Reflection

Reflections can be anisotropic, Fresnel-style and glossy. All those effects need dedicated parameters to be modeled.

If set to color, that color will be the degree of reflection of the material.
If a texture map is selected the mapped image will be used to control the reflection of the material.
Both the color and any texture map rely on classical RGB format coding for the reflection. White (RGB 0, 0, 0) equals total reflection, and Black (RGB 256, 256, 256) equals zero reflection.

Example of an applied texture map for reflection with anisotropy

Anisotropy

The anisotropy parameter varies in [0, 1] and describes how the reflection is oriented regarding to the surface orientation. Some real-life materials are well-known anisotropic ones: CD-ROM surface or hairs and fur for example. By default, a value of 0.5 makes the material isotropic (i.e. reflections do not vary with the orientation of the surface). Make the value smaller or greater to slightly modify the way the light is reflected at the material surface.

         

Click and drag in the control box to change the orientation of the anisotropy.

The Samples value changes the refinement of the anisotropy significantly.

Glossiness

The glossiness parameter controls how much the reflections are blurry. The samples parameter controls the noise level of the glossy reflections. Differences in the Glossiness setting can be seen below.
Glossiness at 0.01

Glossiness at 0.05

Glossiness at 0.99

Fresnel Reflection

Fresnel support is essential as it is the way real surfaces interact with the light. The strength of the reflection generally depends on the viewing angle (the angle between the observer and the surface normal).

Fresnel reflection OFF

Fresnel reflection ON

Specular Highlights