Scratches and Metal texture

MainManiac

Hey, could you guys critique my scratches and metal texture?



One of my first tries really. I used racer's brushes and followed his tutorial on creating metal textures.

For right now please ignore the fake lighting thats making it look like a soft bevel.

Mechadus

I think the bottom looks pretty good if this was to be a 'skid plate' or something that was constantly rubbing against another object... The top isnt really doing it for me tho, I think the top scratches are too localized and even. This isnt an easy thing to get looking good, Im still working on this very topic also.

MainManiac

This isn't an actual texture for anything its just a slate im practicing on. The top and the bottom are both the same except the top has crappy fake lighting.

3DRyan

I think this looks really good. Maybe some bigger, longer scratches throughout to help vary it more.

throttlekitty

It could benefit from a bit more color, it reads more like slate than metal to me. The scratches are very furry along the bottom, and with that much paint taken off that area, there would probably be more direction to them.

It's important to think about why/how something got scratched and scuffed instead of just doing it all willy nilly. Was it rubbed down by small/fine scrapes over a few years on a loading dock or did it get banged by a utility cart a couple times a week?

MainManiac

Im trying to think of a simple object i could make and uv map to practice texturing on. I don't want to spend alot of time on a gun because i already busted my ass off trying to make a mac 10 and it came out rather bad. I could post it for CC in this thread if you guys want.

Mechadus

yea, a complex item like a gun can be a bit much to learn on - Id say start with something super easy so you can focus your time on the textures... an ammo box or metal crate are always winners

MainManiac

I tried applying the scratches onto a simple gun handle to see how it would look


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I AM aware that there's a lot of pointless scratches, i've taken realistic scratches highly into consideration when painting. But I did NOT with this model, obviously the handle wouldn't be scratching against anything sharp enough to create those scratches.
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I also have some normal mapping issues on the back of the gun but hopefully the problem will be resolved in another thread i currently have about the issue.

Joao Sapiro

the problem is you arent studying any references and you are pulling out of your mind everything

Lonewolf

ill tell u the way i see it, for me there is no such a thing as metal texture, it all depends on what your final result looks like, im sure there is something real in our world that have a metal texture just like u posted on your first post

it just need to match to what your aiming for, so practice "metal texture" without a ref can look good or not at the same time, it wont give u a real answer

Johny wrote: »

the problem is you arent studying any references and you are pulling out of your mind everything

^ ^

exactly, you need to know what your metal texture should be like.

its all about the shader IMO atleast, the scraches and wear and dirt is just a touch up,

pick a real life object and try to match it, study your ref very hard

lots of ppl ask me about tuts and help and at some point they say like. "i dont use refs", and i always say, thats your first mistake

so study your refs and collect as many as you can, it will bring you new ideas for sure