# reflective An object that defines the reflected color for each point on a surface. ``` var reflective: SCNMaterialProperty { get } ``` ## Discussion You can simulate a mirrored or chromed finish on a surface by causing it to reflect its environment. SceneKit does not render real-time reflections of the objects in a scene, but it can use an *environment map* texture to simulate reflection of a static or animated image. When rendering each pixel on the surface, SceneKit traces the light from that point to a pixel in the environment map as if the surface was reflecting that image. By default, the reflective property’s [`contents`](/documentation/SceneKit/SCNMaterialProperty/contents) object is a white color, causing the property to have no visible effect. Setting the reflective property’s contents to any solid color adds uniform shading to the material. To create a reflective effect, set the property’s contents to an image or other texture-mapped content. To produce a mirror-finish effect using an environment map, the texture image should take one of two forms: - A sphere map, a square image whose content depicts an environment as reflected by a mirrored sphere. - A cube map, an array of six square images which together form an imaginary cube enclosing the scene, whose inner surfaces are reflected by the material. You create a cube map by setting the reflective property’s [`contents`](/documentation/SceneKit/SCNMaterialProperty/contents) object to an instance containing six images, each corresponding to a direction in the scene’s world coordinate space in the following order: +X, -X, +Y, -Y, +Z, -Z (or Right, Left, Top, Bottom, Near, Far). The figure below shows a material (with a texture for its [`normal`](/documentation/SceneKit/SCNMaterial/normal) property) before and after providing a cube map for the reflective property.  This material property does not apply to physically-based materials (see [`physicallyBased`](/documentation/SceneKit/SCNMaterial/LightingModel-swift.struct/physicallyBased)). Instead, such materials reflect environment-based lighting (see the [`SCNScene`](/documentation/SceneKit/SCNScene) [`lightingEnvironment`](/documentation/SceneKit/SCNScene/lightingEnvironment) property) based on their [`metalness`](/documentation/SceneKit/SCNMaterial/metalness) and [`roughness`](/documentation/SceneKit/SCNMaterial/roughness) properties. ## See Also [`normal`](/documentation/SceneKit/SCNMaterial/normal) An object that defines the nominal orientation of the surface at each point for use in lighting. [`emission`](/documentation/SceneKit/SCNMaterial/emission) An object that defines the color emitted by each point on a surface. --- Copyright © 2026 Apple Inc. All rights reserved. | [Terms of Use](https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/terms/site.html) | [Privacy Policy](https://www.apple.com/privacy/privacy-policy)