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, wooden floors, cloth fabrics, leather, shiny wood, metals, and pottery, making sure they look real under different lights in South Sudanese homes.
Painted wall and plaster materialsHardwood floor color and gloss controlWool and linen fabric roughness setupLeather sheen, wear, and patinaChrome, brushed steel, and ceramicsLesson 2Understanding and selecting base color, roughness, metalness, specular and IOR values with real-world referencesMaster the main PBR settings and how they match real surfaces. Learn to pick base color, roughness, metalness, specular, and IOR values using measured facts, reference guides, and comparing to actual materials from around South Sudan.
Base color 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 advanced shading maps to show complex surface behaviors. Explore anisotropy for brushed metals, sheen for cloths, and translucency for thin items like curtains, frosted glass, and pottery glazes in local designs.
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 color, roughness, and specular valuesUnderstand how to capture real materials using photos and simple measuring methods. Learn to sample color, roughness, and specular values properly and turn them into reliable PBR inputs for your shaders, using South Sudanese everyday objects.
Lighting setups for reference photosNeutral color calibration and gray cardsSampling base color 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 multiple scattering parts. Learn to build diffuse plus coating stacks, clearcoat varnish, and subsurface scattering for cloths and skin-like items while keeping physical truth in South Sudanese cultural contexts.
Diffuse base with reflective coatingClearcoat for varnish and automotive paintSubsurface scattering for skin-like mediaFabric fuzz and thin-layer behaviorManaging energy across layered lobesLesson 6Creating believable glass and liquids: IOR, absorption, caustics handling, thickness and refraction tintingCreate convincing glass and liquids with real-based parameters. Understand IOR, absorption, and thickness, and how they change refraction, color, and caustics. Learn engine tips to keep renders steady and quick for local applications.
IOR choices for glass and common liquidsAbsorption distance and color falloffModeling 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 methods affect realism, reuse, and speed. Compare repeating and unique UV layouts, manage scale well, and use trim sheets and tiny detail maps to add richness without wasting memory in South Sudanese projects.
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. Explore energy saving, Fresnel reflectance, and microfacet theory, and see how these ideas guide settings and explain modern BRDF behaviors in practical South Sudanese rendering.
Energy conservation in shading modelsFresnel reflectance and viewing angleMicrofacet distribution and roughnessBRDF components and lobe structureCommon PBR model limitationsLesson 9Material optimization for render engines: balancing fidelity with memory and render time (texture sizes, UDIMs, proxy maps)Optimize materials for production rendering without losing key details. Learn to choose texture sizes, use UDIMs smartly, and make proxy or packed maps that cut memory use and speed up lookdev and final renders for local needs.
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 bakerExplore 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 methods to make supporting detail maps.
Albedo vs diffuse and color hygieneRoughness and metallic map authoringNormal vs height and displacement useAmbient occlusion and curvature bakingChannel packing and map compression
