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What is the difference between Glossiness, Specularity and Reflection?

SixDsSixDs Posts: 2,384
edited March 2015 in Technical Help (nuts n bolts)

I don't know whether this has been addressed elsewhere, but the forum search can be a bit like poking yourself in the eye with a sharp stick.

Anyway, this has been bugging me for some time now and I would really appreciate any insights the forum users might have leading ultimately to my "illumination". I have attempted to include the gist of the issue in the post title, to facilitate subsequent forum searches by other users looking for the same information, and not just posts and threads that happen to contain oblique references to the terms.

Okay, then, to define my question more precisely, under the Surfaces tab in DAZ Studio, what is the difference between Glossiness, Specular Strength and Reflection Strength? More specifically, what do these terms mean relative to what effect they have on the rendered surface of an object, first individually and then in combination? I can find information on the difference and relationship of Glossiness and Specularity here:

http://docs.daz3d.com/doku.php/public/software/dazstudio/4/userguide/chapters/textures_surfaces_and_materials/start

but Reflection is not covered.

Any assistance would be appreciated.

Post edited by SixDs on

Comments

  • Richard HaseltineRichard Haseltine Posts: 100,948
    edited December 1969

    Glossiness is how shiny, or smooth, a surface is - high glossiness produces small highlights as if the surface is very smooth, low glossiness produces large highlights as if the surface is rough causing them to spread out. Specular Strength is how strong the highlights are. Usually the two are related, low Glossiness tends to go with low specular strength. The specularity fakes the effect of lights being reflected in surfaces, it isn't true reflection.

    Reflection Strength controls how visible reflections are - or turns them off if it is zero. If there is no map in Reflection colour these are true reflections of the objects in the scene, if there's a map assigned to reflection colour then they are faked reflections made by wrapping the map around the world.

  • SixDsSixDs Posts: 2,384
    edited December 1969

    Thanks, Richard. I think I'm getting it now, although things can get a bit hairy when one starts to mess with combinations.

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