[otacon]

hmm. im still getting grips with the settings. Ive always been a guy who goes by sight, so whatever looks right is what i will do. Im basing what i did on some tests done in this thread. http://www.maxwellrender.com/forum/view ... 7&start=15 From what i understand, and from some of my tests i thought you had to use an image in the spec channel to control the reflection when using plastic material....at least in lightwave, which is what im using. Thanks for the pointers though, we are all still learning.

[Hervé]

Yes but Tom And Mihai are not using LW... Yes Tom we have to use a bitmap to control spec & glossiness... so we have to have a lot of tiny grey maps (turned to RGB) to fine tune our work... sliders with % don't have any effect...

I have one question Otacon, I see you're using SDS to model it, and I see the tiny grooves don't seam to be attach to the watch geometry... are they also SDS... I mean the entire model... or do you mix both polys and SDS...?

Now you modeled this in 50 min....? . jeeez I feel like dumbo now... he he

[tom]

ok ok ... it's not much different...
if you're using R=G=B (grey) map for the specular, then your speculars will reflect the same colors as a mirror. but it's a colored material you use (yellowish), so it'll be better when you use a non-grey bitmap for speculars. imagine you have a full-green non-red metal ball and a red apple beside. it must be reflecting the red apple as dark green with no red saturation. i mean the diffuse color of the real objects affects the specularity and reflection color also.

[Hervé]

... so in fact in this case of gold it would be better to work with a colored spec. map..? like some yellow in it for gold for instance..? or is that color multiplied, and so it is difficult to find the good color, no?.. I am kinda lost here..

[tom]

yes herve, just like that and it's not necessary to calculate an accurate specular... just feel it

[Hervé]

ha very good tip here... thanks Tom.

Hervé

[tom]

adam this issue is fixed where were you... hehe

[otacon]

Thanks for the tips guys.
Herve: The little ridges are not SDS, everything else is. I always tend to mix polys and SDS, whatever is the easiest way to model a certain part thats what i will use.

[otacon]

Heres a little thing i did today to practice some surfacing.

[tom]

you can sell those kind of images in photostocks....very cool otacon!

[otacon]

Heres another one.

[tom]

absolute SHOCK!

[bisounours]

...as K.N said....simple and cool...superb...

[Hervé]

that one is really cool Otacon... you did not missed the target !!

nice metal.. plastic..?

[otacon]

Thanks. Yea, the metal is plastic material. Two emitters in the scene, 6 bounces, got to level 18 in about 6 hours.