this is such a huge misconception. since there are virtually unlimited materials out there, there is no one way to texture any material, so tutorials like these are pointless. you can't just watch a tutorial and "make metal" much like you can't just watch a tutorial and "make music".
the most invaluable thing you can do when learning to texture is learn how to observe. look at photos of real life items and note how the metals are composed... is that specific material dark because of paint, or because it's treated in some special way--or is it just that way naturally? unfortunately this is something that no tutorial can ever teach you and you really just need to figure out on your own. it's something that even professional artists overlook, even though it's one of the most crucial things ever.
once you figure out what makes up your material, it shouldn't be hard to translate that into your diffuse and specular maps. just be sure that you are working on both of these maps simultaneously so everything reacts nicely, rather than leaving specular as an afterthought. pay attention to how the real materials act in photos and try to translate that to your specular maps and adjust the diffuse to make it react better etc.
just something to think about. no tutorial will ever teach you how to think, which is the most important part.
Nevertheless, his point still stands! Of course, I would say, that for someone being a beginner, these tuts would be a good point to start at, but as mentioned, there's no 'do this and it'll always look awesome'
What he meant is, the more you learn the more you realise there isnt one way to achieve certain things, since there's so many different materials. If you go ahead and exclusively learn with these tutorials only, instead of studying materials and coming out with ways to do things yourself, you'll never get better.
Problems is, you gotta start somewhere, and on top of that it's always interesting to see other people's workflow, so no, tutorials like these are not pointless, people just need to realise it's never the ONE way to do something, there may be others.
I personally prefer the first tutorial to the second, the first actually concentrate on one technique of doing metal (It does not matter if it's correct or incorrect, it's one way to do things, people learn with variety too), whereas the second one I felt that he concentrated more on patronizing the viewers, than teaching good workflows on how to texture and recreate materials.
TL;DR -- Study your materials, each one is different, each one you'll do differently, but you've got to start somewhere and Racer tuts are a great start.
@Racer445: Lol on the whole cutting down your own tut.
I'll be messing around with more metal stuff.
Now one last question, when you make scratches and such, you don't want them to be in the normals, right? for example, you don't want them to carve a little bump or anything.
@Racer445: Lol on the whole cutting down your own tut.
I'll be messing around with more metal stuff.
Now one last question, when you make scratches and such, you don't want them to be in the normals, right? for example, you don't want them to carve a little bump or anything.
Generally speaking, no.
Especially since the normal map will be compressed so your scratches would become just a bunch of sploshy pixels in a sequence. Keep them in your dif and spec, unless we're talking about a pretty big indentation here.
whereas the second one I felt that he concentrated more on patronizing the viewers, than teaching good workflows on how to texture and recreate materials.
if people don't think, they will never learn. the goal of that new tutorial was to get people to think about what they are doing, to look at real life references, to think in terms of actual material compositions, and how light reacts rather than, "how 2 make metal 101" like most people are taught. there's far more in that new video about actually planning out your workflow and recreating materials, while looking at real reference and thinking about how light reacts if you actually pay attention to what i wrote and said.
you may think it's patronizing if you're already past the phase of watching tutorials, but i'd say you live in a starry-eyed world if you can't see the amount of people who don't think about real materials or don't apply basic art skills to their texture work. if i can help these people think about those things, that's not patronizing, that's teaching--albeit unconventional compared to the definitive how-to method like most tutorials out there.
i'm not trying to be a dick or say my way is the best or even good (it's nowhere near), but i just prefer real talk with no bullshit. if that offended you somehow; sorry...??
But I do hate it when artists are somehow completely oblivious to how monstrously talented they are and act like things are so easy. Or when they say their work looks like shit when they just made a masterpiece. But thats art I guess.
But I do hate it when artists are somehow completely oblivious to how monstrously talented they are and act like things are so easy. Or when they say their work looks like shit when they just made a masterpiece. But thats art I guess.
different people have different experience levels and personal standards, in the past iv worked mainley in audio, and things i was really happy with back in the day i made them i think sound like fucking ass today, even know my clients still are happy with it. It's not resanble to to want your current work to come out perfect since it will never happen(and believe if you got a little perfectionist streak in you it will make your life hell), but with every new project you do you should be able to see improvements over your older work.
That is part of why racer doesn't like people looking at his old tut's, by the looks of it his old tuts are more of a "DO this DO that" thing, when he now thinks of things in a completely different manner, and sees the process in figuring things out more important than the steps now.
also a lot of what racer was talking about isn't even a skill for just 3d, a lot of what he says about looking at real world examples and breaking it down to it;'s elements just comes under critical thinking and problem solving skills that everyone should develop for working in any field especially technical and artistic fields of work, those kinda skill will help a traditional artist just as much as a coder.
been noticing a lot of similarity like that coming from doing live audio and music production and doing 3d as a hobby, that kinda thinking you requrie to get good at one is the same for the other when it comes to my audio work and 3d.
if people don't think, they will never learn. the goal of that new tutorial was to get people to think about what they are doing, to look at real life references, to think in terms of actual material compositions, and how light reacts rather than, "how 2 make metal 101" like most people are taught. there's far more in that new video about actually planning out your workflow and recreating materials, while looking at real reference and thinking about how light reacts if you actually pay attention to what i wrote and said.
you may think it's patronizing if you're already past the phase of watching tutorials, but i'd say you live in a starry-eyed world if you can't see the amount of people who don't think about real materials or don't apply basic art skills to their texture work. if i can help these people think about those things, that's not patronizing, that's teaching--albeit unconventional compared to the definitive how-to method like most tutorials out there.
i'm not trying to be a dick or say my way is the best or even good (it's nowhere near), but i just prefer real talk with no bullshit. if that offended you somehow; sorry...??
Very fair points there, there needs to be a lot more "eye opening" for material readability on these boards, It's unfortunate it's so overlooked and almost ignored by peeps starting out in texturing.
I wasn't offended at all dude, if anything I'm grateful you share knowledge and opinions, especially if they're correct!
Like are you looking for a good tutorial on how to make your metal texturing more realistic. How to make better use of your material, Good way to Making them from scratch?
I had a question similar to this then i found Racer445's tutorial and it answered the call thats why i linked that
Besides looking at real world examples and drawing your own conclusions you need to understand how the 3D-shading implementations work and what part of reality they aim to mimic. Depending on what shading method you use there can be many more factors than just diffuse and specular to cover to get the right material feels, things such as gloss/roughness, Fresnel and cube map usually play a big role.
To me, one key issue with getting metal distinguished is getting the Fresnel term right. Metal usually reflects a lot of its surroundings in most angles, whereas most other dead materials in life reflect far less when viewed straight at the surface and more apparent at glancing angles.
just throw an environment cubemap on it and call it a day. usually people who ask questions like these don't really give a shit about doing it right as much as getting an easy solution, so i think any tirade about emulating or applying actual physical characteristics would just be lost here.
Ok, so basically I am trying to learn how to texture some realistic metal. This is what I have so far, but I need to get rid of the normals where the scratches are.
I'm not extremely happy how this came out, it just looks....dull almost.
Diffuse:
Spec:
Now, I just optimized this model with the help of you some of you guys (Thanks a TON!) So I will have to re-do my UV's.
but basically all I wanted was some pointers, and tips and such.
part of it looking dull is that you made the specular map just using the exact same details from your diffuse map.
but different detail in both maps, also a gloss map would really help you, to differatiant between the black metal, the shiney metal and the grip since those 3 materials would have very different specular exponent values.
ya just think of how things effect the material, like dir and grunge would make that area less specular, and mostly likely give it a wider exponent from bare metal, and think of things like the effect someones hand would have on the grip, oil from your skin would be almost impossible to see in the diffuse but would effect the exponent and specular, so you could place something like finger smudges in the gloss around the grip.
and maybe on the spec overlay some photo refs to add some variation to the metal that is only visible in the specular.
things like this add a lot of interest since as the light moves over the object or as you view from different angles there are details in the spec and gloss you can see come in and out of focus.
this is such a huge misconception. since there are virtually unlimited materials out there, there is no one way to texture any material, so tutorials like these are pointless. you can't just watch a tutorial and "make metal" much like you can't just watch a tutorial and "make music".
the most invaluable thing you can do when learning to texture is learn how to observe. look at photos of real life items and note how the metals are composed... is that specific material dark because of paint, or because it's treated in some special way--or is it just that way naturally? unfortunately this is something that no tutorial can ever teach you and you really just need to figure out on your own. it's something that even professional artists overlook, even though it's one of the most crucial things ever.
once you figure out what makes up your material, it shouldn't be hard to translate that into your diffuse and specular maps. just be sure that you are working on both of these maps simultaneously so everything reacts nicely, rather than leaving specular as an afterthought. pay attention to how the real materials act in photos and try to translate that to your specular maps and adjust the diffuse to make it react better etc.
just something to think about. no tutorial will ever teach you how to think, which is the most important part.
Replies
http://cg.tutsplus.com/tutorials/photoshop/how-to-hand-paint-convincing-metal-textures/ its One way but not the best way
this is such a huge misconception. since there are virtually unlimited materials out there, there is no one way to texture any material, so tutorials like these are pointless. you can't just watch a tutorial and "make metal" much like you can't just watch a tutorial and "make music".
the most invaluable thing you can do when learning to texture is learn how to observe. look at photos of real life items and note how the metals are composed... is that specific material dark because of paint, or because it's treated in some special way--or is it just that way naturally? unfortunately this is something that no tutorial can ever teach you and you really just need to figure out on your own. it's something that even professional artists overlook, even though it's one of the most crucial things ever.
once you figure out what makes up your material, it shouldn't be hard to translate that into your diffuse and specular maps. just be sure that you are working on both of these maps simultaneously so everything reacts nicely, rather than leaving specular as an afterthought. pay attention to how the real materials act in photos and try to translate that to your specular maps and adjust the diffuse to make it react better etc.
just something to think about. no tutorial will ever teach you how to think, which is the most important part.
He linked to a tutorial you made...
Nevertheless, his point still stands! Of course, I would say, that for someone being a beginner, these tuts would be a good point to start at, but as mentioned, there's no 'do this and it'll always look awesome'
Problems is, you gotta start somewhere, and on top of that it's always interesting to see other people's workflow, so no, tutorials like these are not pointless, people just need to realise it's never the ONE way to do something, there may be others.
I personally prefer the first tutorial to the second, the first actually concentrate on one technique of doing metal (It does not matter if it's correct or incorrect, it's one way to do things, people learn with variety too), whereas the second one I felt that he concentrated more on patronizing the viewers, than teaching good workflows on how to texture and recreate materials.
TL;DR -- Study your materials, each one is different, each one you'll do differently, but you've got to start somewhere and Racer tuts are a great start.
@Racer445: Lol on the whole cutting down your own tut.
I'll be messing around with more metal stuff.
Now one last question, when you make scratches and such, you don't want them to be in the normals, right? for example, you don't want them to carve a little bump or anything.
Generally speaking, no.
Especially since the normal map will be compressed so your scratches would become just a bunch of sploshy pixels in a sequence. Keep them in your dif and spec, unless we're talking about a pretty big indentation here.
if people don't think, they will never learn. the goal of that new tutorial was to get people to think about what they are doing, to look at real life references, to think in terms of actual material compositions, and how light reacts rather than, "how 2 make metal 101" like most people are taught. there's far more in that new video about actually planning out your workflow and recreating materials, while looking at real reference and thinking about how light reacts if you actually pay attention to what i wrote and said.
you may think it's patronizing if you're already past the phase of watching tutorials, but i'd say you live in a starry-eyed world if you can't see the amount of people who don't think about real materials or don't apply basic art skills to their texture work. if i can help these people think about those things, that's not patronizing, that's teaching--albeit unconventional compared to the definitive how-to method like most tutorials out there.
i'm not trying to be a dick or say my way is the best or even good (it's nowhere near), but i just prefer real talk with no bullshit. if that offended you somehow; sorry...??
But I do hate it when artists are somehow completely oblivious to how monstrously talented they are and act like things are so easy. Or when they say their work looks like shit when they just made a masterpiece. But thats art I guess.
different people have different experience levels and personal standards, in the past iv worked mainley in audio, and things i was really happy with back in the day i made them i think sound like fucking ass today, even know my clients still are happy with it. It's not resanble to to want your current work to come out perfect since it will never happen(and believe if you got a little perfectionist streak in you it will make your life hell), but with every new project you do you should be able to see improvements over your older work.
That is part of why racer doesn't like people looking at his old tut's, by the looks of it his old tuts are more of a "DO this DO that" thing, when he now thinks of things in a completely different manner, and sees the process in figuring things out more important than the steps now.
also a lot of what racer was talking about isn't even a skill for just 3d, a lot of what he says about looking at real world examples and breaking it down to it;'s elements just comes under critical thinking and problem solving skills that everyone should develop for working in any field especially technical and artistic fields of work, those kinda skill will help a traditional artist just as much as a coder.
been noticing a lot of similarity like that coming from doing live audio and music production and doing 3d as a hobby, that kinda thinking you requrie to get good at one is the same for the other when it comes to my audio work and 3d.
edit: if i got it all wrong sorry Racer445
Very fair points there, there needs to be a lot more "eye opening" for material readability on these boards, It's unfortunate it's so overlooked and almost ignored by peeps starting out in texturing.
I wasn't offended at all dude, if anything I'm grateful you share knowledge and opinions, especially if they're correct!
So, summary from what I hear.
-Look at real world examples
-Be awesome.
XD
Like are you looking for a good tutorial on how to make your metal texturing more realistic. How to make better use of your material, Good way to Making them from scratch?
I had a question similar to this then i found Racer445's tutorial and it answered the call thats why i linked that
To me, one key issue with getting metal distinguished is getting the Fresnel term right. Metal usually reflects a lot of its surroundings in most angles, whereas most other dead materials in life reflect far less when viewed straight at the surface and more apparent at glancing angles.
It's not off-topic at all, we were discussing material studies which is a very important topic and ties with the subject of the thread.
I'm not extremely happy how this came out, it just looks....dull almost.
Diffuse:
Spec:
Now, I just optimized this model with the help of you some of you guys (Thanks a TON!) So I will have to re-do my UV's.
but basically all I wanted was some pointers, and tips and such.
but different detail in both maps, also a gloss map would really help you, to differatiant between the black metal, the shiney metal and the grip since those 3 materials would have very different specular exponent values.
and maybe on the spec overlay some photo refs to add some variation to the metal that is only visible in the specular.
things like this add a lot of interest since as the light moves over the object or as you view from different angles there are details in the spec and gloss you can see come in and out of focus.
Yes.
Yes they have. Incidentally, this is why I like having an ignore list on Polycount.