Shout3D™ 2.0 - 3D Studio MAX Export Tutorial

Adding a Reflection Map

You can create and export cubic reflection maps in MAX, as explained in the User Guide. But unless you are trying to create panoramic backgrounds at the same time, it's much easier to use a simple spherical reflection map. Spherical maps cannot be exported from MAX, but are simple to add to a MultiAppearance node by hand.

Open your current version of ball.s3d and edit the MultiAppearance node for the side that you didn't apply the texture and bump maps, so that it reads as follows:

MultiAppearance {
   material Material {
      diffuseColor .5 .5  0.0
      specularColor .6 .6 .6
      shininess 0.25
      transparency 0
   }
   environmentMap EnvironmentSphereMap {
      texture ImageTexture {
         url "images/shared/sky.gif"
      }
      tintColor .5 .5 .5
   }
}

The sky map is used as a reflection map on a medium yellow diffuseColor surface. The medium gray tintColor gives the reflections a medium strength. The specularColor is set strong enough to create highlights consistent with a reflective surface.

These values will produce a result like the image on the right. Experiment with different values by editing, saving and previewing until you understand how they interact. Notice how, as an environmental map, the reflection map does not rotate as you rotate the scene by dragging the mouse.

Next>