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As title

Not familiar with the TNM acronym which makes this hard to answer.

Rik

He misspelled it. He means TMM, true metalic metal.

That makes more sense.

In that case, for display models and centrepieces NMM can look incredible when done well.

When done poorly however it's glaringly obvious.

It's hard to do TMM badly.

So really the answer is it depends on how good you are as a painter.

Rik

I think answer for this question depends on what you are aiming for.

Metallic paints are looking really good when applied to miniatures and still you can highlight them to make them even more metallic When your aim is to paint your minis fast with nice final effet they'll be reasonable choice.

A display model viewed/photographed from a predetermined angle can look absolutely stunning with NMM effect. However the illusion breaks quickly when you can rotate the model at will.

So I'd say NMM for display models, TMM for gaming pieces for sure. I can't pull off NMM myself but I'm aware of the time investment it requires which is why I have utter respect for people who master the technique.

It's also a bit biased, because NMM is much more common than TMM amongst the best painters.

TMM has the same problems as NMM regarding the viewing angle. TMM isn't just metallics with highlights GW-style. It's about doing extreme highlights with a precise light direction, just like with NMM, but using metallics intead of non metallic paints.

Overall I think TMM looks better than NMM on larger pieces. Some of the most stunning TMM I've seen is on busts or otherwise large pieces (it also helps that many of the best painters prefer to paint such pieces).
But I find NMM to work better for colored metallics. A very reflective steel with a blue tint is harder to pull off in TMM.

I voted TMM because couple of reasons. First and foremost I'm old and whenever I look at NMM miniature I can't shake that "videogame from early '90s" feeling - most NMM miniatures feel off and try hard. With some better renditions this feeling gives way to more pleasant "sci-fi art from '80s" feeling and only in the rarest master painter cases I get this "jaw dropping amazing true metal reflections" reaction.

The second reason is that I prefer grim future to medieval/fantasy miniatures and while NMM is great for knights in shining armour, such level of flawless surfaces feels out of place in e.g. 40K.

Lastly, NMM level that I find pleasant to see are showpieces that are to valuable to use on the tabletop and those NMM renditions that are suitable for tabletop usage feel out of place in the context of the rest of the models and terrain.

To sum up - IMHO, if done right, NMM can work great for showpieces and dioramas but can very easily turn as an empty technique show off, which adds nothing to the sculpt or immersion.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

fresus wrote:

But I find NMM to work better for colored metallics. A very reflective steel with a blue tint is harder to pull off in TMM.

Perhaps that is because if you want a true feeling to the metal, then your color palette is reduced to actually existing metals? There are no "rainbow" metals, the most intense true metal color you can get is copper, otherwise it is powder coating or metalic paint you are trying to mimic, which defeats the purpose. IMHO the most out-of-place NMM miniatures are NMM "rainbow marines" which turn into "disco marines" because for metal surface to have such strong dominant color reflections they actually have to reflect intensely colored surroundings.

 Rik Lightstar wrote:
That makes more sense.

In that case, for display models and centrepieces NMM can look incredible when done well.

When done poorly however it's glaringly obvious.

It's hard to do TMM badly.

So really the answer is it depends on how good you are as a painter.

Rik

its hard-er to do TMM badly, but its also difficult to do it well. TMM is not a poor mans substitute for NMM. personally I prefer TMM, as I find it easier to achieve. I have painted NMM on some models. I find silvers and grey metallics fairly easy but find it difficult to do brass or golds in NMM and to keep patience when I foul it up. I could probably do with a masterclass on it to really learn the technique.

When its done well it looks great.

I actually fretted about this when painting GD entries as I felt that not doing NMM would put me at a disadvantage, but this was not the case at all.

I'm probably in the minority, but I don't really care for the way NMM looks, even when done well. It just looks kind or cartoonish and strange. I suppose if the miniature was cartoony to begin with then I'd like it maybe.

It depends. TMM pretty much always looks better when the entire model is viewed from multiple angles, so it makes for more natural looking models on the table top. NMM is much more impressive when viewed from one angle, as it's a 2D painting technique applied to a 3D surface. So for purposes of display and photography, NMM can achieve better results when used correctly.

I really appreciate when people combine the two, and paint NMM style with TMM paints. It's the best of both worlds and tends to look fantastic.

 Luciferian wrote:
It depends. TMM pretty much always looks better when the entire model is viewed from multiple angles, so it makes for more natural looking models on the table top. NMM is much more impressive when viewed from one angle, as it's a 2D painting technique applied to a 3D surface. So for purposes of display and photography, NMM can achieve better results when used correctly.

I really appreciate when people combine the two, and paint NMM style with TMM paints. It's the best of both worlds and tends to look fantastic.

That's what TMM is. Metallics painted using a mix of metallic and flat paint to achieve light and shadow.

Ah, I was assuming that in this context, TMM just meant simply painting with metallic paints instead of using 2D painting techniques to simulate metallic reflections.

TMM using NMM technique looks the best.

No tmm is a technique itself, using glazes, feathering or blending to create realistic metal effects. its not just painting metal areas with metallics