Material Thread: Learning how to define materials

ScottHoneycutt

This thread is about learning how to define a material. I appreciate any constructive advice on the issue. I am going to begin posting random attempts at material definition. Some will be much more simple or complex than the others. I'm not even really sure what specifically I am asking for, other than the knowledge of a good workflow to get a material defined.

Here is the first couple attempts using Substance Painter.



In the top example I started with a default metal steel in Painter and then on the right pic placed a clean version of it on a layer over top. On this clean metal layer I painted onto a black mask some white brush strokes to show the clean metal through while leaving the rust and dirt showing only around the places I wanted them to be (mostly around the edges of the model). Does this makes sense? Have you done this before much? In the next post I will paint rust in with a brush to compare results.

In bottom example I took a default Painter plastic base material and painted a roughness with a dirt brush. On the right version I simply used a roughness map (BnW spots1) with no painting. Which is better? Which method is more effective? Does it read as plastic? The white area inside is a default plastic matte Painter material.

Again, I'm not sure sure how to best direct conversation so feel free to comment as long as it's constructive

ScottHoneycutt

Here in the top row is the same metal material completely cleaned of all dirt and rust etc. I then with a brush in Painter placed in the rust around the edges of the model. Then I painted a roughness masks with a similar brush. Is this better than the result I painted in the previous post? I personally believe it to be better, but I'm curious as to what you think? Are you seeing metal with a little rust?

On the bottom row I made plastic from scratch. Using a basic blue color I placed a white noise map over top that only affected the height channel. I adjusted the tiling and the opacity of the height. The white is working the same way only it is more rough. Notice I didn't paint or generate any roughness detail. Does everything need a detailed roughness? When observing real life, I see things sometimes looking very rough and sometimes I see a uniform clean material with little to no variation. This looks good to me, but is it acceptable in current level game art? Does the height work to help it look like plastic? Are you seeing plastic or wondering what it is?

ScottHoneycutt

In the top row example is the Painter default "painted steel" material as is. I did for both of the examples paint in a mask to wear through to the metal underneath.

In the bottom example I took a basic color color and placed a fill texture in (BnW spots 2). Does this read as painted metal? Can you tell what it is or are you scratching your head?

beefaroni

I think using Painter is going to be a disadvantage. You're not really learning how these materials work. You're kind of skipping to the halfway point and going from there.

The plastic is decent but I do think it should have varied height on the bumps. Think of like a plastic where maybe a few areas have been worn away (subways have this in particular).

Either use designer or Photoshop. You really need to start with nothing and figure out the small details that make up a specific type of metal/material.

beefaroni

Also I realize you're not working on woods or any organic stuff in the thread but this really helped break down material creation from scratch.

https://skybase.wordpress.com/2012/01/26/how-to-creating-super-simple-procedural-wood-textures-in-filter-forge/

ScottHoneycutt

@Beefaroni: Thanks.

For these I started with a base color texture from the Pixar 128

https://community.renderman.pixar.com/article/114/library-pixar-one-twenty-eight.html

I then took the base color into Bitmap2Material and tweaked values. then I sent the files into Substance Painter.

1) I feel so-so about the wood.

2) I like the gravel best but am curious what others think. I use Painter more on this one to generate some dirt and painted a touch of roughness.

3) This was supposed to be a blue fence lattice but the image had a strong shadow in it. I will have to try something like this again by drawing it from scratch in Photoshop.

4) I'm not sure how I feel about the normal on the carpet.

dzibarik

I think wood is too noisy. And yes,there is something with normals on the carpet, I think it needs to be more uniform. But albedo feels blurry too, like it's lacking resolution.

ScottHoneycutt

Thanks.

3 more :poly009:

1) In Photoshop I traced over the pattern from a photo-texture creating a black and white height map. I then took this into B2M to generate another height map. Placing the height map into Painter I then made the material with a solid gray and painted a roughness with a brush.

2) All in Painter. I painted the mask to show the metal layer underneath the purple paint. There is a combination of textures and brush painting for the roughness on both the paint and metal.

3) Started with a simple white bar mask made quickly in Photoshop, then used in Painter as a height map for the metal part. No generators or texture fills. I painted the rust, dirt, scratches, drippings, paint wear, etc. I like this one ... but what do you think?

Inspiration for #3: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/my-milkshake-brings-all-the-tris-to-the-yard

How does this make me look as an artist? Does it tell you I understand materials? Don't understand materials? Am I working on the right things? Wrong things? Does it suck? It is good?

ScottHoneycutt

Here are a couple more. Can you tell what it is made out of? How is the material definition? Do I look clueless? Getting there? Pretty good? Pretty bad? Just OK? Almost?

All Substance Painter here with no generators.

Cay

Why don't you take like a real life prop with interesting details and wear and tear and recreate that? Which amount and what kind of wear you'll get after all depends heavily on what it is.

Simple objects that are exceptionally well done would certainly impress me more than a few random objects with a material on it.
But yeah.. some of them are pretty cool already!

ScottHoneycutt

Thanks. Here's the next one. Thoughts? Again, Painter without generators.