When light reflects in a concentrated manner off of a surface, a specular highlight results. Specular highlights can be thought of as “pseudo” reflections of bright areas in the scene (sunlight, bright lights, and so on). Modifying the specular attributes affects the perceived reflectivity for a surface. When you reduce the specularity, you in turn reduce the perceived reflectivity.

To modify the specularity of a material

1. In the Specular Shading section of the Attribute Editor, move the Eccentricity slider back and forth to change the size of the shiny highlights.
2. Move the Specular Roll Off slider to change the blend between highlighted and other areas of the surface.

   Changes to this attribute do not alter the surface in the scene view, so you need to check the Material Sample in the Attribute Editor (see the following illustration). You can also render a test image (Render > IPR Render Current Frame).

   

   As you work with shading, you’ll find many attributes that have no effect in the scene view, for instance, Ambient Color and Translucence. Generally, the scene view is a rough approximation of how the scene will render.

   The IPR renderer is ideal for testing shading. It shows the results of all changes you make to shading and shows them immediately. See the next step for details.

   Some attribute changes such as reflectivity and reflections are not displayed by the Material Sample.