Placing Textures on Meshes
Materials are the surface treatments given to polygons that make them appear solid. The coloring-in of the polygon plane gives the illusion that it has substance and is more than its surrounding edges. The surface treatment applied interacts with the lighting applied to give the final appearance.
Just like lights, materials have different ambient, diffuse, and specular colors. Each of these interacts with the corresponding lights to determine the final effect seen. For example, white diffuse light shone on a diffuse green cube will reflect the color green. Although white light is hitting the cube, the green color of the cube determines what light gets reflected. White light is when all the color channels for R, G, and B are turned on, hence the (1, 1, 1) value. If the cube is green, then its color is set to (0, 1, 0). Essentially, it’s the channel that the light and the material both have turned on that is reflected. Of course, it is a little more...
