I've actually set this gun up drastically different from my previous submissions. Rather than make the entire texture outside of blender and load it in, I've made the entire texture in Blender using layers. I can adjust how strong the brushstrokes are on the gun(and other details) at will, without compromising the whole texture.

I actually toned down the brushstrokes on the gun prior to release, if simply because it made the gun look strange and non-metallic. I think the core problem is the amount of detail being overshadowed by the bright silver metal base color, and the brightness of the light in the promo shots. In the lightless image on the workshop page, you can see how the gun actually has a lot of implicit detail painted into the gun. I will admit there is room for improvement, but I'm having a hard time nailing down where exactly I need to add emphasis. I might actually try toning the entire vmt material down, so it simply doesn't shine as much in game.

I will come back and repost the gun with updated textures later, but I'm currently shifting focus to other items in my workshop.

Originally posted by Astute:

I've actually set this gun up drastically different from my previous submissions. Rather than make the entire texture outside of blender and load it in, I've made the entire texture in Blender using layers. I can adjust how strong the brushstrokes are on the gun(and other details) at will, without compromising the whole texture.

I actually toned down the brushstrokes on the gun prior to release, if simply because it made the gun look strange and non-metallic. I think the core problem is the amount of detail being overshadowed by the bright silver metal base color, and the brightness of the light in the promo shots. In the lightless image on the workshop page, you can see how the gun actually has a lot of implicit detail painted into the gun. I will admit there is room for improvement, but I'm having a hard time nailing down where exactly I need to add emphasis. I might actually try toning the entire vmt material down, so it simply doesn't shine as much in game.

I will come back and repost the gun with updated textures later, but I'm currently shifting focus to other items in my workshop.

ok, I think the reason i thught it needed breaking up was that the metal was a bit to plain, here's an idea, add chipped paint to the edges (like the cleaner's carbine) to make it seem more cartoon (i understand you want to move on toothe things, just suggestion for if you ever come back to this one.)

You should of modeled this off the Raging Judge!! (Revolver that shoots shotgun shells!!!) You need to cut out the holes in the revolver where the bullets sit. Extra points if You put 12 Gauge Shells in there :D Other then that I LOVE this. I hope this makes its way into the game!! Great work :)

I think you should make this a skin of the Family Business or something like that. But yeah, awesome work man! I would love to see this ingame.

To anyone still following this:

Having completed my minigun remake, I decided to come back and revist this item's texture issue again. Giving it a once over, I realized a critical mistake I had made. Perhaps it was the lack of sleep, or something else, but apparently the material for this item never compiled. What you are seeing is Source Filmmaker and TF2 "guessing" at what it should look like. It all came down to a missing bracket, and the only reason I detected it was due to SFM complaining about it in the console window.

I also decided to take a look at how "silvery" weapons are handled by TF2. I took some notes from the Ambassador, and to my surpise, it actually has a very simple texture on it(besides the awesome engraving on the side and the wooden handle). A lot of the Ambassador's look comes down to its material, environment mapping, and normal mapping. It was at that moment I realized I was not only using a busted material, but also applying a material suited for flat matte black weaponry, whereas what I wanted was a brighter sheen-like material instead.

I should have the major issues fixed very soon, and I'm going to do a formal demonstration video this time(instead of a garbage SFM animation).

Great!, case closed