Steampunk Hat

Hello all,

I wanted to visit the Steampunk universe.
I’m starting with a simple project: hat and glasses.

As I’m a beginner in this universe, every comment about Steampunk are really welcome.
And of course any other comment are also welcome.

Thanks for your help,




I’m sorry, I can’t give you any suggestions in terms of steampunk because I don’t know much about it either :slight_smile: but there is some other things I noticed:
In my opinion you could make the hat and glasses look more intersting by making them look a bit worn out. For example you could add some scratches to the golden frames of the glasses and some creases and dirt to the hat and the leather of the glasses. In addition for me the hat’s material doesn’t really look like velvet or felt what top hats are usually made of. It more looks a bit like plastic because the light reflections on it are quite sharp and and doesn’t have any texure on it.
But altogether your scene is really nice to look at. The golden frames of the glasses and the brown leather go quite well with the overall black tone of the scene, I like the lighting as it highlights the hat’s edges in a nice way and the clock looks great. It’s deatails are quite interesting to look at. :slight_smile:

Thanks a lot R.R., that’s really a nice feedback!
I was not satisfied of the result but I couldn’t point what’s wrong.
You’re right some scratches, dirt… some imperfections would make it more realistic and interesting.
I will work again on the textures and materials.
And as you said, I have to change the hat’s material, I did not have the impression of plastic before but now you said it, well I fully agree… I need to find how to do a realistic velvet material.
Thanks again!

First attempt to improve the hat texture. It seems more realistic to me.
(note: I did not change the band texture yet, but I will change it)


Already looks much better in my opinion although I would scale down the texture heavily. You also could add a bit bump to create the impression of some threads sticking out… :slight_smile:

Here is an updated version…
Compare to the previous versions, I modified the hat band and the clock materials. I changed a bit the material for the golden frames of the glasses (but it’s a bit more anisotropic but the change is not really visible). I tried to modify the leather material but I could get a satisfying result.
(R.R. I just saw your second comment, so it’s not yet in this version)




The glasses are great and the clock on the hat is genius, the hat is nicely done, and the feather likewise. But I would develop this by taking the glasses off and saving them for a time when I can use them on a character’s head below the hat. I would then develop the hat as merely a torn cover for a steampunk contraption underneath, with pipes and wires and tubes protruding, bolts holding things in place. Admittedly, this would be a lot more work than the present idea.

Thanks for your feedback BVP! Nice idea!!!
But if I understood well, that’s a really different idea. It won’t be my next project (cause I have already one in my mind) and I still have to learn to get that level, but I’m keeping this in mind. If you draw this, tell me I would love to see that.

Interesting to read all the different comments. My first reaction was that I really liked the cartoony, clean feeling of the original image. After it got more “realistic,” which was also interesting, but I like the first one better. Of course it all depends on how you’re going to use it.

Thanks for your comment gregacuna. Well, I would like to reach something realistic… but as you see, I still have to work on it… My main objective with this “project” is to learn on photo realistic modeling and textures, and also learn a bit about steampunk (cause my next project idea will be in that universe).

I updated a bit here and there the textures, but I mainly changed the scene


New hat texture is awesome, but you need to work on the leather of the goggles. Leather is fun to texture because it usually has really thick seams and bulky hems. Also metal tends to wear and scratch on exposed edges and tarnish in crevices. Especially brass - have a look at some reference. Brass and leather are two of my favourite materials to fiddle with I need to do more steampunk…