Jump to content
You are about to reply to a thread that has been inactive for 4250 days.

Please take a moment to consider if this thread is worth bumping.

Recommended Posts

Posted

Well, I haven't looked at the actual code involved, but the 'specular exponent' is a term in several shading algorithms, and it refers to an element that controls the 'tightness' of specular highlighting.  A low exponent spreads the specular highlights out, making the object appear less 'glossy', while higher exponents cause the highlight to become very tight and narrow, resulting in a very shiny or metallic specular highlight.

 

Someone more familiar with how SL is implementing this can probably give a more specific answer, though....

 

(eta:  I looked at the linked page, and yes, this is what this parameter does.  It causes the specular highlight to spread out at low values, and tighten and narrow at higher values.)

 

Posted

In very general terms, the specular map defines how reflective the texture is on a pixel by pixel basis. This would let you do something like a shiney tile with dull grout in a single texture.


The "normal map" defines which direction each pixel is facing. It's a little harder to grasp but basically it lets you put what appears to be depth into a texture on a flat surface. So the grout between the tiles appears to be sunk in a bit and perhaps the tiles look a bit curved down at the edges.

You are about to reply to a thread that has been inactive for 4250 days.

Please take a moment to consider if this thread is worth bumping.

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...