How to give things a "scuffed up" appearance

[morgan_hartFY6TV]

I don't know the technical term, but I'd like to give something a "scuffed up" appearance. Like the finish on a pair of dress shoes that have some wear and tear, or (in my case) a wheel on a caster that's been used for a few months. What's the best way to achieve this, and what's the technical term for it (if there is one)? Please make it detailed, I don't have a very strong background in inventor.

[CCarreiras]

HI!

Inventor is not a specialized render or an image editor software, it's a mechanical project software, so, what is important is to create documentation to produce the part, not to achieve a very realistic and accurate image.

Anyway, you can use textures to give the parts an idea of reality.
You have dozens of textures available, but you can also create your custom textures and appearances.

Example:

RENDER:

Anyway you have some tools to do renders

[NigelHay]

You could choose a surface finish for the area in question. In the model 'appearance' drop-down for the Autodesk Appearance Library, something like 'brushed' or 'oxidised' might do. 'Running' or 'satin brushed' are other options. Just play with the finishes to see if any of them work for you.

[The_Angry_Elf]

As @CCarreiras posted, you are able to create your own.

I've run into this issue as well. I needed to present a model for a client and didn't like the OOB options.

So I took pictures of the appearance I wanted (in one case the surface rust on my old truck) and used that.

It looked much more realistic and you really couldn't see the repetitiveness on larger surfaces you do with the OOB options.

Same deal for the reflective background image. Got tired of having the motorcycle guy or the yellow Mini Cooper showing on my model surfaces. So I took a picture of water in a pond/lake, etc and used that. Far, far better.

Now that I think of it, I need to do the same here.

See what Inventor Studio can do for you, experiment with textures, reflectiveness, etc. But again, keep in mind, Inventor is an engineering design tool, not a rending tool. What rendering it does, it is limited, depending on how fancy you want/need to be. Good luck and feel free to hit us up here for help.