yeah, cubemaps can look like reflections...but thier ability to do so is exactly what you want.
spectral highlights occur due to the light from a strong lightsource being reflected off the surface directly into the camera and/or viewers eyes.
say you have a nightime skybox with a full moon in it...the spectral highlight cubemap would be completely black, except for the moon...then additvely applying this cubemap to the ground (setcubemode 1 ... see: http://www.blitzbasic.com/b3ddocs/command.php?name=SetCubeMode&ref=3d_a-z ) it would produce the desired effect.
this is because setcubemode 1 gives the illusion of depth when moveing...load a level mesh into blitz, load a cubemap, setcubemode 1 and apply it to the mesh...then move around, bits of the cubemap will seem to travel with you...just like your discription of setting up a light to follow the camera around.
setcubemode 2 doesn't work that way, re-run the same level mesh and cubemap, changeing the cubemode...and the result looks a bit like lightmapping...as you move around the cubemap highlights and such stay planted in place...
try it again with setcubemode 3, which has a completely different effect.
spectral highlights occur due to the light from a strong lightsource being reflected off the surface directly into the camera and/or viewers eyes.
say you have a nightime skybox with a full moon in it...the spectral highlight cubemap would be completely black, except for the moon...then additvely applying this cubemap to the ground (setcubemode 1 ... see: http://www.blitzbasic.com/b3ddocs/command.php?name=SetCubeMode&ref=3d_a-z ) it would produce the desired effect.
this is because setcubemode 1 gives the illusion of depth when moveing...load a level mesh into blitz, load a cubemap, setcubemode 1 and apply it to the mesh...then move around, bits of the cubemap will seem to travel with you...just like your discription of setting up a light to follow the camera around.
setcubemode 2 doesn't work that way, re-run the same level mesh and cubemap, changeing the cubemode...and the result looks a bit like lightmapping...as you move around the cubemap highlights and such stay planted in place...
try it again with setcubemode 3, which has a completely different effect.