How To Texture Worn-Out Sniper Scope In Substance 3D Painter

Introduction

Hey everyone! My name is Azamkhon, I'm a 17-year-old 3D artist from Tajikistan. A couple of years ago, I accidentally got hooked on 3D while making mods for the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game series.

Before we get started, just a quick reminder: you can download the Substance 3D Painter file of this project and see for yourself how the textures were created right here.

Software used:

• Blender
• ZBrush
• RizomUV
• Marmoset Toolbag
• RizomUV
• Substance 3D Painter
• Photoshop

 
Why Pso-1 RifleScope?

I spent a while thinking about what project to take on, and I really didn't feel like making another "black gun". So, I decided to find something unusual, especially in terms of textures, where I could get creative. That's how I ended up choosing this scope.

Originally, I had bigger plans: I wanted to make the SVD sniper rifle and thought it'd be a good idea to break it down into parts, starting with the main attachments. Whether or not the SVD will get done in the future, I can't say for sure. The project's on hold, and I'm currently working on a more ambitious project.

Let's Get To The Point

I'm sure most of you are pretty familiar with the general pipeline, so I won't dwell too much on the technical details. Instead, I'd love to talk more about the textures and rendering.

A Choice Without Regrets

It turns out that this scope has a lot of variations, and it was pretty hard to decide which one to make (texture-wise). After going through tons of options, I settled on a darker version.

Modeling

Let's briefly talk about the model and the UVs in this short section. Nothing too special – just a model with a solid polycount since it was made for rendering. I used several texture sets to get a good texel density. As for baking, you all know how to do that anyway.

Texturing

Now we've reached the most important part: the textures. I want to mention that texturing took me about a week, working 3-4 hours a day, sometimes a bit more, but I don't really remember exactly.

The scene setup was very basic: shader quality was at maximum, and I used the Studio Tomoco HDRI as my main environment. While debating between using ACES or Linear, I decided to texture in Linear but occasionally switched to ACES for checking.

For the base, I used a photo texture. Then, I generated the normal map and created roughness and metallic maps from the photo itself directly in Painter. After that, I adjusted the texture maps using the "Level" filter. The original texture didn’t really appeal to me and looked like this:

So, using the "Color Correct" and "HSL" filters, I spent quite a bit of time tweaking things until I achieved the desired result:

So, here's what I ended up with. But this is just the beginning of the madness, as we've only set up the base texture, and it needs some more work and embellishment. So, let's move on. Next, using "Cells 1," I decided to add white speckles since they were present in the reference.

Then, using a bunch of layers, I added various details, like small black dots and white speckles. I also added tiny dots separately and used height to give them some depth.

This is what it looks like if you disable the photo texture.

Using "Fractal Sum Base Color," I added a bit of color noise to the color map. I also divided the model by color, making some parts darker and others lighter. The pipe on the right has a different tiling, which is a bit finer than the main part.

I added decals to the scope, making sure to maintain the texture on the decals, and I used a photo texture as the base – all standard practice!

Damage

They were made procedurally and refined by hand. To start, I used a grunge texture as a base and then painted everything in by hand:

With the mask set, I created the texture using a similar principle as the base. I forgot to mention that my damage details are divided into two layers: dark and light.

Next, the other materials were created using a similar principle, like different types of metal or bolts:

Once again, using a photo texture (I think it was sand), I generated dirt and dust. Here it is:

I brightened it up based on the curvature and thickness of the albedo, added the Bake_light filter, and used it at low values purely to add volume to the albedo. With that, I suggest we wrap up the texturing and move on to the renders.

Render

I did the renders in Marmoset Toolbag 4. It took about 3-4 days. Sometimes, I stayed up from night until 7-8 in the morning. I had a lot of ideas and a strong desire to add some Easter eggs.

The render settings aren't particularly unique – just a few more bounces and samples for the render. As for the scene, let me just show you the older versions in ascending order:

Version 1: Greenish, washed out, and totally cringy.

Version 2: Closer to what we ended up with in the final version.

And here it is – the final version!

Honestly, you might be wondering why there's no backside. Well, I just couldn't figure out how to render it; it seemed a bit boring. Here is a render that ended up in the trash:

The scene initially looked more saturated, and the eyes were drawn in all sorts of directions but not to the scope. So, it was decided to tone down my desire to add a lot of random stuff just for fun.

As for the macro render settings, I can show you the setup for one camera that I made; unfortunately, I didn't save the rest.

That's it, we're done with the render.

Post Processing

I confess I went overboard with the noise in the final renders. Please don't be mad at me!

Conclusion

Thanks to the 80 Level team for writing and suggesting that I share how I created this project. I'm grateful to everyone who helped me with the project, provided feedback, or supported me morally in any way. Thank you all! Sending hugs to everyone!

Azamkhon Khudoynazarov, 3D Artist