Chapter 1: Coatings & Finishes

Created by Sarah Choi (prompt writer using ChatGPT)

Coatings & Finishes — Materials & Surface Language

Why Finishes Matter

A finish is not a skin; it is a story about usage, doctrine, and environment baked into the surface. Coatings control glare, corrosion, heat soak, and touch feel, and they define how shapes read under your game’s lighting. For concept and production artists, finish choices are a primary tool for class, faction, and role clarity. This article frames coatings and finishes as readability tools—not manufacturing notes—across metals, polymers, wood, composites, and ceramics, with practical guidance that survives gameplay distance and LOD.

Camera‑First Thinking: Matte, Satin, Gloss

Finishes are value‑control devices. Matte suppresses micro‑speculars, helping silhouettes hold in bright scenes and keeping HUDs clean. Satin retains form‑defining highlights while avoiding mirror noise; it is the most forgiving for readability. Gloss is for focal accents: glass, oiled wood, polished rails, or ceremonial trims. In first‑person, large glossy fields become visual chatter; reserve gloss for small, intentional beats (selector icons, sight housings, badge inlays). In third‑person, matte lowers noise so big forms speak; inject tiny satin accents to prevent a “chalked” look. When unsure, stage a matte base with satin wear on edges to cue handling without glare.

Metals: Surface Language by Intent

Blued/black‑oxide steels read traditional and maintenance‑heavy: deep, soft sheens with subtle hue shifts at edges; wear polishes toward satin on grip zones and corners. Parkerized/manganese phosphate reads military utilitarian: fine, chalky grain that drinks oil; edges brighten to a flat satin under holster drag. Anodized aluminum communicates modern, lightweight structure: tight, uniform specular with colorfast dyes; edges stay crisp, and wear reveals a colder, metallic undertone rather than raw silver gouges. Nitrided/“melonite”‑like looks sleek and durable: dark, slightly glassy black with high abrasion resistance; fingerprints show briefly then fade. Use metal palettes to tell role: warm blacks for heritage, cool blacks for corporate/industrial, tinted hardcoats for faction branding. Keep micro‑texture consistent per subassembly so parts feel manufactured together.

Polymers: Molds, Additives, and Touch Zones

Polymers are the human interface. Glass‑filled nylons read as fine satin grains with diffuse specular; edges burnish smooth where hands live. Overmold elastomers go semi‑matte, absorbing oils and brightening with use. Unfilled polymers appear glossier and slightly softer in highlight rolloff; they scratch lighter rather than gouging bright. Mold logic matters for depiction: parting lines should be purposeful and minimal; texture breaks (stipple → smooth) signal grip vs maintenance panels; boss pads and screw collars appear as small, reinforced flats. Communicate doctrine: sterile corporate polymer shows crisp, uniform grains; insurgent composites mix textures and show dye mismatch.

Wood: Living Material, Living Story

Wood immediately telegraphs tradition, ceremony, or frontier logistics. Oil finishes (linseed/tung‑like reads) produce satin with depth; pores remain visible and edges glow subtly. Varnish/urethane reads glossy and sealed; it resists moisture but can look toy‑like if overused. Stain sets tone language—from honey for ceremonial to dark walnut for heritage. Wear maps should follow handling: cheek welds flatten and gloss, sling points polish, sharp carvings soften at corners. Avoid uniform “plank gloss”; let grain direction reinforce form, and bias specular along fiber direction to sell craft without tech talk.

Composites: Directional Strength, Directional Read

Carbon fiber is not just a weave pattern; it is a directional highlight engine. At gameplay distance, imply layup with broad anisotropic sheens rather than high‑frequency checkerboards. Reserve visible weave for hero panels and keep repeat scale large to avoid moiré. GFRP/FRP reads duller and more homogenous; edges fuzz and chip rather than dent. Use composite panels where weight and stiffness are story points (fore‑ends, shrouds), and break them with metal hard points (boss rings, inserts) to show load paths. Faction dialects: corporate carbon is glossy with tight clearcoat; field‑built composites are satin with repair patches and resin runs.

Ceramics & Ceramic‑Like Coats (e.g., “cerakote”‑style Reads)

Ceramic coatings read thin, tough, and color‑stable. They excel at glare control and heat adjacency. Visually, they sit between matte and satin with a very tight, fine grain. Use them to unify mixed‑material assemblies under one discipline (receiver + handguard + small parts) and to create clean, readable color blocking. Heat adjacency earns slight tea‑stain at corners; high wear reveals tiny chalking rather than shiny metal. For energy weapons, ceramic shrouds near emitters carry micro‑crazing and faint oxide tint—keep subtle to avoid busy noise.

Color as Doctrine, Not Decoration

Color communicates chain of command. Keep a neutral base (charcoal, field gray, coyote, deep olive) for functional surfaces; apply accent chips sparingly for safeties, latch grabs, and hazard zones. For factions, lock a palette: corporate = cool neutrals + precise accents; industrial military = phosphate blacks + olive drabs + torque‑paint orange; insurgent/frontier = mismatched tans, tapes, and repainted panels. Weather all colors through the same value discipline: matte base, satin wear, gloss only where intentional.

Heat, Gas, and Recoil Echoes in Finish

Let finish choices amplify your invisible rivers. Near gas ports and brakes, matte coats retain soot crescents and pepper pitting; around locks and recoil bosses, finishes polish into directional satin. On energy coils, anodized fins blush near roots and cool toward tips; ceramic shields pick up dielectric stains. Keep these cues mid‑frequency so they survive LOD and don’t turn into speckle.

Hazard and Safety Language in Surface

Use coating contrast instead of decals where possible. Satin‑on‑matte around selectors frames SAFE/FIRE icons without extra color. Textured patches (micro‑stipple) near hot zones cue hands to avoid. Torque paint dabs validate maintenance culture; witness marks (aligned stripes) prove assembly state. Keep hazard colors small and disciplined; color inflation devalues cues across the family.

Weathering That Tells the Truth

Make wear follow contact and flow, not a noise brush. Metals: edges brighten, flats keep base sheen, heat zones discolor. Polymers: stipple flattens on grips; corners gloss where clothing rubs; deep scratches go lighter. Wood: oil darkens under sweat, varnish crazes around screws. Composites: clearcoat chips to dull fiber; repairs add mismatched satin patches. Ceramics: micro‑chips at corners and chalking where straps scrape. Always pair wear with hand paths and force paths so it reads intentional.

Decals, Markings, and Inlays

Let markings ride the finish, not fight it. Engraves read best on satin; pad prints and laser etchings sit cleanly on matte; inlays and enamel badges belong on gloss islands. Keep serials and QR codes small and in quiet zones. For class and role, prefer glyphs and bars over text to keep localization light. Give markings a tiny registration fuzz or ink soak so they don’t look UV‑perfect at 1 m.

LOD & Optimization: Bake Readability, Not Noise

Bake finish logic into albedo/roughness shape rather than normal micro‑detail that dies at distance. At LOD1, maintain

  • base roughness separation between materials (metal vs polymer vs ceramic),
  • a few directional wear gradients, and
  • small glossy accents for focal points. At LOD2+, collapse high‑frequency grain to uniform roughness with preserved edge wear masks. Window your gloss hits narrowly so mip bias doesn’t smear highlights into noise.

Lighting Tests and Practical Checks

Finish decisions are lighting decisions. Test your asset under overcast, harsh noon, warm interior, and night HDR. If shape language collapses, your finish contrast is wrong. If reticles fight speculars, reduce gloss in the sightline. If everything looks chalky, reintroduce satin on form peaks. Keep a finish swatch board per project—a 3×5 grid of small plates (metal, polymer, wood, composite, ceramic) at your game’s texel density—to preview palettes before they hit a hero asset.

Faction Dialects Through Finish

Carry finish logic across the family so the audience learns the code. Corporate: bead‑blast aluminum + hard‑anodized neutrals + minimal gloss accents. Industrial military: phosphate steels + parkerized small parts + matte ceramics on hot zones. Insurgent/frontier: rattle‑can resprays, taped grips, salvaged anodized parts with mismatched hues, oiled wood repairs. Exotic/arcane: ceramic‑glass composites with interference films, restrained but precise gloss islands at ritual hardware. Keep doctrine consistent, not loud.

Handoff for Production

Ship a Finish Sheet: orthos with material callouts (names, not specs), a 4‑square of roughness levels (matte/satin/gloss/accent), two wear passes (base bake + runtime decals), and three hero crops (muzzle, grip, receiver side) under different lights. Mark no‑shrink areas for tiny gloss accents and selector icons. Provide a compact decal atlas with icons, torque paint dabs, witness marks, and serial styles.

Common Pitfalls

All‑matte reads as chalk; all‑gloss reads as toy. Over‑uniform grime flattens form; random scratch sprays read fake. Inconsistent metal tint across subassemblies breaks believability. Excess camouflage disrupts class reads. Fix by re‑establishing a matte base + satin wear rhythm, consolidating decals, and aligning tints within each material family.

Closing

Finishes are the quietest design tool and the easiest to misuse. When you treat coatings as value, glare, and story control—not ornament—you get weapons that read cleanly, wear honestly, and carry their faction’s doctrine at a glance. Choose a disciplined palette, keep micro‑texture under control, and let satin wear and focused gloss do the talking. Your shapes will sing, your gameplay will stay readable, and your world will feel engineered and lived‑in.