Surface texture

In visual arts, a texture is any kind of surface detail, both visual and tactile. In Maya, you create surface detail with textures connected to the material of objects as texture maps. (Materials define a the basic substance of an object; see Surface shading for more details.)

For more information on texture maps, see Texture mapping.

Factors beyond basic color, transparency, and shine (see below) that determine the appearance of an object’s surface include:

Surface relief. See About surface relief for more information.
Whether or not the surface casts or catches reflections. See True reflections for more information. (Objects typically reflect backgrounds or environments; see About backgrounds for more information.)
Atmosphere. See Fog, smoke, dust, and silt for more information.

You can also bake illumination and color to a texture that you can later apply to objects in a scene. See Baking illumination and color.

Color

You can work with color in Maya in so many different ways. Here are some of the most common:

Change the basic color of an object by adjusting the color attribute of a material applied to the object. To find out more about material node attributes, see Render node attributes.
Apply a texture as a color map to the material’s color attribute.
- For more information about texture mapping, see Texture mapping.
- To map a 2D or 3D texture, see Map a 2D or 3D texture.
Use a Ramp Shader for extra control over the way color changes with light and view angle. You can simulate a variety of exotic materials and tweak traditional shading in subtle ways. For a description of the Ramp Shader, see Ramp Shader.
Expand, enhance, or manipulate colors in applied textures using utilities such as Blend Colors, Clamp, Gamma Correct, and so forth. For example, you can blend colors, adjust contrast, and convert HSV to RGB. For a description of each of the utilities and what you can use them for, see Utilities.

Transparency

You can work with the transparency of an object in the following ways:

Change the transparency level of an object adjusting the transparency attribute of a material applied to the object. To find out more about material node attributes, see Render node attributes.
Apply a texture as a transparency map to the material’s transparency attribute to designate which areas of an object are opaque, transparent or semi-transparent.
- For more information about texture mapping, see Texture mapping.
- To map a 2D or 3D texture, see Texture mapping.

Specular highlight (shine)

You can work with the shininess of objects in your scene in the following ways:

Change the intensity and size of the specular highlights of an object by adjusting the Specular Shading attributes of a material applied to the object. To find out more about material node attributes, see Render node attributes and Common surface material Specular Shading attributes.
Apply a texture as a specularity map to the material’s Specular Color attribute to designate which areas of an object shine (and the color of the highlights).
- For more information about texture mapping, see Texture mapping.
- To map a 2D or 3D texture, see Texture mapping.
  Note
  Only materials with specular attributes (Anisotropic, Blinn, Phong, and PhongE) have surface highlights. The specular highlight is the white shiny glow on the material.

What are specular highlights?

Some surfaces are shinier than others (for example a wet fish has a shinier surface than a dry leaf). Depending on how shiny a surface is, it reflects light in different ways.

Shiny objects reflect light directly; matte objects diffuse light. Specular highlights show the places on the object where the light sources are reflected at consistent angles; reflections on an object show, among other things, light bounced from surrounding objects.

Specular highlights depend directly on the view (camera), not the position of the light, like diffuse shading does.

Tip

The Blinn material is recommended for shiny surfaces in animations. Highlights on other specular materials, like Phong and PhongE, may flicker when animated.

Highlights

The size of a specular highlight on a surface makes the surface look either flat or shiny.

Highlight color

You can control the color of highlights on surfaces.

Reflections

You can control the degree of reflectivity as well as other surface properties like refracted color.