how do you make a refelective surface?
 

hey everyone, i just want to know a couple things: where can i learn how to use lighting, i dont really understand it (ive never used it before), and second: how do i create a reflective surface on an object?

We have a 3-directional lighting tutorial here.

First, give your object a material with some sort of specular ability. Look in it's Raytracing settings and make adjustments as you want. Increase reflectivity, etc.

In your render globals, make sure Raytracing is turned on. That's all there is to it. Adjust as you need to.

ok, thanks, i think i should be able to play around with that and figure it out, but how do i get into the Raytracing settings?

you dont need to raytrace though, you can do it with an environment map. Look in the scripts download section for a cubic map generator that I uploaded yesterday you can do it with that.

alan

thanx man, however, one problem remains... i have no idea how to use .mel files, ive seen them before, but i dont know how they work

open your script editor up (bottom left hand corner button) and then copy and paste the script in or open the file and then highlight the entire script and hit the small enter key on your keyboard (on the right hand side)and it should execute. Now this particular script there is a function (i dont remeber what it's called probably the same as the filename) type that into the script editor (or the command line at the bottom of your maya window) and hit enter and it should run. that's it really. Check the help docs for more info

:)

Alan

* Dirack presses the -import- button * heh, I'm fast :D ;) :D

i know i must sound completely incompitent, but the lep file said "c is not a registered protocol" , so i must ask: how does this thing work?