Diver's Knife

Joopson

Hey everyone!
I'm working on a diver's knife, and I'd really like some critique, and tips about what to do to make it better. So far I know the wood needs a fair amount of work; and that the specular values are a bit too dull on the blade and the brass bits. Any tips on how to get it to read as metal better?
Thanks!


[Thanks EQ, for moving this for me!]

Bek

The brass is currently yellow, give it a darker more orange diffuse, more spec and gloss. For the metal try having less noise in the diffuse, put some of that noise in the spec, and increase the gloss. You might also find different environment presets (skys) in marmoset make a significant difference.

Also post references you're using, makes it easier to give critique and suggestions.

Joopson

Here is my main reference for the forms (Though I'm going for a different look with the wood):

And another one, which I used mainly for help figuring out the materials:


Thanks for the tips, I'll make some changes ASAP. I agree about the sky presets. The ones that looked good with the metal looked bad with the wood. But I guess that's an issue with the gloss and spec.

DWalker

You might want to add a bit more space between the ridges on the handle (as in the first reference shot). If you do so, keep in mind that grime would tend to gather in these areas, and they would be matte, or nearly so.

Also note the irregular patina on the brass ring - this discoloration is one of the better indicators of age in real-life objects.

Finally, consider adding weathering details to the normal map. The reference photo has both deep scratches in the wooden handle and pitting on the blade.

Joopson

Finally got to work on it a bit tonight.
Still lots of stuff to do with the wood; at the moment there's a rather nasty seam as a result of the wood texture. Any idea of how to get rid of that?
Still lots to do otherwise, too.
But it's an improvement I think! Brass is a bit too gold now.

Joost

the wood is looking great. For the seam you can try painting it out in mudbox or zbrush. Alternatively, if you straightened your uvs you could crop your image to the UV island and use the offset filter as you would with a normal seamless texture. And then copy that back to your original document.
You should also generate some small details for your normal map with ndo2 or crazybump.

For the metal, make the dark spots pop out more in your specular and gloss.
I can't really tell without seeing your maps, but it looks like your diffuse could be a bit darker too.

In your normal map you have raised bumps, but in your reference they're actually indentations/pits.

You also definitely need to make your edges pop more in your specular by using a cavity map.

The dark spots on the blade seem a bit too blurry. Try using a texture of some smaller details as a selection to paint your details with. Something like this works well http://cgtextures.com/texview.php?id=5461&PHPSESSID=5h6qmke0en7osmj60preqfvtp4

Your brass material is still too yellow. If you look at the second reference picture it's more of a dull orange/brown. This tutorial should help for the brass, and the other materials too http://www.marmoset.co/toolbag/learn/materials

Lastly I'd recommend you check out racer445s tutorial here http://www.oesterkilde.dk/racer445.php

Hope this helped!

joker187

kool knife  thanks for looking at my work but I can model that i may not be able to render it as good yet Iam still learning but I know i can model it