Decals- This seems like a stupid question after all this time...

[andyboy]

I have been placing decals in renderings for a while now. It's hard to believe I haven't had this problem before. I am rendering a button that is chrome with a pad printed icon on it. The chrome material has one set of refectivity characteristics, but the pad printed icon has another (reflective vs matte). How do I handle this? Do I create a second set of surfaces for the icons or is there another way of doing it? I usaually create a second diffuse layer for the icon. Can I create a second reflectivity layer that goes along with it?

[dalomar_cg]

Re: Decals- This seems like a stupid question after all this time...

Its a little known fact, and believe it or not you actually know it already if you though real hard about it, but the Reflection value is actually just the Alpha channel for the reflection layer. So if you wanted a matte reflection on a button with a mirror decal you would have a reflection layer on top that would be for the decal with the decal alpha map applied. The only difference is that the decal would be white on black instead of black on white like you'd use in the diffuse layer, and that you'd have to set the reflection color to black instead of white as you would with the diffuse layer. All the layers underneath that would be your base button material. Let me know if you need an example.