Achieving realistic reflections

Reflections are a very interesting and powerful effect, and one that can often make or break a scene. They are amazing when used to their full potential, since their inclusion alone adds a layer of realism that can be difficult to fake. So far, we've made use of two reflection methods in the previous recipes: the standard Screen Space Reflections that is enabled by default in the engine, and the Reflection Captures we've always had around in our scenes. Even though we only set them up in the Chapter 1, Physically Based Rendering, both of these methods have been implemented in the scenes we have provided.

With that covered, it is now time to deal with other additional reflection techniques that can enhance the look of our models even further, such as Planar Reflections. The methods we've used so far have worked great with the assets that we were dealing with, but some of the materials that we are going to be exploring in the immediate future will benefit from...