how to "grunge" metallic shaders?

jenniferhughey

I have a superheroine outfit I am retexturing with metallic shaders, and she looks too "perfect" and new..is there a way to grunge up the shaders so they look more battle worn and not so shiny?

Griffin Avid

Here's an iray one...

https://www.daz3d.com/uber-iray-antique-metals

and a 3Delight only one

https://www.daz3d.com/daz-studio-dirt-shaders

Didn't see any on sale...hang on though - probably any day now...some will be on sale...

jenniferhughey

Thanks, that Iray one is on my list, but was wondering if theres a way to add texturing to shaders since I already have a few regular metals..

fastbike1

Try putting a map into the Top Coat Color

jenniferhughey

 

fastbike1 said:

Try putting a map into the Top Coat Color

I'll try that, thanks!

Mattymanx

Im not at my computer but there is a diffuse overlay channel thats being used for makeup on some characters.  YOu may be able to utilize it for metalic grunge too.

SixDs

Just a small technical observation. Shaders are uniform across any surface to which they are applied. Grunge and corrosion generally are not. The packages referenced for achieving such effects are notable for the fact that they include texture maps (which have nothing to do with shaders, perse). I believe that it is these maps that achieve the grunginess or corrosion more than the shaders themselves, although the latter may impart special effects of their own relative to how light behaves in respect of the surface. For example, let us say we have three surfaces, one gold, one steel and aluminum. The PBR shaders for each will differ since the real materials do relative to how they appear under different lighting conditions. So how do you use a steel shader in a way that reflects (pardon the expression) the way light interacts with a steel surface that is corroded and dirty? Well, you can't, because the dirt and corrosion affects the way light reacts to the surface. So you must use a rusty steel shader or a dirty steel shader that accounts for the difference. Simply changing the diffuse texture maps will not all by itself achieve a completely realistic effect, since the gold or steel or what-have-you shaders will apply properties to the grunge which it would not normally have. Some parts should be shiny and others dull. So some sort of compromise is necessary, short of setting up separate material zones for the grungy bits separate from the non-grungy bits (which wouldn't work very well either, BTW, since that would tend to create sharp demarcation between grungy and non-grungy parts, which itself would be unrealistic).

Given the necessity of compromise, the real key here, I believe, are those texture maps. Diffuse to be sure, but possibly bumps or normals if the surface is pitted, etc. And then do not choose a nice shiny gold or silver shader for the surface as a whole - something a little less pristine would be called for, or you could experiment with maps in the specular channels, etc to make the grungy parts less shiny. Or just dull down the whole surface. Presumably the folks that have prepared those packages have looked into all this and done all the experimentation for you.

Richard Haseltine

I haven't had much of a poke around the Iray bricks in Sahder Mixer, but as far as I am aware it has a similar range of procedural options - including noise and fractal patterns - to 3delight, which can be used to give the effect of corrosion. it is also possible, again in 3delight and I believe in iray, to use an AO or similar function to cotnrol where corrosion or dirt are found (in exposed areas or ina reas that are recessed and so not subject to wear polishing).

Oso3D

If there is an AO function in Iray, I'm unaware of it.

One of my shaders (see sig) uses some sleight of hand to do something AO-like, but the result is a bit touchy and mild

 

I DO have some shaders to add to decals or geo shells that add varied dust or rust or whatever

jenniferhughey

Thanks for weighing in everyone..probbaly like some suggested the easiest would be to buy textures that have these properties already, I was trying to avoid that if I could. Will try yours Timmins and see if I get closer to what I'm trying to accomplish. I saw the ones that are geoshell based, and that looks interesting, but I need to read up on geoshells and texture maps.

I know I'm not going to get a totally realistic look, but am going for just not so perfect and shiny as most metal shaders seem to be..

Oso3D

Quick geoshells:

geoshell is basically a linked copy of your object with a push modifier which can be adjusted. Any shader you can put on the object, you can put on the shell.

Useful for wounds, makeup, blending textures, and more!

It does take up more geometry memory, but that's not usually a big deal.

jenniferhughey

timmins.william said:

Quick geoshells:

geoshell is basically a linked copy of your object with a push modifier which can be adjusted. Any shader you can put on the object, you can put on the shell.

Useful for wounds, makeup, blending textures, and more!

It does take up more geometry memory, but that's not usually a big deal.

Sounds interesting..will have to read up more on those, sounds like you can do quite a bit with them..

jenniferhughey

Found something that looks like what I want, but it's only for 3DL :-( https://www.daz3d.com/daz-studio-dirt-shaders more of a patina and darker in crevices, corners, etc..

fastbike1

@jennysmi

Take a look at Mec4D's metallic shaders. They have dust, rust, scratches, etc possibilities