I think this image, particularly the texturing, came out terrific. The
corrosion on the rounded cube looks extremely natural and realistic to me.
I've seen similar verdigris/salt-deposit effects on metal objects in real
life, so this works for me.

I personally have no problems with the use of combination
procedural/image-mapping methods, especially when the images used are your
own. I also have no problems with copying someone else's technique with
permission, as I consider that as a sort of intellectual property commons,
that helps everyone produce better images than would otherwise exist. No
one condemns Alias or Discreet Software for copying Lambert's shading
technique for matte surfaces. Anything that helps produce better texturing,
better images, I'm all for it, long as it doesn't violate copyright, as
Buddenhagen didn't.

I know of websites on texturing that caution against the use of purely
procedural textures, as too often they are produced without much thought or
effort and they tend to have a very synthesized, unnatural look. The
textures used here, by contrast, look to me very natural indeed. I would
love to see more of this kind of stuff. :)

Great job and kudos to James Buddenhagen. :)

Post a reply to this message