So I understand that specular highlights are really just a reflection of a light source but in reality, can a surface be so glossy that it makes the specular highlight tighter and smaller than the actual reflection? Or are the glossiest surfaces really just directly reflecting everything around them? like is say, a mirror…
The glossiest surfaces in real life are just reflecting things around them like a mirror. Changing the size of the specular dot in a shader/material in 3D is the equivalent of making the surface rougher/bumpier or smoother in real life. I think a mirror is one of if not the glossiest surfaces as it reflects light back at…
Keep in mind that most lighting models that are used in real time graphics are just hacks or old empirically determined ways to mimic real life lighting. Specular reflections don't accurately represent the size of light sources without other hacks or ray-tracing. Realistically, glossiness alone will not make the specular…