Blinn, Oren-Nayar-Blinn, and Phong Highlights

Command entry:

Material Editor

Standard material

Basic Parameters rollout for the Blinn shader, Oren-Nayar-Blinn shader, or the Phong shader

Specular Highlight group

Command entry:Material Editor

Raytrace material

Raytrace Basic Parameters rollout

Shading: Blinn, Oren-Nayar-Blinn, or Phong

Specular Highlight group

The Blinn, Oren-Nayar-Blinn, and Phong shaders all have circular highlights and share the same highlight controls. Blinn and Oren-Nayar-Blinn highlights are somewhat softer and rounder than Phong highlights.

NoteFor the Raytrace material, the Specular Color component appears in the Specular Highlight group. Also, highlight controls that don’t pertain to the current shader are labeled “N/A.”

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 100% specular level, the curve is at its maximum height with no overloading. At values greater than 100%, the curve is overloaded: It grows wider, and a wider area is at the maximum highlight intensity.

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 for a Standard material, 50 for a Raytrace material.

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 for a Standard material, 40 for a Raytrace material.

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.
Soften: Softens the effect of specular highlights, especially those formed by glancing light. When Specular Level is high and Glossiness is low, you can get harsh backlights on surfaces. Increase the value of Soften to mitigate this effect. At 0, there is no softening. At 1.0, the maximum amount of softening is applied. Default=0.1.

NoteThe Soften control was a check box in releases prior to 3ds Max2. When you load a material created in an earlier version of 3ds Max, if Soften was originally off, the new Soften value is 0.0. If Soften was originally on, the new Soften value is 0.6.
Highlight graph: This curve shows the effect of adjusting the values of Specular Level and Glossiness. As you decrease Glossiness, the curve grows wider; as you increase Specular Level, the curve grows taller.