WIP - AS Val rifle. Need help with textures, shaders and presentation.

martinszeme

Hey everyone.

Here is a rifle I've done in my spare time.

https://www.artstation.com/artwork/as-val-rifle

No idea how to embed a marmoset viewer file, but you can view it by following that link.

Here are the screengrabs:









I showed these to several game artists and they had few points and critiques about the piece. One of them was that my values on textures were off and needed work and it looked plastic-y. Also the shader and lighting looks flat and without much definition.
Looking back at it I totally agree, but I am kind of lost on where to start and how to achieve a better material definition for starters.

This is how it looks in Substance Painter:



I mean, metals look metally and plastic bits look kind of like plastic and overall after all this time it looks ok, but I have no clear idea how to bring it to the next level.
Lighting wise I was surprised it was really really dark when I imported textures from Substance. So I cranked up camera exposure and also the sky brightness. I think this is one of the reasons it looks a bit flat.
How do you guys approach lighting in Marmoset? Do you even use HDRs?
Any general tips and advice would be greatly appreciated.

martinszeme

I worked on this more and I think this is an improvement:

ComradeDispenser

Yeah, that looks better.

What I particularly don't like in this texture is that you have lots of dents and bends in your normal map for the metal. You'd kind of expect that metal is a hard object and doesn't get damaged like that (it might as well though, it's stamped metal after all). That, or either they're done improperly - personally I think they're a bit too soft, gives the metal this plasticky feeling.

As for the scratches, yeah, they're a bit better. For the areas inbetween I think you need to introduce some detail in the gloss map - should it be dirt or oil, whatever you wish.

I've been following this thread for quite a while - kind of surprised nobody's posting here. Help out someone who's in need, aye?

martinszeme

Hey thanks Comrade for your post! Yes I agree the dents are kind of random. I put most of them on the metal housing on top thinking if it was dropped or hit by a rock, hit against something hard it would leave something. I think it can't be much thicker than 2mm or so.
I've removed some of them and added scuff marks, scratch lines. Not a lot, just here and there where there are dinks.
I think this breaks it up a bit and makes it less plastic-y.
I also added some oil build up areas to break up glossiness and I changed the lighting with some colored lights.

ComradeDispenser

Looks nice. I particularly like the brushed metal effect on the barrel, gives it that sort of metallic feel.

But I still think you need some gloss variety. Not scratches, but stuff like oil, or dirt. Dirt may not necessarily accumulate on a flat surface, but it's still not a bad idea to add some - adds some visual interest. I'm also kind of troubled by the fact that the entire thing lacks color. Once again, adding some colored, barely noticeable blobs might not be a bad idea. Maybe you can also add some cloth wrapped around the pistol grip, or some painted number on the receiver - anything, you just gotta add that visual interest.

Speaking about dirt, I think you seriously lack some - I don't see any in the screenshots you provided. If it is there, up it up. Try making some in Substance Designer or Quixel SUITE - Designer is what I use for that, personally I find it produces better results.

martinszeme

Hey thanks for your reply. I will definitely add some dirt and maybe rust here and there. I think at the moment I have somewhat cleaner version as I am afraid to over do it or make it too generic.
I quickly made this strap and made some screenshots of it.





Can't decide if its better, but it would add some color there. Maybe have it in some camouflage pattern. I think I will try to add a wrapped duct tape around the grip.