OpenGL Programming Guide

Chapter 6Lighting

A Simple Example: Rendering a Lit Sphere

Define Material Properties for the Objects in the Scene

An object's material properties determine how it reflects light and therefore what material it seems to be made of. Because the interaction between an object's material surface and incident light is complex, specifying material properties so that an object has a certain desired appearance is an art. You can specify a material's ambient, diffuse, and specular colors and how shiny it is. In this example, only these last two material properties - the specular material color and shininess - are explicitly specified (with the glMaterialfv() calls). "Defining Material Properties" describes and gives examples of all the material-property parameters.

OpenGL Programming Guide