Texturing Lifelike Metal with Rust Using Substance 3D

Introduction

Hello everyone! My name is Abhitesh Rawat. I'm 20 years old and a passionate 3D Artist. My journey into the world of 3D began during my school days, where I discovered a love for video editing, especially anime edits and video game montages. The magic of edits, VFX, animation, and visual storytelling always fascinated me and sparked a deep desire to learn more.

After completing my intermediate studies, I enrolled at the Gloss Institute of VFX and Animation. There, I expanded my skills in 3D modeling, texturing, material creation, and environment design. I've worked on several projects, including a Himalayan Temple and a Post-Apocalyptic scene, both of which helped shape my creative style and workflow.

While my strongest skills lie in modeling and texturing, I'm currently focused on deepening my knowledge in environment creation. I'm excited to explore this area further and bring more immersive worlds to life.

Inspiration & References

After spending countless hours glued to my laptop, I finally decided to disconnect and explore my surroundings, only to stumble upon an old, rusty wrench hidden in my house.

The rusty wrench, which was perfect for my next prop project, made me take pictures of it, which I used as references. I took a top-perspective shot to trace-model it and other close-ups for higher details.

Original reference:

Modeling

The rusty wrench then called me back to my laptop, telling me to start modeling it! I used Maya for the modeling process. While working on it, I made sure to keep the base mesh clean, since my plan was to sculpt the edge chips and dents later and then decimate the mesh afterwards.

Retopology & Unwrapping

After completing the modeling, I moved on to the UV unwrapping, which was fairly easy since the model wasn’t too complex and had fewer parts. I used Maya again for the UV process.

Once the UVs were done, I imported the model into ZBrush to add minor dents and scratches. I subdivided the mesh and used brushes like TrimDynamic to sculpt the details. After finishing the high-poly sculpt, I exported it and then decimated the mesh using the Decimation Master plugin, making sure to check the "Keep UVs" option. Finally, I exported the decimated model to use as my low-poly version.

Texturing

Now comes my favorite part: texturing. I began by analyzing the reference photos I had taken and broke the surface down into four major materials:

• Old Metal
• Dark Rust
• Light Yellow Rust
• White Dust

Then, the Rusty Wrench led me into Substance 3D Designer, where I started building these four materials. I downloaded a random grunge noise texture and tweaked it using the Slope Blur node (as shown in the image). After that, I applied a Gradient Map to give it a base color. I repeated this process for each of the other materials.

Metal material:

Dark Rust:

Light Rust:

Dust:

Next, I moved to Substance 3D Painter and baked the model. I imported the materials I had just created and masked the model into two main parts: the red-painted section and the dark metal section.

I started with the red-painted part. I set the base layer as old metal, then added inscriptions and layered various minor details on top. I used smart masks and anchor points to create more interaction between the layers, especially around the inscriptions.

For paint drops, I used masks like Grunge Stains and also added some manually using brush painting.

The sticker that I added is a PNG, which has some anchor points that helped in adding more details to it.

Moving on to the dark metal section, I reused the same metal base. I downloaded a thumbwheel pattern, applied it, and used anchor points again to insert rust into the detailed areas. I began layering rust using grunge masks, and once again, manually painted in more details. I also followed the same technique as before for adding paint drops.

Throughout the texturing process, I relied on various smart masks and techniques to streamline my workflow and add rich, believable details.

Lighting & Rendering

After finishing the texturing, I exported my textures in 4K resolution. Then, I imported the low-poly model into Marmoset Toolbag and applied the textures to it.

For the lighting, I used various studio HDRIs provided by Substance to give the model a professional, well-lit look. To achieve more realistic renders, I increased the lens aperture, which helped create a nice depth of field effect. For tone mapping, I used ACES, which gave the final output contrasted and sharp colors.

I rendered most of the final images at 3K resolution. For post-production, I made light color adjustments and applied some sharpening in Photoshop to give the renders a clean and polished finish.

Conclusion

For me personally, the key to creating appealing props is everything, from gathering references, modeling, UV mapping, and texturing to rendering and post-production. Do what you love; don’t force yourself into it. Passion always shows in the final result.

The main challenge I faced while working on this prop was quite minimal. Everything went smoothly for the most part. The only issue I encountered was during the UV mapping stage. At first, I didn’t know that ZBrush had a "Keep UVs" option, so I ended up having to redo the UVs on the low-poly version. It was a learning moment.

Throughout this project, I learned a lot more about texturing techniques and explored new tools in Substance 3D Painter.

One thing I’ve realized is: you never truly know what you're capable of until you try. It's only when you start doing the work that you understand how much there is to learn. So keep practicing, even with the smallest or simplest projects. Every step counts on your journey.

Abhitesh Rawat, 3D Artist