Quote:
Originally Posted by Kaskad
Well, I don't think it's bad, but I think you need to do a few things to make it good. The base that you're using for metal does not read as metal. It's got this weird stippling that makes it look like it's trying to be leather. Just use a flat gray and then add onto that with overlays and painted details - you can't just use a picture of something metal as a base, it doesn't look right. Carrying on with that idea, simply converting the diffuse to a specular isn't the best way you could do it either. Better to re-save your diffuse .psd as a specular one, and then go in layer by layer changing things to what their specular value would be and getting rid of anything that wouldn't affect it.
As for normal maps, never simply run your diffuse map through crazybump or the nvidia filter to get a normal map for a prop. The way these programs work is by reading variations in tone and interpreting those variations as height data. When you have a diffuse that has all sorts of details, lighting information, etc. you are giving the normal converter false data. You need to do the same thing I said to do for the specular only instead of converting everything to its specular value you need to convert everything to its height value - ie, make a height map. If you skimp on this process you'd be better off not having a normal map at all.
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Thanks for your help guys, it's hard (at least for me) to make a height map, diffuse, spec, and normal in less than 2 hours. Do you have any techniques to speed up the process.
Also I did start out by using just gray for the metal and a dark green for the army look. I then overlayed a metal texture.