One area of material simulation that has not been covered so far in this book is reflections. Manufactured metals often exhibit reflective surfaces. We have seen how specularity can simulate a certain amount of bright light reflection but to be really accurate we need to develop ways of creating reflections on our surface simulations. Fortunately, Blender has several methods that can be applied to simulate reflection and this recipe will create an ideal mesh to synthesize reflective materials.
Some of the later recipes in this chapter will use this object to demonstrate various methods of reflection in Blender 2.5. However, such an object is very useful to create any reflective material simulation because of the complex curves and shape of the surface. The object is a representation of a faucet or tap as might be seen in a designer catalogue for bathroom fittings.