Diffuse, Normal, and Specular Maps
Iāve been asked to explain diffuse, normal, and specular maps quite a few times, so Iāve made this post for future askers!Ā
These terms are basically just fancy talk forĀ ātexture,ā ābumpiness,ā andĀ āshininess.āĀ
SecondLife provides presets of bumpiness and shininess, but using normal maps and specular maps, gives it a specific texture to the prim. These enhance the look and feel of prims in-world, making them life-like.
These can only be seen if you have advanced lighting enabled in your preferences.Ā
(pictures provided above, enlarge to see the text better!)Ā
The diffuse texture is the texture you see on a prim.Ā
Dragging a texture from your inventory to the small square in your build window is normally how most texture a prim.Ā
The normal texture is the bumpiness texture.Ā
To add a normal map to your prim, selectĀ ābumpinessā in your build window and drag the texture to the small square in your build window.Ā
The specular texture is the shininess texture.Ā
To add the specular, again, you drag it to the square in theĀ āshininessā section of your build window. In the shininess section, youāll find two values to alter: glossiness, and environment.Ā
Environment is basically what the SecondLife shininess presets use, and glossiness adds exactly that: gloss!Ā Both values range from 0 to 255; none to max.Ā
Youāll also notice that there is a small rectangle under the two adjustable values in the shininess section, this is where you can tint your glossiness with a colour.Ā Example:Ā
Clicking the rectangle and selecting a pink shade will make the gloss itself, pink.
Ā SOMETHING TO NOTE:Ā
You can only texture a prim you are wearing with a texture that has full permissions.
Otherwise, you will have to rez the prim and texture it while itās rezzed!Ā
(As a personal preference, I use Firestorm Viewer. Our viewers may differ, but it should have a similar set up! If you donāt have these options at all, chances are you are using an out of date viewer.)Ā
