Another thing because this comment has stayed in the back of my mind. I think there is a real fundamental misunderstanding of what PBR is here. PBR is not only useful for super photo realism, it can be used for any number of styles, even very cartoony stuff. The point of PBR isn't to always use the exact real world…
I did this one a while ago ( http://millenia3d.net/cont/pers/m4a1/marmo.jpg ) but as you can probably tell the old one is over the top with the scratches & material. Doing proper PBR textures this time around, and trying to keep it subtler (yet still rather worn). I know it's quite early, but critique & inspiration…
Awesome stuff there, I'm still having trouble getting my materials looking right in PBR, at least using the metallic method rather than specular color.
Toned down the glossiness, made alternate metal pieces stand out more, toned down the damage (though I'll also do that super worn version for games like Fallout/STALKER - this also requires me to convert the textures from PBR to oldschool spec/no gloss) and tweaked the dust layer. Did more work on it, too: - Current damage…
Thats like saying: "Hey.. Polymer G36 are boring.. make it metal." Change the stock completly, add a buttstock magpouch whatever. This is more of an excuse on "i couldnt nail it right, but it´s a possibility..." Artistic Freedom if you want... Then why use PBR? Meh. Then again, he´s building a plain vanilla M4. If you want…