LIGHTWAVE V9 TEXTURING

Chapter 21Metal Surfaces

Metal surfaces can be one of the trickier types of surfaces to get right. This is because people often neglect to set up adequate environments for their metals. Most of the realism for metal lies in the reflections, so it is essential to give your metals something to reflect; placing them in a featureless black void and then pumping up their reflection is not going to do anything at all.

Of course, there are many kinds of metals that we encounter and may have to create at some point, and each requires a different approach and different detailing.

Generally, in LightWave, you should set up your metal with relatively low Diffuse, a medium to high Specularity, a low Glossiness (unless it has a coating, like car paint), and ...