I’ve recently created a 3D model of an axe as one object. I’m using texture maps for the material, but I’m having a problem with the cutting edge part of the axe.
I want the edge between the cutting edge part of the axe and the head of the axe to have a soft transition in between.
When adding two different materials, one for the axe head and one for the cutting edge I get a sharp edge where the materials meet. (See images attached)
If I instead combine these two materials as one and separate them with nodes I’ll get a soft transition but the cutting edge material becomes a straight line instead of a curved line.
I would like to have the cutting edge material curved with a soft transition and was wondering if anyone has any tips or suggestions for how to solve this.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated! I’ve added print screens as well.
Thank you in advance for your help.
You can probably use Vertex Paint as mask. In theory, it might be the easiest method.
Paint a gradient by selecting edge loops in Edit Mode and filling (shift + K) them with appropriate greyscale color in Vertex Paint Mode. Pure white at the edge, and getting darker moving away from it.
You can still adjust the gradient with Color Ramp later.
Alternatively, you can use UV mapping to create a mask:
unwrap one face of the mesh;
make it rectangle shape (by selecting edges one at a time, and scaling to 0 on perpendicular axis);
select the rest of the mesh with that first face as active, Unwrap with Follow Active Quad.
It should result in a grid-like map.
If this map is used only for masking then things like stretching and overlaps should be of no concern. It should be noted though, that if you wish to bake the resulting textures later, bake to a different UV map.
