Non-Plastic

Ok, so my biggest issue when texturing is most of the time, all my stuff still looks like plastic.

Whats the best way to keep tis from happening??

can you show pic so easier to advice you
on what to do !

SAlutations

Ok, here is a quick one that I just did for an example. The plane its sitting on does not bother me, its what I want, but like on the stem, pettles and pot the plant is in, they all look plastic like still

http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/nn95/wsanders10/potflower.jpg

like plastic ? maybe u crank up the specularity of you materials, plastic as an even mat reflects much light in one direction.
But I assume u mean the “clean” look of the surfaces together with the too shiny look provoced through the cranked spec. You can fix this with a discreet procedural texture like stucci.
I think nearly everyone has got the “plastic prob” at the beginning, but look at Indigo: with diffuse shaders if nessecary and a little bit noise your object dont look dolly-like anymore i think.
hope this helped

for ideas on proc textures

check out this site
http://www.blender-materials.org/

this should give osme choice to try on

Salutations

Play with SSS for the petals, center, and stem, and turn up bumpmapping with low nabla value for the soil. Use multiple texture layers for the pot.

and we are in 3 D so the flower itself could be a little curved to give it more realistism

SAlutations