Hawk, are you seriously asking me if I worked on any 3D app before? I'm posting a model here and a normal mapped one (if a bit poorly XD) at that! :) Of course I worked on a 3D app before. In fact, I've worked with 3dsmax, XSI and Blender, among others. I'm not sure about the purpose of your question, though. And regarding…
hmm seems like you chose the most reflective surface lit in studio like environment and u guessed it right not much diffuse info :D. I think ur Spec reads more as Galvanised Metal (which is good) so use this as ur diffuse and play with Levels in PS to darken the values for specular. See if this works.
Another thing to remember is that for metals, you should typically be using a relatively dark diffuse, and brighter specular. Generally speaking, a surface will read as "metal" largely due to contrast. Currently you could swap value ranges of your diffuse and specular maps and see a huge difference. For example, quick PS…
Static Cubemaps are relatively cheap, use them! Dark diffuse is used because many metals actually have a dark diffuse color. The difference between this dark diffuse and the bright 'specular' highlight is what gives many metals their unique look. Your specular map should have many details that are NOT in your diffuse as…
I'll second that, the diffuse could definitely be a bit darker. As for the spec you should make the paint a dark gray color (Value: 225 maybe) as it's specular highlight is less than the metal not more,as it's currently shown. then you can just use a multiply it by a single value in UDK and pass that to the specular term.…
When and where you use a cubemap is upto you. Something like a prop wrench on a table won't need it because you won't see the effect, and anything that has aged drastically, also won't have it clean cut. While something big or up close will see the benefits. Voila, done, now you have strength control of your cubemap as…
lol nvm i thought u using UDK for base and applying texture there :D. Why I ask that, the reason was simple in Max or Maya u just apply diffuse and later can play with spec and gloss settings just to get the feel right, than can work on those maps in photoshop. It will give u an idea how much light and dark values u have…
Aaaand I fail epically once again. I thought I had a good understanding of this by now... I decided to make a very simple non-reflective metal surface like this: http://www.northerntool.com/images/product/zoom_images/153945.jpg The added bonus being it seems to have almost no diffuse information. It ended up looking worse…
oh no what is happening here here's some actual tips for making metals and other hard surface materials: -STUDY REFERENCE!!! when making fictional items, find materials similar to what you want to make and study exactly how the material acts. is it glossy or not? dark shadows (diffuse) or fairly light? it shouldn't be hard…