Shaders:Who are they and what do they want to be

[Marc]

A little help please....

Shaders, wow are they powerful, If only I knew what they heck they are and do.

I think I have a pretty decent idea about texturing (I use C4D a lot but I am certainly not a pro)

but I'm having a hard time understanding what all the shader options actually do.

Color is pretty simple: except what's the difference between "Image Color" and "Filtered Image"

and what does softness actually do. I can see no change when adjusting this thing.

Reflectivity: That's a pretty simple idea. But what are all these controls.I understand what ambient, specular and all that stuff is but how it is controlled or what effect it has is really just a geuss.

What does roughness do?

And the image textures that come with VW. They don't even tile well. The seems are always available.

Photoshop: offset filter. Just an idea

Some documentation would be nice. Maybe a tutorial or 50.

m

[Guest]

Chapter 3 in the RenderWorks user's guide pretty much defines all the shaders and their settings and what they all do.

I believe this is also reviewed in the RW training CD's by In Media Res.

Of course, the best way to visually determine how various settings affect an object is to just dive in and try it.

Start with a basic texture and try setting the bump up and see what result you get with a cube, sphere and/or other objects.

Then try a different setting bounced way up or way down .. just to get the feel of the changes produced with the different settings.