It's supposed to be noisy. The metal from my reference is very noisy likes its a sandblasted metal almost. Its a dull metal. Ill throw some colors on it and see what I get.

Certainly needs a good spec map, theres not much more you will need to do for the diffuse, but fix those scratches. IF you can pull a good specular off, it will come together a lot better, dont forget those subtle discolourations, finger marks, grease, stains etc.

I will work on the spec map some more to pull out more detail.

Could you maybe throw the spec map up so we can take a look?

This shot is a little more color in the diffuse and the new spec map. I'm not the greatest at spec maps lol. Any tips would be helpfull.

Ok well first off i would brighten up the specular quite a bit on the blade, you probably need less contrast for the vase metal specular too. After i would work on some unique specular details, the edge wear could be refined a bit too.

I do agree it is a bit uniform.

Here is another quick shot with an updated diffuse and spec.

Still tweaking things.

Here is another update. I went ahead and put some tape on it and dirtied it up and messed with my spec and normal maps.

The nicks on the blade are rather distracting and look fake.

Right now your spec on your handle looks like render clouds with some detail lines through it, try to make it look like a person has held this knife a lot. For instance, look at your mouse, if you've had the same mouse as long as I've had mine you'll see where your different fingers rest on it, where you've rubbed off some of the "texture" to it.

The same thing should happen on this knife, try to add some logic to your grunge and it will sell a lot better.

I took a break from 3d for a while and came back to it with this. I am trying to do a hand painted fountian thing. It has been filled in and I am going to have dirt in the middle of it and shrubs. This is just a start any CC would be appreciated.

Here is a quick update. I am going to finish it later tonight. I am going to have some shrubs in the middle of it.

Here it is mostly done. I think I am going to fix the top bricks and make them solid. They look a bit off to me.

just a couple tips for the knife:

right now the metal looks very stony, probably due to all the noise you have on there, and the many normaled in bumps. metal is best defined as a smooth surface. weapons especially don't get dented and rough, as they are meant to be very strong and last a long time. instead, the coating wears off and you can add really, really cool unique specular detail to mimic that.

shiny things like blades work far better with a darker diffuse and bright(ish) spec. keep your materials smooth and really work that specular map! get some color in there! color and unique detail on the specular are both essential to sell materials.

it looks like you're making the plastic handle for it. currently you have a lot of odd mid size splotches on the specular and it's making it look rather low resolution. you can try mixing in some noise in there (mask it off in areas for instant wear) to get some fine detail, as well as some dirt caked on the indents. colorized duplicate AO works well for this.

i'm probably going to sound mean here, but it must be said. tape is a lazy way to add detail when your textures are too boring and undefined on their own. it's a cliche as much as tally marks and silly blue writing, and should be avoided whenever possible. when you have good looking materials, you don't need any of those cliches!

Yea I've took the tape off I know what you mean I actually at first told my self not to put it on there but I went against my better judgement. I will definately do those things you said. I mess with it some and post and update. Might just scrap it and start over from the beginning lol. Anyone have any thoughts on the hand painted textures?

Here is an updated shot. I feel it is better, I tried to smooth out some of the rubber to show some wear and toned down the scratches and took out the chips in the blade. Also got rid of the tape lol.