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.
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…
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…
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…
a note on references: don't rely on cropped out objects like that. materials look very different in different environments and lighting conditions, and the brain needs some context to make sense of a surface. for example here's a bunch of lockers. you'll note that the ones close to the camera appear less reflective than…
Dandi, here is an explanation of why the specular map should be grayscale. http://www.3dtotal.com/tutorial/texturing_and_lighting/brief_consideration_about_materials/brief_consideration_about_materials_01.php If by 'yellowy' coated material you mean that the gold color is paint then the spec map still should be a grayscale…
Steffan Morrell's tutorial that HAWK linked is great you should definitely check it out, there's a lot of info to learn from. That being said, there are two major elements that are wrong or missing in your material. The specular should actually be a flat grey scale for these two materials. You're reflecting them with color…
wow lots of odd opinionated info in here. 1: The gloss, or specular power map isn't more important than the specular color map. Some materials do not read correctly without a proper specular color. Its partly why so much of CG stuff LOOKS like its CG. These maps go hand in hand. Rough materials have a larger specular…