Surface Attributes Dialog Help for Picaso Version 1.0 Surface Color: The surface color of an object in Red, Green, and Blue intensities. The range of each color is 0.0 to 1.0. A value of 0.0 means that there is no color and 1.0 means there is the maximum amount of the color. Red: This is the red color intensity of the surface. Green: This is the green color intensity of the surface. Blue: This is the blue color intensity of the surface. Surface Properties: This is the physical properties of the objects surface. Ambient Lighting: The intensity of light reflected from the object. This is a generic way of simulating ambient light. (Ambient light is light that is everywhere in the scene it doesn't come from any light source objects. don't mistake this property for diffuse lighting.) A value of 0.0 means that the ambient light is to dim to see. A value of 1.0 means the object is saturated by ambient light. Diffuse Lighting: The intensity of light reflected from the object, this light comes directly from all light source objects. A Value of 1.0 is full intensity. A value of 0.0 no diffuse light is reflected. NOTE: specifying a diffuse value will not light the surface alone you need a light source object that has an unobstructed path to the object. Specular Highlights: This is the intensity of specular highlights. A specular highlight is a bright patch of light that is the color of the light being reflected. The rougher the surface the smaller the specular highlight will be. Note specular highlights are very directional. A value of 1.0 means that the specular highlight will be very bright, A value of 0.0 means no specular highlights will appear at all. Reflection: This is the reflectiveness of an object. A value of 0.0 means no reflections will appear on the object. A value of 1.0 means the object is totally reflective. Roughness: This is the roughness of the surface. A value of 1.0 means totally smooth. A value greater than 1.0 means the object is rough the grater the value the greater the roughness. Brilliance: This is how brilliant the surface is. This value causes the diffuse light to form tighter color bands. A value of 1.0 produces large color bands. A value grater than 1.0 decreases the color bands. Try tracing two objects of the same color side by side and give one object a brilliance of 1.0 and the other a brilliance of 5.0. Then you will understand exactly what brilliance does. Surface Name: The name of the surface color and attributes. Add to Surface list: This will add the color to the surface list. After pressing the OK button this will store the surface attributes in the current surface file. If there is a surface that has the same name. A dialog will ask you if you want to replace the surface with the new surface you just defined. Surface List: This lists the surfaces stored in the surface file. Double clicking on a item in the surface list. Will set the surface color, properties, and name to the item you double clicked on. OK Button: Accept the color, surface properties, name, and if the add to surface list checkbox is checked it will store the new surface. Cancel: Cancel changes and if the add to surface list box is checked it, will not add the surface to the surface file.