Norton Manx Tank and Polished Aluminum

[imikej]

One of the groups of materials that I find the most difficult are metals. Working on this personal project: vintage Norton Manx. And, decided to work up a believable polished aluminum. One of the things I noted is that the original stripes are hand painted and often show brush strokes. So, I thought adding a brush stroke to the paint might make it more believable. Tougher than I thought it would be. Lastly, I used Toon to make the rest of the bike go away.

[Rex]

The brush strokes look great! Especially in the reflection in the lower left. Nicely done

[imikej]

Thanks @Rex.  The only way I could figure to do it so that the brush stroke would follow the shape of the stripe was to create it by hand in Photoshop and then apply it as a texture.  Is there any other way you can think of?  My approach took a long time.

[Rex]

Photoshop is definitely the place to do it but I'd think there's a quick way. Maybe just create a path and apply a stroke to follow the path?

[Josh3D]

Looks so good! Love the brush stroke too. Rex is spot on. Create a path and stroke it with a brush - and set the brush Shape Dynamics control to Direction. Worked this up in less than a minute. You can add some variation in the brush settings as well. Just depends on how uniform you want the stroke.

[imikej]

@Josh3D–thanks!  I did something similar, but couldn't get my brush to behave the way I wanted.  I will have to try it again with your notes.  Or, come to Texas for a tutorial!

[Finema]

perhaps it's easier to use UV mapping
see my screenshot
it's just a question of modeling (in my sample it's MoI but it's just a sweep)

ps : sorry i haven't a Norton but a Triumph Bonneville and no stripe on fuel tank 

[imikej]

@Finema thanks!  That would have worked as well.  But, there are so many weird shapes in the Norton tank that I thought it would be more time consuming to build the geometry.

I'm a Triumph guy too!  If you got an old Triumph, it would have a stripe!  Here is a 650 engine from 1968.  These materials were in KS6, I think.  Today, I might do them a bit differently. 

[Jet3D]

That looks amazing!

[Finema]

But, there are so many weird shapes in the Norton tank that I thought it would be more time consuming to build the geometry.

i'm not sure > just a trim 
if you want you can send me just the tank 
ps: you are right for the stripe on old Triumph