I understand the argument, no worries :) ...but we are discouraged from using realistic fabric in the skins cause the reason is always "Warframes are organic". I also can't make robotic elements cause every time i do and i mix them up DE rejects my submissions which means i can't really use materials similar to the realistic painted metal you see in other works cause they don't really make sense in a non robotic environment so there's only so much wear and tear i can use to make things looks more realistic (it's also something i don't like too much cause i think it's a cheap way to add non design details). What else is left if not some made up material if i'm not doing some meaty infested looking warframe? ^^"

That being said though, i think you're right, my designs looks cartoony but the reason is cause i tend to use big features as a primary focus of my design which is a pratice commonly used to simplify cartoon characters :) Meanwhile if you want them more realistic you should focus on mid level details but in my opinion they become less interesting and way more forgettable overall. If you want to understand what i mean just think about one of my skins and tell me the first detail it comes to your mind about it :) i'm pretty sure it will be a similar thing for everybody !

They do look like they're made of a different material but what came to mind was the first time I got into a very expensive car and when I sat and closed the door... the feel of that door handle, this strange knurled plastic, so overly comfortable, never seen before, I was like this isn't a real door handle! this isn't a real car!

Wow :D awesome analogy

Hitsu, is this 'fabric resistence' from DE recent?

At some point I recall in a Devstream a wip of a fabric/texture like system that would be applied to the color masks, same way the colors do atm. That could be why DE is discouraging the use of fabrics. Because they still mean to implement this system.

In fact, I've noticed recently that some Warframes seam to have what looks like some sort of procedural micro texture when stared very upclose.

Ah i thought about why they don't do it but i guess it would be too much work to retrofit all the warframes with a new system like that. The secondary detail map you can see upclose it's nothing new though, it's been used for some time but generally tennogen artists don't use them cause we bake our own on top of the models :) It's not recent though but the problem is always the mixing up between organic and mechanic, it's either one or the other and if it's organic the fabric material doesn't make sense ^^