Learn 3D texturing, PBR workflows, and game asset creation. From fundamentals to advanced techniques, these guides will help you create professional game-ready assets.
Understand exactly what makes a 3D model engine-ready — geometry, UVs, scale, naming, and export — with a checklist to run through on every asset.
Every game asset you've seen was low poly. Learn why the best ones start from high poly models and how they work together.
Discover how texture baking transfers high-poly detail to low-poly models, creating beautiful game assets that run smoothly.
Understand how ambient occlusion adds depth and realism by simulating soft shadows in crevices and contact points.
Real triangle budgets for every asset type across mobile, indie, and AAA platforms — and where to spend your polygon budget for maximum visual impact.
Understand how LOD chains work, how to plan triangle reduction per level, and how to set up LODs correctly in Unreal, Unity, and Godot.
Learn how a single tiling texture atlas can cover dozens of meshes — and why AAA studios use trim sheets to build dense environments efficiently.
Vertex colors store data directly in the mesh — no UVs needed. Learn how they drive material blending, wind, damage states, and more.
Learn the fundamentals of Physically Based Rendering and why it's the industry standard for game texturing.
Learn the difference between normal maps and bump maps, and why normal maps are the modern standard for adding surface detail.
Master roughness maps to control surface shininess and create realistic materials from polished metal to weathered wood.
Learn how metallic maps tell the engine which parts of your material are metal vs non-metal for accurate light response.
Learn how emissive maps make surfaces glow independently of scene lighting — and how they interact with Bloom in Unreal, Unity, and Godot.
Understand how alpha maps control transparency, when to use Masked vs Translucent mode, and why the choice has a big impact on performance.
Height maps store surface elevation as greyscale data. Learn how they enable displacement and parallax effects that normal maps can't deliver.
Curvature maps identify where a surface bends outward or inward — the foundation of edge wear, cavity darkening, and procedural material variation.
Thickness maps measure how much material light has to pass through — the key input that makes skin, leaves, wax, and marble look translucent and alive.
Channel packing stores multiple greyscale maps in one texture file. Learn the ORM convention, engine differences, and how Trumble handles it automatically.
Incorrect edge setup is the most common source of banding artifacts after baking. Learn the two rules that eliminate these problems entirely.
Wasted UV space is wasted texture resolution. Learn the packing strategies professionals use to squeeze maximum detail out of every texture.
Inconsistent texel density is immediately visible as one surface being sharp while adjacent geometry looks blurry. Learn how to measure and match it across your scene.
Every seam is a potential artifact. Learn where to put them — and where to avoid them — to get clean UVs and invisible seam lines on every asset.
Fix seam lines, black spots, smoothing group errors, and green channel flips — the most common normal map baking problems and exactly what to do about each one.
Learn what settings control AO bake quality, how to fix grainy or overly dark results, and how to use your AO map correctly in the engine material.
Connect your Trumble textures to Unreal's Material Editor. Covers ORM packing, import settings, material instances, and the complete setup from export to in-engine material.
Set up PBR materials in Unity URP and HDRP. Covers the Mask Map convention, the Smoothness vs Roughness difference, and how Trumble handles it automatically.
Set up BaseMaterial3D with textures from Trumble. Covers ORM texture connections, GLTF import, and the complete material setup in Godot 4.
Master UV unwrapping to create clean, efficient texture layouts that maximize resolution and minimize distortion.
Learn how to choose the right texture resolution for different asset types and platforms to balance quality and performance.
Get your textures engine-ready with the correct formats, channel packing, and export settings for each game engine.