But don’t use the Tree® example because I just don’t get it if everyone and every article uses the same example
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An isotropic material reflects light the same way regardless of the incoming direction. Think of a non-reflective dull surface. The incoming light from a particular angle is reflected out to a random outgoing angle, since the surface roughness is effectively random. An example of an anisotropic material is brushed metal, such as you commonly see on the bottom of a stainless steel pot or pan. The surface roughness is not random, but well defined in a pattern of grooves. Light coming in at a particular angle will hit this groove structure in a certain way, and reflect off in roughly the same direction regardless of which groove it hits within a close vicinity. Imagine each groove is a tiny, long mirror aligned at a certain angle, whereas the roughness on an isotropic surface is like a ton of tiny square mirrors that are all randomly aligned.
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