Reflection probe override for material preview.

Hi.

I'm currently working on a night scene so my skybox is pitch black. The problem is the materials preview is using it for reflection and the result isn't good since it isn't representative of any practical use.

Here is an obvious example of chrome in the scene and in preview.



Is it possible to override the skybox and use a reflection probe of my choice in the inspector?

If not, this is a feature we'll need in the final release.

 

Metallic surfaces are supposed to have dark albedo. If you're using specular workflow look up a physically correct value for chrome. I think you could probably use black albedo for chrome.

Although I'm not sure that will solve your issue, the specular shader can look very weird if the values are wrong.

 

It won't because it has nothing to do with material values. Materials look all right in the scene because they have reflection probes to use. This is the same material on both the sphere and the preview.

In the preview they use the skybox and since mine is dark, there is nothing to reflect: that's why it won't look the way it should.

That's why I request a way to use a proper environment.

 

yes, it seems the material inspector could use some additional options.

perhaps as a workaround, try something brighter than pure black? Pure black would be pretty rare in nature, unless you are like 200 feet down in a cave or something.

 

It's done : http://fogbugz.unity3d.com/default.asp?651984_klc0vlkef4arbjpj

It wouldn't be enough because what make the difference between shiny metals is almost all in the reflections, so you'd always need a decent neutral scene to set up and recognise materials like coper alloys.