After modeling this thing for around 45 minutes and tweaking the textures for another hour, (I’m fairly new to blender and have had a hard time making the texture map to this object the way I wanted), I’ve grown fond of it, and now I’m thinking I should do something more with it. I’m posting this here to ask for any advice some of you might have to make this thing look more realistic, as well has how to better light it, (How do I create soft-edged lights in blender?), and what I should do with it.
Well, I think that you definitely have the most-difficult part of the model, which is “a center disc which looks like it was done with gold-colored paint.” The edge-ring surrounding that area, which is also irregular, looks quite plausibly like a solder-joint or weld.
You also have a good “edge” on the shaped-metal star. Once again, it is irregular: the seam at the three o’clock position does not look like the others and it’s not exactly the same down its entire length.
I say, “good” because we all know that any real star that we might pick-up in some last minute Christmas Eve fit of desperation will not be “regular,” as so many oh-so-perfect CG objects usually are.
Really, the only thing that’s left here is a plausible material for the faces of the shaped metal. Here I would use projection-painting to apply one or more image-based textures. You probably want these surfaces to be about as “dark” as they are right now, but you’d like for them to have some plausible “roughness” to them. Very-importantly, though, you need to be sure that you do this in an irregular way. After all, this is not just “a star,” but “a craft-store star.” (Which is, in my mind, the hardest effect to achieve and therefore the best outcome that you can shoot for.)
What I am describing is a s-l-i-g-h-t departure from “what you have right now.” Use a very delicate touch.
Nice work dude. I’d recommend setting up a 3-point rig like spacetug said - just be careful not to flatten out the model. Right now it’s too dark it’d be nice to see some more edge definition.
will not be “regular,” as so many oh-so-perfect CG objects usually are.