Reflectance (CineRender Surface Channel)

the Color channel, which reflects real light sources (diffuse).
the Specular channel, which also reflected real light sources (even if the specular highlight couldn’t actually be made to appear physically correct with regard to its shape and intensity).
the Reflection channel, which reflected the environment.
Compared to the Reflection Strength setting, which is defined per layer, the Global Reflection Brightness setting regulates the strength of the overall reflection. For example, if you create a complex combination of reflections, each with its own reflective strength and the overall reflection is too intense when rendered, this slider can be used to tone the reflection down without having to adjust individual reflection settings.
Reflection (Legacy), Specular - Blinn, Specular - Phong (Legacy)
These options define how the Color channel should be mixed with the Layer Color with various Reflection Strength settings.
Note: If the Color channel is disabled, these settings will have no effect!
Note: If the selected Type is a “Legacy” Specular type, then the only available Attenuation modes will be those of older CineRender versions (Additive and Metal).
Average: Both colors will be averaged. This mode produces the most realistic-looking results. (If no color is defined in the Layer Color setting, then the effect is the same as the next mode, Maximum).
Maximum: This mode is best suited for creating colored reflections: The Color channel’s effect will be reduced and the Layer Color will dominate.
Additive: Both colors will be added. (In the real world, the Color channel’s effect should weaken as the surface’s reflectivity increases, which is something that the Additive mode ignores completely. To achieve a physically correct result, the Color channel must be darkened manually.)
Metal: Only available for reasons of compatibility if an older Project is loaded (in older versions of CineRender, this mode was found in the Specular channel’s Mode setting; it used the color defined in the Color channel to color the specular highlight).
Note: A Roughness value of greater than 0% is required for the calculation of specular highlights.
The Texture setting can be used to apply the Roughness setting (described above) to an entire texture.
Note: The layers’ combined reflective strength can be adjusted together using the Global Reflection Brightness slider.
Note on Specular Highlights: The size and appearance of specular highlights (with the exception of Type = Specular Blinn/Phong (Legacy)) depends on Type and Roughness (must be set to a value greater than 0% for most modes). This is different from pre-AC20 versions of CineRender, which let you make physically incorrect adjustments to the specular highlight’s height and width. This can, however, still be done, if necessary, if Type is set to Specular Blinn/Phong (Legacy).
Tip: Note that the combined specular highlight strength of multiple reflective layers can be adjusted together using the Global Specular Brightness slider in the Reflectance tab.
The following 3 settings apply only to Specular Blinn/Phong (Legacy):
Width/Roughness: Defines the width of the specular highlight. Larger widths should be used for matte surfaces (for less specular strength). Polished and shiny surfaces should have very small widths (for greater specular strength).
Falloff: Defines the curve of the specular highlight - anything from pinpoint to bell-shaped or rectangular shapes can be created.
Inner Width: Defines the specular highlight’s inner region, which is not affected by abatement of brightness.
Custom Bump Map: Select this to load a custom bump map into the Custom Texture field. You can also load a normal map (using the next option) for better results.
Custom Normal Map: elect this to load a custom normals map into the Custom Texture field. This can also be a bump map in a Normalizer shader.
For details, see Strength (Normal Channel) and Strength (Bump Channel).
Color: Defines the layer filter color. The default color is white, which allow reflections without having to modify the color.
Color: This setting is used to define the color of the alpha. The default color is white, which allows reflections without having to modify the color.
Dielectric for transparent surfaces such as glass, water, clear coat lacquer, etc.
Conductor for opaque, reflective surfaces such as metal, minerals, etc.
A selection of Conductor presets
The Reflection Depth PhotoRendering setting (Options/General Options) defines the number of reflections that should take place. For example, if you have two mirrors facing each other, this setting can be used to limit the number of reflections that take place. Otherwise an endless number of reflections would be rendered with a more-or-less endless amount of render time.
The Exit Color setting defines the color the reflection should assume in the end. In previous versions of CineRender, this was black by default. However, as you can see in the image below, this produced unwanted black spots. This can be avoided if a fitting color is defined for the last reflection, as seen below.
If Distance Dim is disabled, all objects will be reflected.
If enabled, the Distance value defines the distance at which an object will no longer be reflected.
The reflection falloff up to the Distance value is defined using the Falloff value. A value of 0 produces a linear falloff; other values produce the effects shown in the example above.
Note: The Total Inner Reflection must be enabled in the Transparency channel and Refraction should be set to 0.