Since there's a pretty useful tutorial on the subject of adding additional material detail textures / biome textures. I've started to work on an advanced materials mod. It would take into consideration the possibility of very rare small terrestial bodies, and metorites that are entierly metalic. And larger bodies that have swaths of exotic minerals, organics, and compounds that can form in large enough concentrations to make a visual impact.
e.g fissures of graphite, olivine, and quartz.
The already existing procedurally generated geographic disconformities, like terraces, mares, craters, and fissures would be able to use a metalic material, as if a deposit was exposed on a very metal-rich world. Or transparent crystals, and exotic mineral patterns.
I'm not very savy with advanced chemistry. And I'm not certian how abundant or likely these compounds even are in space. So first of all, I would like to ask. What processes can one expect pure metal in space to undergo, and how would they change the visual properties of the material?
For example. Imagine a hypothetical Core planet, made almost entierly of pure iorn that formed as a result of a collision. It has no atmosphere, and very few impurities, and has since cooled down to ambient temperature.
Would the surface be shiny and reflective; and maintain the original hue, or will there be small oxidization spots as it comes into contact with gas in the stellar medium?
Would it be smooth and circular, or will smaller clumps of unoxidized metal gradually cold-weld themselves into a lump?
here are some of the base material textures I was considering:
(all public domain, sourced from
ambientcg)
Iorn, pure
Iorn, fused, dirty, oxides
Copper
Copper fused, dirty, oxides
Gold
Ambiguous alloy No.1
Ambiguous alloy No.2