Texturing, how can i get better?

HashBrownHamish

Hello o/

So i've been working on this sci fi gun thingy for about a week now and to try out texturing i started with the cartridge. I soon realised that i'm pretty bad at texturing. At first i was going for a plastic look for te cartridge but tried metal instead and all i can say is that it feels like a mess.

My color doesn't come out enough, the model only looks ok under the right lighting otherwise it looks bland. (in these two photos the color is turned down more than normal)





Here is another but with a bit more color(still not happy with it tho x) )



So i what i really want to know is where can i go to learn how to texture pretty things (tutorials, wiki's etc...). The look i want for the model is very Star Citizen ish or Alien Isolation if you see what i mean ^^

Here are my Diffuse and Lighting maps (WIP):

Scruples

Looks like you're only using a spec and not a gloss map, you may want to plug your current spec into your material as a metalness map. Besides that the texture isn't bad, the concept itself is really bland and it's really hard to tell there's any bevels at all. And you seem to be having some of a dichotomy issue with polygon counts and texture resolution/feature apparentness, as in...You have a very low polygon count and very high texture resolution with very small features that won't be apparent once scaled down to any reasonable size to match said low-polycount.

So either exaggerate the scratches and features in the texture so they will be apparrent on a 512x size texture or add more polygon's along the bevels and slidy bits.

HashBrownHamish

Latest work at texturing the cartridge. I scrapped what i did at first and concentrated this time.







Side still needs work:

BARDLER

Read these over a few times and really digest the information.
http://www.marmoset.co/toolbag/learn/pbr-theory
http://www.marmoset.co/toolbag/learn/pbr-practice

Second this is get a better highpoly to work from. Honestly the majority of good texture work comes from a good highpoly with a ton of different baked maps.

HashBrownHamish

BARDLER wrote: »

Read these over a few times and really digest the information.
http://www.marmoset.co/toolbag/learn/pbr-theory
http://www.marmoset.co/toolbag/learn/pbr-practice

Second this is get a better highpoly to work from. Honestly the majority of good texture work comes from a good highpoly with a ton of different baked maps.

I got a good high poly.. i think x)

This low poly model is based off my high poly and i baked the normals and light maps from it (using skylight and render to texture in 3ds max).

i'l give those a good read this afternoon if i get a chance

Xoliul

I'll echo again you really need better modeling work than this. Your model is simple in design, but mainly it lacks all the nice bevels, insets and chamfering that could make this shine.
Stuff like this:

Where just the quality and range of the bevels makes it interesting to look at. All your edges are just perfectly sharp, i can barely see the normal do anything anywhere.

HashBrownHamish

I here ya ^^ (This is my 3rd proper model so there is still pretty to learn)

But if i modify my base mesh after unwrapping the UV's doesn't it mean i'm going to get plenty of errors or is there a method that i can use to conserve my UV's

Noors

Nope, you redo your uv's
Beside, when texturing realistic objects, you should look and use real references, then add "wear and tear" where it physically could be. Tbh, texturing is better on first post.
So your object has been on a wet floor, all bottom should be rusty, not only one side. The lower angle can't be scratched this way. Symmetry is too spotable, don't use it here...
Try to tell the story of your asset, be precise with details, but yeah, look at references. You can't learn without it.

HashBrownHamish

So after trying to bevel the edges yesterday my model is completely gone haywire and i'm having to fix issues before i can get back to texturing properly.

Noticeably my lights have gone extremely weird on the surface of the front of the cartridge. Here are two photos to compare (one with orange emissive is old and the one with blue emissive is the newer crappier version).

ALSO, the levels of light intensity are the SAME as before (for both gloss map and spec map)

OLD


NEW

kurt_hectic

From my portfolio, maybe it will inspire you:
(pretty old stuff; without ddo or any other similar tool)

WarrenM

You can't keep re-arranging the deck chairs - the ship is still sinking.

Make a high poly, make a new low poly, bake maps, etc. It's worth it, trust me.

NegevPro

Are you working closely from a concept image? I'm going to have to agree with those who have said to start over. I'm sure it sounds frustrating to hear you have to scrap what you have and start over, but keep in mind you learned a bunch of stuff from trying this the first time and so doing it again will result in a higher quality everything.

As Xoliul said, with such a "basic" looking shape, it will be very hard to make the object look better with just some textures. I would suggest trying to make a slightly more complicated model before trying to dive head first into texturing. In fact, it might be better to just focus on modeling and texturing just the magazine first. Make the best damn magazine you can, then for your next project, try making a full weapon. Good luck!

HashBrownHamish

I don't have a concept image (i based it off the rifle that i only did a little scribble for the concept. It is too small to upload). I honestly think that for the scale of the object the edges are ok. I'm going to add normal variation on the sides to give the impression of a more slender shape at a distance.

I will try and draw up a picture for scale based on a human but for the little difference changing the sides will add it won't be seen i believe.

But then again i do like the simplistic and minimalist style ^^'