I modelled this revolver in 3DS Max with the intention of teaching myself game asset creation. After collecting research and reference I created a high detail version of the revolver, sculpting the diamond shaped grip texture in Zbrush. As these details need a high mesh density, the polygon count of the model is too high for a game asset.
To capture the detail in a usable game asset, first, I redrew new geometry over the high poly mesh, creating a low poly duplicate.
With the low poly geometry complete, I worked on the UV layout, making sure each part had normalised texel space. Then I used projection mapping to bake the detail from the high poly mesh to a texture set of the low poly game asset.
I use a normal map, ambient occlusion, and colour ID map in my workflow to create detailed textures in Quixel. With the normal and occlusion map Quixel can add realistic edgewear and scratches procedurally. The colour ID map separates the parts, to easily mask off different textures.
The final game asset with physically based rendered textures.
