The Metal Box

I’m going to try to show you several tricks for taking your textures to the next level by using a simple example of a metal box. We’ll work through the process of taking a basic metal texture and, using only Photoshop, creating a more interesting and realistic texture.

So, imagine our job is to model and texture a metal box. Modeling it is pretty easy, and slapping a metal texture on the box is easy. So let’s start there. Figure 10.1 shows the box and the metal texture.

All right, metal box done, right? Not on my watch. Sure, it looks like a metal box, but we can definitely improve on it. In Chapter 4, “Advanced Texturing,” we talked about the power of using layers in Photoshop. When I’m painting textures, I typically add what I call a grunge layer. Its purpose is to break up the flatness of the surface and add some depth and variation. To create the new layer, I take a large, soft-edged paint-brush and a dark color (close to black), and paint some simple strokes across the image. Take a look at Figure 10.2.