In this tutorial we will learn how to use several textures and the stencil channel to make a Damascened button.
The technique of damascening consists in overlaying gold and silver thread over a black steel base. Here is the Wikipedia article.
To replicate this technique in Strata 3D we’ll use a texture for the steel, another for the silver and another for the gold, plus a Corrosion bump map.
Oxidised Steel
The base steel texture is almost black, with a little specularity.
We now need a little bump. We will use the always useful Corrosion shader for a basic bump. No holes, no resistant area.
Gold inlay
The base here is a gold texture, to which we will apply stencil and bump maps. These were made in Illustrator and exported into Photoshop. In Illustrator several concentric stars of 8,16 and 32 sides were drawn.
All the maps are 1024×1024 pixels in size. Click on them for the full-size image.
The bump map is similar, with a little noise and blur applied to the stencil map.
Silver Inlay
The silver inlay is very similar to the Gold Inlay. The base is a silver texture.
The Stencil map is similar:
The bump direction here is out rather than in.
Texture layering
The textures go on a simple lathe object, with planar mapping.
Check the mapping for each texture.
The first render should be a bit disappointing, if we have not set up a reflected environment.
Using the Lightdome -filmroom reflected environment things improve drastically.
The rest is setting a scene up. Lights, bases, etc.
That is a simple damascened object. Look for the damascened objects made in Toledo for remarkable examples of the art.
Happy rendering!
