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King-Bart
03-23-2009, 01:19 AM
I am trying to create a scratched metal surface that looks like the back of an iPod that didn't have a case. I am more interested in creating the tiny scratches than smudges and fingerprints. Not that it matters much, but I am using 3ds max with mental ray.

Long story short, I think I just need a bump map for the scratches, but I have been unable to create, find one that looks right. It needs to be tillable. I have been driving my self crazy over this. The only textures I found were brushed metal. Any help would be great.
rbecker
03-23-2009, 07:29 AM
I'm no expert, but I think you'd have better luck creating the scratches with a spec map. For small details like that I'll usually just plug something into the specular rolloff (or whatever the max equivalent is in your case) and that creates the illusion of really tiny scratches better than an actual bump seems to.
leigh
03-23-2009, 12:51 PM
For scratched metal to look realistic, the scratches should be in the colour, spec/reflection and bump maps. For the kind of scratched metal that you're describing, I'd either try to source some from photos, or make a scattered scratchy brush in Photoshop and paint it. You can then use the Offset filter to make it tileable.
soulburn3d
03-23-2009, 07:12 PM
I've frequently used a variation of this tutorial in Photoshop...

http://www.neilblevins.com/cg_education/spun_pattern/spun_pattern.htm

Except instead of using the radial blur, use the motionblur filter instead for horizontal scratches. Mixing it with some real photos of brushed metals at low intensity can get some nice results. And follow Leigh's advice and place it in the color, ref and bump maps for maximum effect.

- Neil
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