Doc:Glossary/Specular Light

Specular Light

Refers to the highlights on reflective objects, like diamonds, billiard balls, and eyes. Specular highlights often appear as bright spots on a surface, at a point where the light source hits it directly. Ambient, Diffuse, and Specular are called the three components of a light source. Each one is given a color, which, when added together, create the final color of a light. For most lights, the main overall color of the light is defined by the Diffuse color. Sunlight or lightbulbs would be white, while moonlight would be a darker blue, and a candle would be yellow. You can use the ambient color to adjust the overall color range of the light source; or, you can get a slight tint to shadows by making the diffuse component yellow and the ambient a slight blue. In many lights, the ambient color is left at black, meaning that it won't have any effect. Specular components are often left at white, but you can make them different colors to get interesting effects. Most of the time you can completely ignore the specular and diffuse settings on a light, but just be aware that the way you set the color is by specifically setting the diffuse color. The final color that an object appears to be is a combination of the light hitting it and the color of the surface.