how do i make dirty textures?

[Marcel]

Making a material dirty is best done by changing all maps, not just putting one extra map in a certain slot. For exampe: the grout lines between the tiles need to be darker, the specular map needs to be darker in the places where the tiles are less shiny, the bump maps needs information for bumpy dirt.
The combination of all these maps will give the realistic result. It certainly helps to have good reference photos of what you are trying to achieve. Try to find pictures with the material you want to create, and study how you can achive this.

Photos you can use for making textures dirty can be photos of rust, concrete, stone, clouds, and many other things. On my website there is a category called 'grunge' with weird patterns you can use.

Try layering photos over your texture in Photoshop using the 'multiple' layer blending mode. Use masking tools to make it more or less strong in certain places. Think about how the world interacts with the dirt. For example: a place that is touched or brushed against will have less dirt than a protected corner. Places where water drips down will show leaking stains, smooth tiles will have less dirt than a rough concrete wall. Most of these dirt patterns can be seen in reallife photos, that's why studying reference is so important to add more realism to your work.

[dablik]

Hey,

how to make dirty textures you can learn here: http://www.3dtutorials.sk/index.php?tutorials=5&software=1&id=99

It's focused on wall but the principe is the same. Hope it helps :)

[octopus7]

:applause:Thanks for the advice guys! I will be sure to follow the tutorial so I can make my own textures. Here's a pic of what i'm working on. It's still getting textures applied to it so it's got a long way to go before it looks decent. Please note the bread is not final as i need to rework it drastically (too blocky!) and I think I will scan a slice of toast to get the texture and make a bumpmap. The butter also needs some work as my missus reckons that it looks green!
http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g16/tigertank88/toaster_WIP05.jpg

[Stevejjd]

While you can make dirt appear on your models at a texture level, it is often more preferable to use an ambient occlusion pass on a shader (material) level.

So what is ambient Occlusion? – I found this the best explanation
http://www-viz.tamu.edu/students/bmoyer/617/ambocc/



Here are some good tutorials you should go through.
http://www.neilblevins.com/cg_education/ambient_occlusion/ambient_occlusion.htm
http://www.everflow.com/support/tutorials/AO/Everflow_AmbientOcclusion1.html


If you want fast results on a texture level you could use a plugin for max 8 called Quick Dirt which I highly recommend for fast dirtmaps.



If you are just after a dirt texture I think you should get into AO anywayz. There is just so much added flexibility and if you want you can use AO like quick dirt, by that I mean you can set up your model with AO and bake the material to a texture; that way you get a hyper accurate version of QD without having to pay for it.

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