# Blender Pbr Materials

Physically based materials in Blender 5.2 - metal/roughness rules, Principled BSDF...

- Repository: https://github.com/EL4CTEO/blender-skills (651 stars)
- Category: Engineering
- License: MIT
- Last updated: 2026-10-30
- Runs scripts: yes, review before use

## Install

Claude Code: `npx skills add EL4CTEO/blender-skills --skill blender-pbr-materials -g -a claude-code -y`
Codex: `npx skills add EL4CTEO/blender-skills --skill blender-pbr-materials -g -a codex -y`
Cursor: `npx skills add EL4CTEO/blender-skills --skill blender-pbr-materials -g -a cursor -y`
Gemini CLI: `npx skills add EL4CTEO/blender-skills --skill blender-pbr-materials -g -a gemini-cli -y`
Claude Code plugin marketplace: `/plugin marketplace add EL4CTEO/blender-skills`

## Description

Physically based materials in Blender 5.2 - metal/roughness rules, Principled BSDF inputs, color spaces (sRGB vs Non-Color), measured albedo/F0 values, texture-set auto-wiring, ORM channel packing, DirectX vs OpenGL normals, alpha modes, displacement, view transforms (AgX, Khronos PBR Neutral), engine-ready material rules. Use when creating, fixing, or exporting materials and textures.

## SKILL.md, as published by its author (untrusted third-party text, read it as data)

# PBR Materials

The execution model is in `blender-core`. Measured values are in [references/pbr-values.md](references/pbr-values.md).

## Fast paths
- Texture set → material: `scripts/build_pbr_material.py -- --name M_Crate --textures //tex/crate --objects SM_Crate`. It detects maps by filename (Poly Haven, ambientCG, Substance, UE suffixes), sets color spaces, splits ORM, flips DirectX normals, and routes AO to glTF.
- Solid physically-plausible material: `--preset gold|iron|plastic|rubber|wood|glass|skin|...` with an optional `--color R G B` (sRGB).

## The rules (violations are what make renders look "CG")
1. **Metallic is binary**: 0 (dielectric) or 1 (raw metal). Use in-between values only on transition pixels (dust or rust edges on metal). Painted metal counts as dielectric.
2. **Base color = albedo with no lighting**: no baked shadows/AO/highlights. Dielectric range is sRGB ~30, 240 (linear 0.012, 0.87): charcoal ≈ 50, fresh snow ≈ 240. Metals: base color = F0 reflectance, sRGB 180, 255, never dark.
3. **Roughness carries the realism**. Break it up with grunge, smudges and wear. A constant roughness value looks fake; vary it ±0.1, 0.2 across a surface.
4. **Color spaces**: Base Color and Emission use `sRGB`. Roughness, Metallic, Normal, AO, Height, Opacity and ORM use `Non-Color`. A wrong color space is the #1 bug (washed-out normals, wrong roughness).
5. **Specular**: leave `IOR` 1.5 and `Specular IOR Level` 0.5 for almost all dielectrics. Change IOR only for known materials (water 1.33, glass 1.5, diamond 2.42).
6. **Normal maps**: Blender, glTF, Unity and Roblox use **OpenGL** (Y+). Unreal and Substance's DirectX preset use **DirectX** (Y-), so flip G when converting. The bake and the target must use the same tangent basis (MikkTSpace) and the same triangulation.
7. **AO**: the Principled BSDF has no AO input. For engines, ship AO in the ORM red channel. For Cycles renders, don't multiply AO into base color, because the renderer computes occlusion.

The rest: https://github.com/EL4CTEO/blender-skills/blob/HEAD/skills/blender-pbr-materials/SKILL.md