Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
Once surfacing has been added, the
image becomes much more believable.
In fact, surfacing gives us so much infor-
mation that if we mix it up, the scene
remains believable in a general sense, but
becomes strange. It plays with our expec-
tations of what we should be seeing.
In Blender, an object's surfacing is
described by two sets of properties:
materials and textures. Materials involve
the basic visual properties of the surface,
without texturing (
Figure 1.7
). How
does light react when it strikes the
surface? Does the surface emit its own
light? Is it rough or smooth? Is it reflec-
tive? Is it transparent? Does it act like
milk or skin, taking a little bit of light
inside itself, scattering it around, then
letting it back out?
Figure 1.5
The project scene—the forms are obvious.
With the basic materials in place, the
objects in the scene take on a certain
aspect of believability. Even though they
don't look real, they at least look like
physical objects.
Material properties deal with a number
of areas:
Figure 1.6
The project scene with surfacing added, and mixed about.
●
Color:
The basic, overall color of the
surface in white light.
●
Shading:
The way that light affects a
surface. How much light does a
surface absorb or reflect? How do
the angle of the incoming light and
the viewing angle affect what it
looks like? Different shading models
are available to give you a better
chance at mimicking certain effects
seen in the real world.
●
Transparency:
Whether or not an
object's
surfaces are
transparent.
Figure 1.7
The project scene with no texturing.
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