Hi! I am trying to make a latex outfit but I simply can't get it shiny enough or reflective enough for my liking.

I had reflective pants from another creator, and I tried using the same shader as her (0x1C608236 (476086838)), and while it worked in CAS and outdoors, the reflectivity entirely went away indoors making it super flat. Now, I've ended up back at square one using SimSkin as my shader and making my specular super bright (I also changed the shininess value in S3PE multiple times but I'm not sure what I'm doing there, so it didn't help much), but I am still only achieving that diffused plastic looking shininess that so many EA clothes have by default.



While I suppose that looks better than the completely flat look it had indoors before, it still doesn't look how I hoped. I'm starting to believe there is no way to achieve this and, if so, I'll just add some highlights to the texture and call it a day, I guess. (But I don't particularly like how that looks, hence why I have jumped through all these hoops lol) But on the off chance that I am just missing something, I figured I'd ask here.

Any help would be appreciated. Even if the help is, "It's impossible." At least then I'll know to stop trying. :P

Well, that IS the Plumbot shader that you listed, so shiney should work. First thing, is that you must use a 2 group donor, such as tank ruffles, which has 2 groups in all LODs. You need a second group for the simskin. I often use the cocktail dress, that is 2 grps for L1, and don't care about the extra shine for L2 and L3, which are 1 group. Avoid tight halter, as it uses the same image for alpha diffuse and specular.

You still need to play with the specular to get the shine you desire. Not sure how shiney you want the dress to be? Shininess and reflectivity will help a little. Not completely sure, but they might help with indoor shine, once you have a good specular. Outdoor shine is alway more, from sunlight, and you have to find that happy medium.

If you upload the package, I can look deeper inside.

Sorry, I should've included this information in the OP, but I did use a 2 group donor. What I didn't like about the plumbot shader is that the reflectivity and shine went away entirely indoors. I understand the lighting is different, but if the effect is entirely gone indoors and the garment ends up looking like a black void, then that isn't the desired look. I did play around with the specular when using the Plumbot shader and even more when I went back to SimSkin, as well as the shininess and reflectivity values, but the problem of the reflectivity and shininess being entirely gone indoors remained.

I ended up just using SimSkin and texturing on the shine. It ended up looking better than the outfit did when I was using the Plumbot shader, anyway, so I'm happy. But if you do know why the plumbot shader entirely stops working indoors, I'd be interested to hear it! I think it might just be buggy. The pants that used the plumbot shader also had that same issue indoors, so it doesn't seem to be a me thing. But, yeah, I ended up being content with texturing on the highlights, so it isn't the end of the world if I don't find a solution. But I'm always interested in learning! Thanks for your insight! I didn't know that about the tight halter, so I'll be sure to avoid using that as my donor in the future. Though I don't think I did so this time.

OK, you knew to use 2 groups. That's important. The shader doesn't stop working indoors. I work with it quite a bit. Never saw it become a "black void"???

Alice is 5 groups, uses simskin, plumbot shader, plumbot shader with glow additive and totals over 61 bones.

Her shine will be less indoors, and I intentionally toned down the amount of shine, but also have several parts that are more shiney than other parts, as you see in the pic. I've also done shoes, boots and a few other things using the shader. That's why I wanted to look at the package.

Okay, so per usual the problem is me. Shader works fine. I am just stupid. Did some more testing in game and you're entirely right about everything. Thanks for the help, again. <3

The issue was, I typically test CC in a minimalist environment. A block of a house with no outdoor lighting coming in at all. The lack of outdoor lighting was what was making the clothes lose their shine and reflectivity.

Never "stupid"... just didn't know yet! Outdoor lighting coming into a room shouldn't matter. It should have a shine with indoor lighting, IE lamps, hanging lights. Again, the shine will be less intense with those light sources, than from outdor sunlight, but still visible.

But it sounds like you have the basics, and got it to work.

Yeah, I think it likely was a bit of a combo of lack of indoor lightning (I only use 2-3 invisible CC lights that sort of act like the ones from buydebug), and the fact that it was my sim in a large, empty room that in itself was a bit of a black void. lol So perhaps the reflection was working perfectly, in that it was accurately reflecting the black void my sim finds herself in every time I test CC.

OY! Yes! The bot shader does reflect it's surroundings like a mirror. If the walls are pink, it reflects pink. If standing near a TV, depending on your graphics settings, it reflects the TV. So it is entirely possible that using a "void" room gave you bad visual info.