Lesson 1Practical recipes for common interior materials: painted walls, hardwood floors, wool/linen upholstery, leather, polished wood, chrome/brushed steel, glazed ceramicsConstruct practical material configurations for typical interior elements. Adhere to step-by-step guides for painted walls, hardwood floors, fabrics, leather, polished wood, metals, and ceramics, emphasising credible reactions under diverse lighting conditions.
Painted wall and plaster materialsHardwood floor colour and gloss controlWool and linen fabric roughness setupLeather sheen, wear, and patinaChrome, brushed steel, and ceramicsLesson 2Understanding and selecting base colour, roughness, metalness, specular and IOR values with real-world referencesMaster the fundamental PBR parameters and their connection to actual surfaces. Discover how to select base colour, roughness, metalness, specular, and IOR values employing empirical data, reference charts, and visual assessments against genuine materials.
Base colour ranges for common materialsRoughness values and surface glossMetalness vs specular workflowsUsing IOR tables and presetsMatching references through iterationLesson 3Advanced maps: anisotropy, sheen, translucency and when to use them for upholstery, brushed metal, glass and ceramicsDiscover when and how to employ advanced shading maps to depict intricate surface characteristics. Examine anisotropy for brushed metals, sheen for fabrics, and translucency for slender materials like curtains, frosted glass, and ceramic glazes.
Anisotropy for brushed and machined metalsSheen layers for cloth and upholsteryTranslucency for thin surfacesControlling directionality and flowPerformance impact of advanced lobesLesson 4Photographic reference measurement: sampling real materials for colour, roughness, and specular valuesGrasp how to capture authentic materials via photographic references and straightforward measurement methods. Learn to sample colour, roughness, and specular values accurately and convert them into dependable PBR inputs for your shaders.
Lighting setups for reference photosNeutral colour calibration and grey cardsSampling base colour from photographsEstimating roughness from highlightsDeriving specular and reflectance valuesLesson 5Creating layered materials: diffuse+coating, clearcoat, subsurface scattering for fabrics and skin-like materialsDesign layered materials that integrate multiple scattering elements. Learn to assemble diffuse plus coating stacks, clearcoat varnish, and subsurface scattering for fabrics and skin-like materials whilst upholding physical credibility.
Diffuse base with reflective coatingClearcoat for varnish and automotive paintSubsurface scattering for skin-like mediaFabric fuzz and thin-layer behaviourManaging energy across layered lobesLesson 6Creating believable glass and liquids: IOR, absorption, caustics handling, thickness and refraction tintingProduce convincing glass and liquids with physically sound parameters. Understand IOR, absorption, and thickness, and their influence on refraction, colour, and caustics. Discover engine-specific techniques to maintain stable and efficient renders.
IOR choices for glass and common liquidsAbsorption distance and colour falloffModelling thickness for correct refractionHandling caustics and firefliesFrosted, dirty, and imperfect glassLesson 7Texturing workflows: tileable vs unique UVs, scale management, trim sheets and micro-detailLearn how various texturing workflows impact realism, reusability, and performance. Contrast tileable and unique UV arrangements, manage scale uniformly, and utilise trim sheets and micro-detail maps to enhance richness without excessive memory consumption.
Tileable textures vs unique UV layoutsConsistent texel density and scaleTrim sheet planning for hard-surface assetsMicro-detail maps for added realismAvoiding visible seams and repetitionLesson 8Principles of physically based rendering (energy conservation, Fresnel, microfacet models)Examine the physical principles underpinning PBR shading models. Explore energy conservation, Fresnel reflectance, and microfacet theory, and observe how these ideas inform parameter selections and elucidate the operation of contemporary BRDFs.
Energy conservation in shading modelsFresnel reflectance and viewing angleMicrofacet distribution and roughnessBRDF components and lobe structureCommon PBR model limitationsLesson 9Material optimisation for render engines: balancing fidelity with memory and render time (texture sizes, UDIMs, proxy maps)Optimise materials for production rendering whilst retaining vital detail. Learn to select texture resolutions, apply UDIMs judiciously, and generate proxy or packed maps that diminish memory usage and accelerate both look development and final renders.
Choosing efficient texture resolutionsUDIM layout and when to use itProxy maps for lookdev and previewsChannel packing to save memoryBalancing quality with render timeLesson 10Using and authoring texture maps: albedo/diffuse, roughness, metallic, normal, height/displacement, ambient occlusion, curvature/ao bakerInvestigate the principal texture maps employed in PBR shading and their interactions. Learn appropriate usage of albedo, roughness, metallic, normal, height, ambient occlusion, and curvature maps, alongside baking processes to produce supplementary detail maps.
Albedo vs diffuse and colour hygieneRoughness and metallic map authoringNormal vs height and displacement useAmbient occlusion and curvature bakingChannel packing and map compression
