Chapter 2: Wear Patterns

Created by Sarah Choi (prompt writer using ChatGPT)

Wear Patterns — Edges, Oils, Soot, Scorch, Dust

Why Wear Is Design, Not Noise

Wear is the memory of contact, heat, and environment engraved into surfaces. When authored with intent, it explains who used the weapon, where it lives, how it is maintained, and what forces flow through it. When sprayed randomly, it erases form, confuses class, and adds visual debt. This article gives concept and production artists a practical, depiction‑only grammar for wear across metals, polymers, wood, composites, and ceramics—emphasizing edges, oils, soot, scorch, and dust—so your surfaces tell a coherent story at gameplay distance and under LOD.

The Five Drivers: Contact, Heat, Chemistry, Particulate, Time

All patina flows from five drivers. Contact brightens, peens, and polishes. Heat tints, blisters, and crazes. Chemistry corrodes, stains, and leaches. Particulate deposits, abrades, and cakes. Time evens and blends all of the above. Before painting a single scratch, decide which drivers dominate for the weapon’s role and faction. A support weapon in desert doctrine reads as particulate‑led with dust caking and windward abrasion; a covert pistol in humid cities reads as contact‑ and oil‑led with discreet edge burnish and fingerprinting.

Edges: Where Form Speaks First

Edges are your loudest wear narrators. On metals, edges polish toward satin first, then expose bright metal only on true high‑contact corners—magwell lips, sling points, charging handle ramps. Keep exposed metal narrow and directional; broad silver “racing stripes” flatten form and read toy‑like. On polymers, edges gloss rather than break; the stipple collapses into smoother micro‑sheen where clothing and hands rub. On wood, edges soften and darken, with fibers bruising rather than chipping; perspiration near cheek welds deepens color and adds a subtle luster. On composites, clearcoat nicks to a dull subsurface and reveals muted weave at hero scales; chips cluster at fastener halos and leading edges. On ceramics, corners chalk and micro‑chip; keep the chips tiny and matte, resisting the urge to reveal shiny metal unless the ceramic is a coating over alloy at truly abused points.

Oils: The Invisible Gloss Controller

Human oils and lubricants are value tools. Oils gather where hands live and where mechanisms breathe. On grips, selectors, and magazine bodies, expect a gentle, uneven gloss bloom that respects finger reach and glove habits. Around ejection ports and top covers, oil mist mixes with carbon and produces speckled, low‑value stippling rather than a uniform shine. Let oils bias gravity and airflow: streaks should run with carry orientation and sling hang, not random directions. On polymers, oil enhances color saturation and smooths micro‑texture; on anodized metals it deepens blacks; on parkerized or phosphate finishes it creates darker, patchy islands that gradually connect into satin pathways.

Soot: Directional, Not Sprayed

Soot maps gas routes and vent logic. It should be directional and layered, with soft crescents trailing ports, darker throats inside brakes, and faint halos near regulator vents. The interior lip of a muzzle device can hold a tight, high‑contrast ring that breaks to powdery feathers downstream. On receivers, keep soot in the gas shadow, away from protected flats. On revolvers, the cylinder gap paints a fan on the topstrap; on belt‑feds, feed trays carry brass streaks and carbon islands near pawls. Soot should rarely be truly black at gameplay exposure—push it toward warm charcoal so it integrates with albedo and survives compression without banding.

Scorch and Heat Tint: Use Sparingly for Authority

True heat signatures are rare and therefore powerful. Straw‑to‑purple oxide bands on steel around gas blocks, brakes, and chamber‑adjacent zones sell sustained fire. Limit their width and keep them parallel to flow; chaotic rainbow banding reads synthetic. Ceramics near emitters pick up tea‑stain browning at corners and micro‑crazing that catches raking light; avoid spider‑web noise. Composites close to hot parts may amber at edges or show resin blush; keep subtle. Heat tint should always fade with distance from the source, and it should never override the base finish’s value hierarchy.

Dust: The Unifier and the Trap

Dust ties assets to biome, but it also crushes contrast if misused. Think of dust as a settling + abrasion system. Flat, horizontal ledges catch deposition; upwind edges show thin, windswept abrasion; vertical faces streak under gravity after a burst of movement or recoil. Desert dust runs warm and desaturates color; urban dust is cooler and grayer, often mixed with oil. Polymer grips hold dust in valleys until hands wipe peaks clean; matte ceramics carry a fine veil that whets out with moisture, then returns. Use dust to push foreground/background separation: slightly more dust on non‑interactive panels quiets noise so controls pop.

Material‑Specific Wear Logic

Metals advertise load and maintenance. Hardened steels brighten on edges and take honest dents with sharp speculars; aluminum hardcoats keep crisp edges that mute rather than shine unless breached; nitrided parts resist abrasion and carry a sleek, even sheen that only oils modulate. Polymers evolve gradually: stipple flattens on grip paths; parting‑line fuzz breaks with use; screw bosses polish where tools repeatedly slip. Wood breathes: oils darken grips, sling points polish, and finish thinness telegraphs care culture—thin oil with frequent wipes vs thick varnish with occasional scuffs. Composites are anisotropic storytellers: highlights slew along fiber directions; chips expose dull matrix; repairs show mismatched satin patches or resin drips. Ceramics stay disciplined: micro‑chips at corners, faint chalk trails near straps, and crisp color that resists UV fade better than paints.

Class and Role Through Wear

Light‑class sidearms should read light in wear: discreet edge polish, localized oils, minimal soot. Intermediate rifles wear in strips along magwells, bolt catches, and sling points, with restrained soot at ports. Heavy support weapons should show honest hard service: tray polish, link rubs, brake soot layering, heat tint at blocks, and dust accumulation in recesses. Energy weapons swap soot for ion/thermal logic: dielectric stains at connectors, heat ladders across fins, slight ozone tint at vents, and ceramic chalk at field‑stressed corners. Keep the class ladder in mind—heavier class equals bolder but not louder wear.

Faction Dialects in Patina

Doctrine changes everything. Corporate/milspec forces keep tight maintenance cycles: clean baselines with crisp, localized wear, torque‑paint witness marks unbroken, serials legible. Industrial militaries accept visible phosphate rub, uniform dust veils, and repainted panels with slight sheen mismatch. Insurgents/frontier groups show mixed‑heritage parts, taped fixes, uneven oils, and improvised overpaints; their dust and soot reads less disciplined but should still follow flow. Arcane/exotic outfits replace soot with interference haze and heat‑stressed patterns on ceramic‑glass composites; their wear is subtle but precise.

Sequencing and Wear: Ritual Memory

Wear should record rituals: reloads polish magwell lips and leave thumbnail scuffs near releases; charging hands burnish serration peaks; top‑cover ceremonies brush feed‑tray edges and hinge pads; battery swaps create half‑moon wipe arcs near cam levers and faint ozone spotting at connectors. Model these as repeated, directional micro‑events rather than single dramatic gouges. The audience reads repetition as truth.

Composing Wear for Readability

Use wear to frame controls and define planes. A satin halo around selectors increases legibility without extra UI. Clean islands around markings preserve serials and faction icons. Keep the face of sights and optics clean and low‑glare; push dust and oils away from sightlines. At the muzzle, ensure wear doesn’t overpower flash/VFX reads. Where two materials meet, let wear bridge them subtly—polish on a steel pin that interrupts a polymer shell—so the assembly feels unified.

Authoring Strategy: Base, Accents, Runtime

Author wear in three layers. The base bake captures slow time: edge burnish, faint oil gradients, subtle soot ghosts, and soft dust veils aligned to gravity. Hand‑placed accents add story beats: specific scrapes, tool slips, torque paint nicks, and repair patches. Runtime decals/particles deliver the event layer: fresh soot on bursts, brass streaks, link scuffs, coolant frosting, and dust puffs. Keep color and value cohesion across layers; runtime should decay or fade to the base without popping.

LOD Survival and Texel Discipline

Bake mid‑frequency wear that survives distance. Avoid micro scratches that shimmer under motion and compression. Reserve sharp chips and bright metal for hero cameras and inspection views. At LOD swaps, collapse fine soot to soft gradients and preserve only directional cues. Keep texel density consistent across subassemblies so wear scale doesn’t drift; test at gameplay FOVs and exposure presets to ensure reads hold.

Testing and Calibration

Evaluate wear in four lighting conditions—overcast, harsh noon, tungsten interior, night HDR. If edges vanish in glare, reduce gloss or narrow the polish mask. If forms look chalky, reintroduce controlled satin on peaks. If soot overpowers silhouettes, lower value contrast and bias directionality. Print or render 256‑px crops of muzzle zone, grip zone, and receiver flank; peers should infer class, doctrine, and environment from those crops alone. Iterate until the story lands without captions.

Common Pitfalls

Even noise fills, identical edge wear around the entire silhouette, rainbow heat everywhere, and random dust directions are the fastest way to lose credibility. Avoid monochrome black soot that posterizes; avoid silver‑spray exposed metal on every corner; avoid oil glass that reads like wet paint. When in doubt, remove, then add back three intentional touches aligned to flow and ritual.

Closing

Wear is the quiet dialogue between physics, environment, and culture. Let edges, oils, soot, scorch, and dust follow believable paths; let materials respond according to their nature; and let class and faction modulate intensity. If you compose patina as design—base rhythms, story accents, and restrained runtime—it will support silhouettes, protect readability, and make every weapon feel truthfully lived‑in without drowning in grit.