Should black phosphate, anodized, and parkerized metals be Black in the Metal Channel?

sgtscience

I did a bunch of research on various forms of metal corrosive and wear protection processes, such as Black phosphate, anodizing, parkerizing etc. All of these oxidize the surface and make it dielectric. Does this mean that firearms and other metals that use these processes should be black in the metal channel as they are dielectric surfaces?

pior

Don't get caught up in the real-life physics of it, as any shading model is an approximation.

Does the surface of the asset you are trying to recreate behave like the metal effect that your shader/material allows ? If yes, enable its metalness ; if not, don't.

sgtscience

That is fair I suppose. I should get actual samples of these materials in real life to make a proper judgement on it's properties and use for reference. I'd like to know what others think about these materials though, and how they approach them.

sgtscience

Just found your reply to CognizanCe back in February. huffer mentioned "You can tell if it's a metallic finish if the specular highlight is also colored (in most cases)."

sgtscience

Would you ever use like, a mid grey for a material in the metal channel? I've seen that many substances have some grey in the metal channel when dust and dirt is over metal, but would you ever use a mid grey for a base material?

musashidan

There have been countless talks here on this but generally no. A complete mid grey value for a metal map will just look weird. The greys are acceptable for dirt/dust/etc as the result looks convincing but otherwise follow @pior advice above.

sgtscience

ok thanks!