Four maps, added one at a time
Metal plate, Poly Haven, CC0. The light comes low from the left. The second plane is where the pattern gains faint relief. The roughness and AO steps are subtle with this light: try the head-on light from the first tryIt, and the environment of Topic 6.5.
A material's numbers (colour, roughness, metalness) can each be replaced by a picture. Each map is a different kind of data: colour in sRGB, everything else in plain numbers. A normal map changes how light bounces without changing the shape.
Change the code and press Run (Ctrl+Enter). Predict what will happen first, then break it on purpose and read what changes. Your edits are saved and match the lesson page.
Ready for more? This phase has 4 hands-on exercises with automatic checks.
Practice questions
Write the code in the editor, run it, then open the model answer to compare.
A downloaded normal map makes your bumps look like dents. Write the one line that fixes it, and name the cause.
Write the code to load a colour map and a normal map for one material with the right colour spaces.
Explain it without notes
A bike part's metalness map does nothing. What do you check first?
Why is a normal map not enough to make a smooth tyre look like it has a real tread silhouette?
Console
Nothing logged yet.Expected console output
colour map only | maps: map
+ normalMap | maps: map, normalMap
+ roughnessMap | maps: map, normalMap, roughnessMap
+ aoMap | maps: map, normalMap, roughnessMap, aoMap
textures in GPU memory: 5