Ha - the Sheldon Cooper thing I get from friends and family all the time. You are totally right about that.

The one you linked to is just trying to be more realistic, where the amount of reflection varies with the viewing angle.

Very few people would have come up with that setup to calculate the reflection value - you're not at all alone in that.

But it didn't have much to do with a giant brain either. As I have explained before, anybody could do it, if only they would practice manipulating math formulas. I know that sounds impossible, but so is playing the piano at a higher level, which I can also do. Both abilities came from thousands upon thousands of hours of practice.

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Renderosity forum reply notifications are wonky. If I read a follow-up in a thread, but I don't myself reply, then notifications no longer happen AT ALL on that thread. So if I seem to be ignoring a question, that's why. (Updated September 23, 2019)