What would you recommend for "patchy" leather armor?
Aabacus
Posts: 407
Armor that looks like it's made up of leather patches sewn together....
I was thinking I might have to use a normal leather armor and use a shader but I've never made a custom shader so I don't know how I'd go about doing that...I may have to just use a mapped image or something...
This is 100% for fun. My D&D game. No rush...
It's an interesting character. Level 2 druid/level 2 rogue. I recommended his nickname be magpie. LOL.
Thanks in advance for any thoughts!
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You really shouldn't have said "thanks in advance for any thoughts"... I didn't have anything useful to add, but then I saw that and I was like... "Wait... thoughts?... not advice or helpful information...?... I have thoughts..."
Well, at least that's what the voices tell me...
But since this isn't a rush, I figured I'd go with my initial instinct which is to comment without fully reading the post and mostly guess based on the title...
Patchy leather armor can be a problem... l've gotten a patchy rash from my gorilla costume a couple of times, but that was mostly from mice peeing in it... I guess you could try rubbing diaper rash cream on it and if it won't go away try sanding it down with a belt sander... Your best bet is ArmorAway... Four out of three dungeon explorers who tried ArmorAway never complained about it... either way, consult a physician and stop taking ArmorAway if you develop mange or your liver explodes... in some cases patchy leather armor can be a symptom of a severe medical condition or a cursed object in one's possession. Ask your fortune teller which one you might have.
ArmorAway is not for everyone, but for those it doesn't kill immediately, it's not so bad.
Ask for ArmorAway at your Drugstore, Apothecary, Blacksmith or from your Drug dealer.
ArmorAway... It's not so bad.
You.
I like you.
You're my people.
Well...so sayeth the voices.
It's not so much the voices but random houshold appliances. The toaster...what a mouth that thing's got. He's a complete crumb. Always hot under the collar. Popping off at any random time.
Don't get me wrong, I really like shaders but I think it would look much better if you texture map.
Edit: Not only do shaders especially if you are doing something "patchy" going to look a bit repetitive but you'll lose out on being able to make some stitching. I mean wouldn't some stitching holding your patchwork together look pretty cool?
I don't know if you can use these, but here are some seamless leather textures with normal maps
The above image are 512 x 512, if you want the full size image at 1280 x 1280, you can get them from this thread...
https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/59113/an-ot-thread-for-images#latest
Actually, the full size images were rendered at 2048 x 2048, but somehow they got shrunk to 1280 x 1280...?
Probably because I uploaded them through my iPad... ugh.
since seams won't be an issue as clothing has seams, using a 2D editor your best option, Photoshop, Gimp whatever.
stamp your leather patches and buy or make a brush to create stiches
are plenty of tutorials and resources on how to do such things
Possibly you can photoshop the texture to select each patch section, then subtly adjust the color and brighness/contrast to make it look as though it were sewn together from pieces from different hides. I like the idea of the exposed seam suggestion above, but if you wanted the seams on the inside you can modify the bump/displacement use a brush to trace along the joints to make a grove where the leather pieces would fold inward for seams. Or maybe a larger brush first to slightly raise it up followed by the center groove going inward.
Sewn together. As in literal patches versus patchwork armor...
If you were going for "patchwork", then I'd recommend this as a base.
https://www.daz3d.com/badlands-gladiator-outfit-for-genesis-8-male-s
Quest Bound also has a good feeling of "stuff put together" as armor, but it's not a literal quilt/set of patches.
https://www.daz3d.com/dforce-quest-bound-outfit-textures
Back in the day, we had Quilted Armor in D&D. Not sure these days... nuD&D isn't really my thing anymore.
Some of the more scruffy-looking Pirate outfits may also be a good starting point.
Now, if you want armor that is pieced together evenly or evenly pieced and studded then the following shader set will give you that:
https://www.daz3d.com/uber-iray-medieval-armor-shaders
The above also have quilting and chainmail shaders along with several different types of pieced together leather presets.
Since it would be for your own personal use, you could add some color variation to the texture tile(s) using your image editor to give more of a patched look.
Another idea if you go the route of shaders is to apply different shaders either different styles or with different color vaiations to different material zones. You will very likely to have to make additional material zones to give it a "patchy" look.
My favorite shaders for leather and chainmail are the following:
https://www.daz3d.com/fantasy-leather-iray-shaders
Look at the Dark Lore Outfit by Barbara Brundon and it's textures. Also, she has a number of Outfits that work for D&D
I like the warn patchy natural look of the Tara outfit. https://www.daz3d.com/tara-outfit-for-genesis-8-females