masking fresnel in material?

[olli_ 13]

is there a way to define fresnel using a texture instead of just having a single value for the whole material?

im trying to make an object which has a few chromed parts, but theyre quite small and integrated in to the general topology so i cant just split the selection and use a second rvmat

[da12thMonkey 1943]

There isn't a fresnel map documented amongst the Texture Map Types, so no I'm pretty sure you can't make per-pixel Fresnel values.

Altering the blue 'gloss' channel on the specular map (_SMDI.tga) can assist in some ways to alter the amount of apparent shininess of the surface, but it can require a lot of juggling of the specularpower and Fresnel value in the .rvmat to get it to look half-decent across two very different materials in my experience and the results might not satisfy you.

It's not that unusual for BIS models to apply a separate .rvmat on faces of the model there needs to be a definite material change with a new SpecularPower + Fresnel setting, so don't be too put off trying that just because it adds another section to the model. You can probably get away with one or two more sections - it's only models that have dozens and dozens of them that are problematic.

[x3kj 1247]

In the far distant LODs it wont be noticeable anyway, so you could use the additional rvmat only in the closer LODs, to have the least effect on performance

If they are only present on the texture and not the model, you can only juggle around with the specular and gloss map and the rvmat values so your general texture looks ok and the chrome really shiny. Maybe try high specular power, and have the spec map color of the chrome almost white, the standard parts almost black

Edited August 19, 2014 by Fennek

[mp5gosu 10]

Either use material selections or BlendMaterial.