve, the less blending there is and the sharper the edge of the specular highlight.

To increase or decrease the size of a highlight:

• Change the Glossiness value.

  The width of the Highlight curve and the highlight in the preview change. At 0% glossiness, the curve is at its maximum width. At 100% glossiness, the curve is extremely narrow.

Interface

Specular Level

Affects the intensity of the specular highlight. As you increase the value, the highlight grows brighter. Default=0.

Click the map button to assign a Specular Level map. This button is a shortcut: You can also assign a Specular Level map on the Maps rollout.

Glossiness

Affects the size of the specular highlight. As you increase the value, the highlight gets smaller and the material appears shinier. Default=10.

Click the map button to assign a Glossiness map. This button is a shortcut: You can also assign a Glossiness map on the Maps rollout.

Backside specular

When on, both sides of the material receive a specular highlight. When off, only the front side of the material receives a highlight. Default=on.

Leave Backside Specular on to model materials like translucent plastic. Turn it off to model materials like frosted glass.

Tip: When Backside Specular is turned off, the front side is always the one that receives a specular highlight. You can change this by reversing the normals of surfaces that have the translucent-shaded material.