Earlier I mentioned the importance of an environment sphere instead of a sphere map.

Here's a demonstration.

See how this little stage appears to be surrounded by a sunlit apartment? That's the environment sphere.

Now when I look closely at the stage, I see that environment reflected in those pawns.

But - notice how the room is tack sharp reflected in the chrome pawn, but blurry and indistinct in the red rubber pawns? That's something you can't do properly with the SphereMap - no blurring. I don't know why it works that way - but it just does. Also, it's much better to put the environment image on the environment sphere, than to put it in many shaders of each individual prop.

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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)