The Comprehensive PBR Guide from Substance

Volume 1: the Theory of Physically Based Rendering

This is the first of two volumes, which focuses on the theory of physically-based rendering and shading.

It’s important for us to understand how light rays interact with surface matter because our job as texture artists is to create textures that describe a surface. The textures and materials we author interact with light in our virtual worlds and the more we understand about how light behaves, the better our textures will look. In this first volume, we will discuss the theory behind the physics through which physically-based rendering models are based upon. We will start with a light ray and work up to defining the key factors for PBR.

This guide was put together by Wes McDermott and cross-checked by experts in the field.

Volume 2: Practical Guidelines for PBR Texturing

In this second Volume, we discuss the practical application of authoring PBR textures and provide a set of guidelines that are based on the foundations established in Volume One.

We will begin by redefining PBR from an artistic perspective. From there, we will discuss the metal/roughness and specular/glossiness workflows to address the principles and guidelines for authoring physically-accurate maps.

This guide was put together by Wes McDermott and cross-checked by experts in the field.

Click here to read Volume 2.