Replicating Metals with Plain Texture?

I got to thinking, now that we have windlight and essentially 'free' shiny that everyone really should have on, how would one go about reproducing (faithfully) the look of certain metals that might be used?

Everything from gold, to copper, and other things.

What are good colors and shininess levels to use? If I can find any good settings to use, I'll post up.

Also, apologies (and move, please) if this belongs in Texture Tips, but that seems to focus more on skins and such, and this is more simple Edit Wndow stuff.

This really does belong in Texture Tips, if only because it's almost impossible to make a surface look convincingly like metal without creating a texture to simulate its granularity, or a brushed/burnished look, or the gentle color and texture variations that make it look tarnished. I have made a fairly decent burnished brass, for example, but only by making a base texture in Photoshop first. Simply applying color to a blank prim and giving it a little shininess doesn't do much.

Having said that, it IS possible to make a pretty neat polished steel surface by using the Gray Metal Scratched texture that's in your Library >> Textures >> Misc Textures folder in inventory and applying low or medium shininess to it. I have made ball bearings that way and they aren't half bad.

You can also get some neat effects by combining texture, shiny and bumpiness.

I dont like Shiny i think its kinda a cheap effect and gives a far too plasticy look it detracts from any depth imo however if you want to use only the plain texture then id go for plain white with High Shiny and a glow level of 0.05

If you use Photoshop then~

So for example create a solid background in a suitable colour for the metal you want to create.
Then on a new layer add darker tones from the top and the bottom using the gradiant tool.
Having ruler on helps you measure the gradiants so they are equidistant from the centre point or edge etc keeping your texture neat and under control will help it tile.
Then add on another layer a band of a lighter tone along the centre and use the Motion Blur filter to spread it out till it looks like a nice highlight.
Tweak the transparency on each layer till it is looking how you want.

This process will give you a nice simple base to work from you could then go on to add grunge, scratches, bolts and grooves etc on another new layer (there are many good royalty free PS brushes that can help you here).

Gradiants on textures is a nice easy of adding depth to textures.
Some would require only one edge to be shaded in this manner others 2 or 4 etc its up to you to decide.

For me simple textures are best and have far more uses than very specific textures ie one that will only really work in one situation although ofcourse these are required. If you make a base however then you can create lots of variations from this and have them work together nicely too.