Which way is the right way?

[dfac364]

Lately I've been working on a new sword for skyrim and I am trying to show a noticeable improvement from my old work, so I've been searching the internet for tutorials on making better textures and so far I've found plenty of tutorials but when it comes to specular and normal maps their doesn't seem to be a consensus on the best method. I have my work posted below and I'm just looking for opinions on wether I am doing this correctly or if they suck

 

http://i1161.photobucket.com/albums/q515/Dfac364/RRSoulsBane_n.jpg

 

http://i1161.photobucket.com/albums/q515/Dfac364/RRSoulsBane_Rem.jpg

 

My Process:

 

Normal Map

-Load diffuse map in gimp and desaturate

-adjust levels bringing the dark and light towards the middle and the grey towards the right

-increase contrast

-remove alpha layer

-convert to normal map using gimp plugin

-copy layer and name new copy detail_Layer

-name original layer depth_layer

-apply gaussian blur (5 bit) to depth_Layer and set layer mode to grain merge

-apply sharpen (42%) to detail_Layer and set layer mode to grain merge

-duplicate both layers to enhance (depth=10 copies)(detail=5 copies)

 

Specular Map

-load normal map

-desaturate image

-reduce brightness

-select non-metal textures

-reduce brightness in selection to near black

[dfac364]

bump

[David Brasher]

I think your blade looks nice, but all those pieces to the right probably don't have enough texturing and a good enough normal map. They might look smooth and shiny like plastic.

[doctorhr2]

Are the tiny pieces on the right from your model or are they part of your Bump/Normal map? If they are from the model then I would go back and do some tidying up. I use Max rather than Blender and I always carefully stitch the seams of the model together in the UV Unwrap window to avoid small artifacts. I assume there is some way to do this in Blender?

 

Also, if you wanted to improve the resolution of your texture map, you could flip the one side of the blade over and overlay it on the other side of the blade so they would share the same space on the texture map but not take up so much room. If you don't mind duplication of textures it's a great way to save space on your diffuse map.