Lesson 1Practical recipes for common interior materials: painted walls, hardwood floors, wool/linen upholstery, leather, polished wood, chrome/brushed steel, glazed ceramicsBuild useful material setups for everyday interior items. Follow easy steps for painted walls, hardwood floors, cloths, leather, shiny wood, metals, and ceramics, making sure they look real under different lights.
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 main PBR settings and how they match real surfaces. Learn to pick base colour, roughness, metalness, specular, and IOR values using measured info, reference guides, and comparing to actual 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 ceramicsLearn when and how to use special shading maps to show complex surface actions. Look at anisotropy for brushed metals, sheen for cloths, and translucency for thin things like curtains, frosted glass, and ceramic coatings.
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 valuesUnderstand how to capture real materials with photos and simple measuring ways. Learn to sample colour, roughness, and specular values right and turn them into solid 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 mix different scattering parts. Learn to build diffuse plus coating layers, clearcoat varnish, and subsurface scattering for cloths and skin-like materials while keeping things physically real.
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 tintingCreate convincing glass and liquids with solid physical settings. Understand IOR, absorption, and thickness, and how they change refraction, colour, and caustics. Learn engine tips to keep renders steady and quick.
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 different texturing ways affect realism, reuse, and speed. Compare repeating and unique UV setups, manage scale well, and use trim sheets and small-detail maps to add depth without using too much memory.
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)Study the real principles behind PBR shading models. Look at energy saving, Fresnel reflectance, and microfacet ideas, and see how they guide setting choices and explain modern BRDF actions.
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 without losing key details. Learn to pick texture sizes, use UDIMs wisely, and make proxy or packed maps that cut memory use and speed up lookdev 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 bakerLook at the main texture maps in PBR shading and how they work together. Learn right use of albedo, roughness, metallic, normal, height, ambient occlusion, and curvature maps, plus baking ways to make supporting 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
