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I'm trying to make a metal blade look like it has been superheated to near melting temperature, so a fairly bright yellow on the body of the blade, transitioning to a white on the edge. However, i still want a little bit of the steel underneath to come through, hopefully making sure its still comes across as "heated metal" and not a painted blade. Any examples, tutorials, tips, tricks, etc would be appreciated.

I painted this (2 guys at the bottom). Is that what you're looking for ?

You might try to find some tutorials on how to paint the Avatar (the Eldar model, not the blue guys). Since he's just a superheated hunk of metal-man you might find what you are looking for.

This doesn't come with a tutorial, but here is an example from the gallery:

@Minus Thanks for the pictures, thats pretty much exactly the effect im looking for! Any tips on how to accomplish this?

@d-usa Ah i never considered using avatar guides for this, that pictures a little more copper/bronze than im aiming for but i like the effect

Rav1rn wrote:
However, i still want a little bit of the steel underneath to come through, hopefully making sure its still comes across as "heated metal" and not a painted blade.

That works for heat bluing (which can also produce purples, straw yellows, and near-blacks), but actively hot metals don't have a metallic sheen (I'm no physicist, but I might guess that the intensity of light emitted from the black body radiation overpowers ambient light that would otherwise reflect, or something like that). If you want to visually establish the metal of the sword, restrict the heated area, like the melta barrels on those marines' combi-weapons (granted, this means having to run through the whole gamut of heating colors to get a convincing effect). Glowing metal, whether red-, yellow-, or white-hot, tends to have a very matte appearance, not unlike a painted blade would. Color selection and the smoothness of transitions between them will likely decide whether it looks like hot metal or a painted sword.

Always keep two things in mind while painting and planning: what kind of metal is it, and where is the heat source.

Different metals behave differently in terms of appearance when heat is added. Typically, the further away from the source, the more metallic the item will look, but that isn't always the case.

Consider the following:
http://www.strangeracer.com/images/content/177605.JPG

Notice the difference in appearance of metals, even those right on top of seemingly super-heated surfaces. Also, pay careful attention to the glow surrounding the area. The lights are dimmed in that photo.

Compare to non-dimmed applications:
http://image.circletrack.com/f/enginetech/ctrp_1203_titanium_exhaust_wrap_wrap_it_up/34865039/ctrp-1203-titanium-exhaust-wrap-wrap-it-up-006.jpg

Aluminum will hardly show any glow, titanium will glow and cool with blue hues, etc. I know it's the grim-dark future and all, but physics and chemistry don't fundamentally change

Keep your gradients smooth and your color choices appropriate, and you should be just fine

Also, remember one key point, that this metal is glowing, meaning its giving off light. Maybe not much but to lend realism to your piece and take it a step further, try some OSL on the model.

You can check out my work if you have questions just mail me.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/images-19966-4161_Tau%20Running%20Loose.html

Rav1rn wrote:
@Minus Thanks for the pictures, thats pretty much exactly the effect im looking for! Any tips on how to accomplish this?

I painted the barrel with metal first (boltgun metal). Hot metals tend to turn blue-ish, so I washed it with asurmen blue.

Then I painted the end of the barrel in white. I applied the white on the whole area that I wanted to look bright as if it were hot (until the first " venting hole"). I then painted thinned layers of yellow leaving the very end of the barrel white. Then orange, and to finish red.
But for the red I applied it on the white and also on the beginning of the metal, to have a progressive color variation from a blue-ish metal to a dark red, then turning to a very bright red (where there is white underneath). But it is the same red that I used, there is only blood red.


I don't know if this is really clear, I realise as I write this that it is most difficult to explain than to do it.