The Glint shading model simulates sparkling, view-dependent highlights on surfaces. It creates small, bright reflections that appear and disappear as the camera or light moves, producing effects like glittering car paint, shimmering water, or sparkling snow.
Its use cases include:
- Automotive finishes with metallic flakes.
- Snow, ice, or water surfaces.
- Any material requiring small, dynamic sparkling highlights.
This shading model can use two texture maps:
- Glint Map (Grayscale): Determines where and how strongly the sparkling effect appears. White areas produce high-intensity glints, while black areas produce little or no sparkle.
- Glint Roughness Map (Grayscale): Controls the sharpness of glints. Lighter values make glints larger and more diffuse, while darker values produce smaller, sharper highlights.
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Glint Map Texture Slot | Add a glint texture by clicking on the slot or dragging and dropping one from the Library. |
| Channel Selection | Determines which channel of the texture map will be used. It’s useful when, instead of using multiple single textures, you use one texture with different grayscale maps in the different texture channels: Red, Green, Blue, and Alpha. |
| Glint Intensity | Specifies the intensity of the glint effect. Values darker than white fade to Beckmann reflections. |
| Glint Density | Specifies how sparse or densely populated the glint flakes are. |
| Glint Scale | Specifies the size of the glint flakes. |
| Roughness Map Texture Slot | Add a glint roughness texture by clicking on the slot or dragging and dropping one from the Library. |
| Roughness Channel | Determines the channel of the texture from which to read the glint roughness map content. |
| Glint Roughness | Sets the glint roughness value; 1 corresponds to rough reflections, while 0 corresponds to smooth reflections. |
| Invert | Inverts the output of the glint roughness. This is useful for loading roughness maps where white corresponds to rough surfaces while black corresponds to smooth surfaces. |
| Use Microsurface | When enabled the glint roughness is synchronized with the roughness or gloss settings. |
