In this video, I explain how to texture a convincing metal piece, and how to get a smooth result that doesn't look like stone. For this tutorial I used Max 2008, Photoshop CS2 with the
xNormal plugins, Doylle's viewport shader, and the
8monkey Marmoset Toolbag.
Also make sure you check out Stefan Morrell's hard surface tutorial as well!
Download the supplemental materials here.