Lesson 5 gave you predictable UVs and texel density. This lesson gives you material recipes you can explain in a portfolio review—three surface types that share lighting rules but never melt into gray noise. You will stay in Blender for authoring; Lesson 7 packs trims into atlases for draw-call wins.

Lesson Objective

By the end of this lesson you will have:

1. Three named materials on disk or in your blend (MAT_Trim_Metal, MAT_Plaster_Wall, MAT_Wood_Plank) applied to your wall, floor, and one trim piece from Lessons 4–5
2. A short Material_Readme note listing base color intent, roughness range, and normal strength per material
3. A viewport lookdev pass in flat grey world (or neutral HDRI) that proves readability without post stack lies

Step 1: Pick a shading model and stay on it

For this course track, standardize on Principled BSDF unless you already committed to a stylized node group across the project.

1. Create one master material template (even an empty Principled BSDF) and duplicate it per surface type instead of forking node spaghetti.
2. Align specular and roughness behavior with what your target engine will match later (URP Lit or Godot Standard); document any intentional preview-only bias in Blender.

Pro tip: Name materials with a MAT_ prefix and keep mesh object names separate from material names for cleaner export filters later.

Step 2: Trim metal (clean reads, controlled spec)

Goal: Readable edge highlights without mirror-shine chrome unless your art direction demands it.

1. Base color — tight value range; one accent hue shift in creases only (hand paint or soft gradient mask).
2. Roughness — start around 0.35–0.55 for painted trim; raise it if specular hotspots distract in the viewport.
3. Normal — bake or paint from height only where the silhouette needs it; keep strength modest so tiling does not shimmer in engine.

Common mistake: Stacking three procedural noise textures into base color before you lock large-shape readability.

Step 3: Plaster wall (soft value steps, no micro-grunge soup)

Goal: Big readable planes for stylized interiors and exteriors.

1. Base color — two to four clear value steps, or one soft gradient across UV U or V aligned to coarse grain.
2. Roughness — generally high (0.7–0.95) with slight variation only near baseboards or damage masks.
3. Normal — optional and very low strength; many stylized walls read from albedo and in-engine lighting more than micro-normal detail.

Step 4: Wood plank (directional grain, bounded saturation)

Goal: Directional streaks that respect UV orientation from Lesson 5.

1. Base color — hand stroke or stretched noise along plank length in UV space.
2. Roughness — use a separate clearcoat or spec layer only if you will replicate that split in engine; otherwise keep a single roughness channel honest.
3. Normal — align grain bumps to UV flow; avoid 90-degree rotated detail on adjacent planks unless intentional.

Step 5: Material_Readme and verification

Create Material_Readme.txt (or a tab in your production sheet) with columns: Material, Base intent, Roughness band, Normal strength, Known engine note.

Verification checklist

• [ ] Wall, floor, and trim read as distinct roles at Lesson 1 hero camera distance
• [ ] No material relies on viewport-only effects you cannot export (unless documented as Blender-only preview)
• [ ] File names and image paths are relative and portable inside the blend file

Troubleshooting

• Everything looks like plastic — roughness too low globally; lift floor and wall roughness before blaming lighting.
• Textures shimmer in motion — normal too strong, or texture resolution fights the texel rule from Lesson 5.
• Colors drift per monitor — keep base color textures in sRGB unless your pipeline doc specifies otherwise.

FAQ

Texture Paint or external 2D?
Either works—keep layers named and export PNGs at the resolution your Lesson 5 texel doc defines.

Do I bake ambient occlusion into base color?
Optional for stylized kits; if you bake AO into albedo, note it so engine lighting does not double-darken.

Recap

• You authored three repeatable Principled materials with clear roles
• You avoided noise soup by ruling roughness and normal strength
• You documented intent for engine parity later

Next Lesson Teaser

Continue to Lesson 7: Trim Sheets and Atlases in Blender where you pack repeating details into one texture set with padding and naming that survives mipmaps.

Cross-link: Blender for Game Assets and the texturing chapter when you want deeper PBR theory alongside this stylized pass.

Bookmark this lesson if you batch materials across a whole kit this weekend—three rules per surface type beat twenty one-off sliders.