The design of ZbornToy has the amount of parameters reduced to a minimum, while still providing a vast amount of control
over every aspect of it. The goal has been to achieve the performance and feel of a full blown render engine when it comes
to the results. Yet it is ment to be not only easily accessible, but fast and fluent so that it is fun and even playful to use.
Lighting supports shadows and soft shadows and is kept within the plugin for a maximum portability to other compositing
packages that support after effects plugins. Sources of light are by means of a direct light, a point light and
environmental illumination. The environmental illumination is based on panoramic or spherical maps. It includes occlusion
approximations and independent reflection settings. The reflection is directly tied together with the shading section and
gets diffused and colored according the surface definitions.
The shading section offers a set of innovations that simplify the shading process dramatically,
while keeping the look of the surfaces stunningly coherent. For example, defining the glossiness of a surface requires
nothing more than to dial or texture the glossiness parameter. Everything related to the look of
a glossy surface automatically responds accordingly based on both mathematical and artistic understanding of the required
process.
The amount of paramters is destilled down to a minimum while maintaining a maximum of flexibility to easily create all sorts
of materials ranging from the usual plastics over metal to particularely skin, supporting translucency in the easiest to use
ways ever.
