Why do I get reflections in a white ceiling?

[Allan Chesney]

I changed the default beige ceiling to White PVC and now I get a reflection of the light and table in the ceiling.  Any ideas why?  The first render was an almost total mirror image.
When I tried Paint - White I got a warning to say it was not made for ceilings (paint?!) but they were right, it did not work - the ceiling was totally bright white - quite unnatural.

How do I get a white ceiling that is not like a mirror?

Allan

[Jack Zimmer]

Check 'Display settings details' to get the drop down where you adjust materials. This check box is under Material Properites dialog box at the bottom.

White PVC "P.V.C. White) by default has 'Specular' set to 6%, which I find to be a very high gloss setting. I've set floors to 3% and they are plenty reflective.

Specular =  Shine / gloss / Reflectivity

Emmisive = amount of light given off / to the extreme of being Luminous (this is what I use to set light fixture globes or diffusors to mimic being lit up. The light source is usually below or above the light fixture so for Flourescent ceiling lights I make the diffuser Emmisive maybe 75, and then can set the bulb to any brightness I need.

Transparency is the ability to see through an object like glass or curtains (sheers)

Color Bleed is how the color reacts to an adjacent color (how they blend).

The attached is how you get to a setting when in the objects properties.

You can also rigth click the color / texture in the right Catalog and get to the properties quicker.

[Allan Chesney]

Thanks Jack - I should have worked that out.  I did check those settings but did not think hard enough about it, in the sense that I thought,  "that is not ticked so it is not using Specular" but obviously it does and the tick indicates only that you have customised it!  If it is that reflective for 6% I wonder what is it like at 100%? !

Does that become the permanent setting for that texture or only for this project?

Also, what am I doing wrong in that all subsequest renders become drastically overexposed even though I have not changed any settings?  I keep having the close the project to clear the settings and start it again.

Allan