6) Still in the Material Editor scroll down to the group called �Highlight Parameters�. This is where we define what the highlight of our material looks like.

7) Click on the rectangle left of �Specular Col.� and pick the same warm yellow tone as above, maybe a little more yellow. I used the following settings: Red: 255, Blue: 236, Green: 23

8) Below there�s the value �80� next to �Level�. This will define how bright the highlight will be. I exaggerated it a bit and set it to 200, so the material will reflect a very bright light white instead of the orange we�ve defined for the specular color, just because it is so intense.

9) Now click the long grey button reading �none� right of �Glossiness�. The �Material/Map Browser� will pop up another time. Select �Speckles� (�Flecken�) and hit �OK�. Why so? I want the gold to look like a little like car paint and with the speckles we simulate the encapsulated metal particles underneath a perfectly smooth surface.

The following settings kept me busy for days until they looked right, so you just have to trust me if you want it to look like my texture or play around with the settings a little yourself.

10) Under the �Speckle Parameters� set the size from 0.1 to 2. Pretty big specles you might think, but we arent finished yet.

11) Click the grey map button reading �None� next to �Color #2�.

12) Again the �Material/Map Browser� pops up where we select �Speckles� � again.

13) Here keep the size of 0.1 but change the color of �Color #2� by clicking on the white rectangle to open the color picker dialogue box.

14) Here change the value of �Value� from 256 to 188, or enter 188 for Red, Green and Blue.

Now what did we do that for? We balanced the amount of the specles so that it still looks natural. I played a long time with it so I know what I am talking about. To get a better understanding of what we just did save your work so far and try playing around with different grey tones for �Color #1� and �Color #2�.

Important to understand is that in 3dsmax there are hierarchies in the material editor. In our case the base material is �Brazil Chrome�. On the first level below there is the fist �Specles�-map for the glossiness of the �Brazil Chrome�-material. And even below, on sub-level two there is the �Specles�-map of �Color #2� of the �Specles�-map for the glossiness of the �Brazil Chrome�-material. Sounds complicating, but once you are used to it it�s very practical because there is no limit in sub-levels. If you want to you can interlink thousands of maps into thousands of sub-layers.

To get up one hierarchy hit the �Go to parent� (�Gehe zu �bergeordnetem Objekt�) button which can be found far right on the toolbar below the swatches (the spheres with the textures). The picture below descibes the hierarchy a little.