Applying PBR Textures
PBR textures bring realism to your materials by providing detailed surface information. Apply them from your uploaded assets or import free textures directly from the built-in Texture Library.
Step-by-Step: Apply Textures to a Material
- 1Navigate to Dashboard > Materials and select the material you want to edit (or create a new one).
- 2In the Material Editor, switch the Surface tab to "Texture" mode.
- 3Click the diffuse texture slot to open the texture browser.
- 4Choose a texture from your uploaded assets, or click "Texture Library" to browse 60+ free PBR texture sets.
- 5If using the Texture Library, select a set, choose a resolution (1K, 2K, or 4K), and click "Import". All PBR maps (diffuse, normal, roughness, AO, metallic) are imported and auto-assigned to the correct slots.
- 6If uploading manually, assign each texture to the appropriate PBR slot: Normal Map, Metallic Map, Roughness Map, and AO Map.
- 7Adjust the Tiling value (0.1 – 5) to control how many times the texture repeats on the surface. Higher values = smaller pattern.
- 8Adjust the Rotation (0 – 360°) if the texture grain or pattern needs to be oriented differently.
- 9Set the Bump/Normal toggle and adjust Intensity (0 – 2) for the desired surface depth effect.
- 10Preview the material on the live 3D sphere — it updates in real time.
- 11Click "Save" to apply all changes.
Texture Map Slots
| Slot | Required? | What to Upload |
|---|---|---|
| Base Colour / Diffuse | Recommended | The main colour texture. Sets the surface colour and pattern. |
| Normal Map | Recommended | Adds fine surface detail (scratches, weave, grain) without extra geometry. Use PNG. |
| Roughness Map | Optional | Greyscale image controlling glossiness variation. White = rough, black = smooth. |
| Metallic Map | Optional | Greyscale image defining metallic vs. dielectric areas. White = metal, black = non-metal. |
| AO Map | Optional | Ambient occlusion for subtle contact shadows in crevices. |
Texture Library Integration
The Texture Library is accessible directly from the Material Editor's texture browser. When you import a PBR texture set from the library:
- All available maps (diffuse, normal, roughness, AO, metallic) are downloaded from their CC0-licensed CDN source.
- Maps are automatically assigned to the correct PBR slots in the Material Editor.
- The textures are also added to your asset library for reuse in other materials.
- Available sources include ambientCG, Poly Haven, and CGBookcase.
Texture tiling: If your texture looks stretched or too large, increase the tiling value (e.g., from 1 to 3). If it looks too repetitive, decrease the value. Power-of-two texture dimensions (512, 1024, 2048) tile most cleanly.
Performance note: Using all texture slots simultaneously increases GPU memory usage and load time. For simpler materials (e.g., a solid-colour plastic), you may only need a base colour with no textures at all. Higher resolution (4K) textures look better but load slower — use 1K or 2K for most production use cases.
Your model's baked AO and normal detail is preserved automatically. If your 3D model was exported with a baked ambient-occlusion (AO) map or baked normal map on a part, that detail now stays in place when a shopper (or you) applies a material in a Select Material, Thumbnail Selector, dropdown, or Fixed Material block — even if the chosen material has no AO/normal map of its own. (Previously the applied material replaced the part's whole surface and the baked detail was lost.) If you instead want a material to override that baked detail, give the material its own AO Map / Normal Map in the Material Editor — the material's own maps always win. Note this applies to AO and normal maps only; metallic and roughness come entirely from the applied material.
More in Materials
Creating MaterialsBuild physically based (PBR) materials with base color, metalness, roughness, normal, and ambient-occlusion maps in the material editor.Material LibraryOrganize your material library into categories, search and filter swatches, and reuse materials across projects.Material ExamplesReady-made material recipes — metals, woods, fabrics, glass, and plastics — to copy and tune for your own products.Bulk-Add Materials by CategoryPopulate a Select Material block from an entire category so shoppers can pick from large material libraries without per-variant authoring.