This page gives an overview of the Specular Render Element and explains how it is used.
Overview
The Specular Render Element isolates the reflected light in the scene. This render element is an image that stores specular reflection (highlight) information calculated from the material's reflection value in the scene. Specular reflection is defined as the reflection of light from a surface in a single particular reflection, as opposed to a diffuse reflection which is reflected at many angles.
The brighter the area, the more highlight reflection the object exhibits in the render. Specular highlights are colored if the Reflection Color parameter of a material is colored.
Attributes
The parameters for this render element appear in the V-Ray RenderChannelColor render channels node.
Deep Output – Specifies whether to include this render element in deep images.
Color Mapping – When enabled, the Color Mapping options in the render settings are applied to the current render channel.
Consider For AA – When enabled, anti-aliasing is used where possible.
Filtering – Applies the image filter to this channel. Image filter settings are in the Image Sampler tab of the Sampler tab of the V-Ray Renderer node.
Denoise – Enables the render element's denoising, provided the V-Ray Denoiser render element is present.
Derive Raw Channels – Generates data in the raw channels by combining the respective color and the filter color channels.
VFB Color Corrections – Applies the post render color adjustments made from the VFB.
Evaluating the Specular Render Element
In most scenes, the Specular Render Element will render as mostly black with some gray, or as completely black. Only materials that are set up to reflect, and which do actually reflect a highlight in the rendered scene, will be rendered as having image value in the render element. Shades of gray (or shades of color) in the Specular Render Element rarely reach full value (white in most cases); a white or full value pixel would indicate that the material is completely made up of reflected light at that point, which is rare in realistic scenes. Surfaces with no reflection values set in their material(s) will contain no information in the render element, and will therefore render as black.
Specular light primarily appears on reflective surfaces with a low incidence angle to a bright surface or light source. Lowering the material's gloss value below 1.0 or increasing the IOR can increase this effect.
Common Uses
The Specular Render Element is useful for changing the final image's specular appearance during compositing. In the example, the specular reflections are brightened and tinted with a cooler color. See the render before and after compositing.
Underlying Compositing Formula
The Specular Render Element is added as part of the Beauty composite to form the final image.
