cheers
Broadstrokes mistakes non-lookdev people make: 1) Putting color in specular color channels on dialectric (non-conductive ie non-metallic) materials . Typically only metals tint the specular response. 2) Clamping high bit-depth maps or using nodes that clamp values on them. 3) confusing roughness/glossiness – make sure your maps are rough where they should be rough 4) Not adjusing the specular color to match the roughness. Typically the specular response is also reduced where it’s roughened – in CG we often invert the roughness map to get the specular color. The roughness *should* take care of the energy distribution across the surface but usually needs a little help from the spec color. 5) Taking into account the affect bump maps have on specular roughness. Remember that the specularity of a surface is simply emulation of micrsocopic diversions on a surface. Bump is just a macro version of this, but make the frequency small enough and you’re effectively increasing specular roughness. If you’re going to use high frequency bump, make sure its plugged in while you address specular roughness values> 6) SSS will reduce bump and shadow fidelity on macro and micro scales. You may need to adjust bump or diffuse in order for it to be read as you expect while using SSS (again, VERY broad stroke note) 7) Confusing bad shading with bad lighting. If you’re getting highly detailed bump that you cant seem to shake, or things are looking highly specular when you dont think they should be – is it acually because you have lights with no surface area? The smaller the light area the less points on a highly bumpy, highly glossy surface that will catch the glancing angle of that light… make sure your light sources are based in the reality of the shot – a reason why both neutral look development and shot Lookdev are equally important