Quick surfacing test

[forkazoo]

Hey, guys. I am just working on a surface ATM, not a model, or an animation project. Eventually, the surface will probably go onto something cool, but time is quite limited ATM...

Basically, I am going for old scratched, chipped chrome plastic. You know the really shiny, cheap plastic kid's toys that look like chrome, but the shiny part flakes off, leaving dull grey plastic underneath? Well, that's the surface I'm going for.

The objects in this scene are just a sphere and a random abstract I made in a few minutes. The only image used is the marble squares reflection map. The surface itself is entirely done with procedurals.


Anybody have any suggestions for improving the surface? Again, not the particlar scene, just fiddling with the surface ATM. Also, I'll try to post the surface file, but this is my first post to the new forum, so I'll prolly screw it up... :)

[forkazoo]

okay, image didn't show up... Lemme try this again.

[blinblue]

I like it, pretty convincing. But I think that there are a bit too many scratches to be normal. Unless you are trying to make it really old, I would try and make some less scrathes. But otherwise, good.

[liquidpope]

This is good, really good. That's exactly what it reminds me of, chrome-painted plastic all chipped up. But it could be better, I think.
The problems I see are - -
1. The scratches are very evenly distributed across the entire surface.
Some areas are going to be more scratched than others, like where this object rests on the ground, or is handled, etc.
2. Every edge (the flakey bits) are a series of small circles.
This wouldn't occur naturally. Some might be round, others jagged and sharp. Procedurals are bad this way.

Most procedurals look really good in small doses, so this is what I do.
Create a single poly plane that fills the screen, apply a procedural and render only that. I'll do this four or five times using different procedurals, different settings, etc. Then I'll open them all in Photoshop and clone smaller sections together. It breaks things up nicely, still gives you the initial speed of the procedurals. The big plus is when you're done in Photoshop, you're laying on only 1 or 2 image files onto your models, which renders way faster than procedurals. Especially if you have alot of them in a shot.

These are my opinions and they're free, so you get what you paid for. But maybe it will give you some ideas. There's no right or wrong way to do anything, so just make stuff up. That's what I do.
You really do have an excellent start with this image, and I'd love to see it progress.

(Also, I'm happy to finally see someone else type "prolly".)

[forkazoo]

hey, been fiddling a bit. I built a super-simple robot leg for the texture to go on, and used a different reflection map this time. It looks duller, less shiny. Haven't actually changed the reflectivity. Toned down the scratches a bit.

If I have time to model the rest of the robot, he'll probably wind up sitting against a building, with a cardboard sign that reads, "homeless crippled war veteran - will compute tracendental functions for fuel" He'll have a tin cup filled with donated batteries... :)

[marvin]

I think you are doing good so far. This tutorial might help you out some. He ends up with something similar to what you say you are going for.
http://www.3dluvr.com/davewilson/makingof/arach/MakingOfArach.htm

marvin

[FlashDS]

I think the shift from chrome to plastic is effective, but the scratches seem like scattered hairs. I think you could keep most of those scratches, but what usually shows up on a scratched surface is a sweep of tiny scratches catching the light, like brushed metal or scratches on a windshield (you see streetlights and refractions of sunlight in a line perpendicular to the path of the windshield wipers). I don't know how to achieve this look; I'm actually very inexperienced at creating textures, but that's something that I think would make it much more believable as worn plastic.

Edit: wow, are my sentences really that long? I'm becoming Faulkner.

[iandavis]

An excellent effort.

Though if you want to create truly realistic textures think grunge maps. DVGarage used to have incredible tutorials for creating realistic textures.

The problem with trying to create a naturally distressed texture with proceedural textures is the unnatural uniformity that comes with a mathematically generated texture. Try adding a grunge map as a modifier for that 'plastic' showing through, or even different type of proceedural. The same technique as creating an ocean, there are small waves, then there is the texture generating the huge swells... apply that idea to control surfacing by side, edges, etc.

good luck, texturing is a world unto itself.