How to use a reflection map?
 

Ok, I have a few questions about reflection maps and how to use them. First off, I HAVE read alot of stuff about them and have come to the decision,.........well, that I need to know how to use them. Is it the same principle as a bump map, similar to the steps.

1. Lay out UVs
2. Paint reflected areas black, and not reflective white.
3. Apply the image as a reflectiveness thing.

So, I have tried tinkering with it a little, but no luck. Should I save in a certain format? 32 bit? Anything else.

Thank you for your help,
-Ryan

Ok, I feel like an idiot. A stupid lazy dumb idiot.

I was running through the help files again after I posted and found all this.
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Reflection
Use the Reflectivity attribute to give the surface the appearance of reflecting its surroundings. By mapping an image, texture, or environment map to the Reflected Color you can create "fake" reflections. The Reflectivity attribute decides how reflective the shader actually is. The smaller the Reflectivity value, the less reflective the shader is.


Note

Because reflection is not dependent on UV coordinates, in most cases, procedural textures mapped to a reflection attribute cannot be converted precisely to 2D textures. Instead of mapping procedural textures, use file textures or a constant Reflected Color. You could also manually convert the procedural texture into a file texture and modify it in a 2D paint application. For information on how procedural textures are converted, see Texture mapping.
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I understand some of it, but the note part just blows me away. Anyone know how to put that into leyman's terms?


PS. Also, so the reflection map is technically not interactive with the surrondings, like say a shader would be. All it is is an picture that simulates it? Just would like to know.

So when using maya materials, do you connect the Reflection map to the "Reflection Color" or the "Reflectivity'"? What I'm trying to do is have a metal object with scratches. The scratches reveal the base metal underneath the painted metal. The painted metal is not that reflective if at all, but the places where the paint is scratched off I want to be more reflective. I have the map made, just don't know which one to connect it to. :(

Wow this is quite a necro lol.

Well the "reflected color" controls the environment that appears in the shader's reflection when mapped. Like if you wanted the objects using the shader to reflect a sky that isn't in the scene.

The reflectivity attribute controls the shader's ability to throw back light, so this is what you're looking for in this case. However, take note of the specular color attribute as well since Maya decided to separate these two qualities. A scratched up surface with pristine highlights would look rather odd.