Materials

Production shading with material reuse. PBR-accurate or intentionally stylized. Minimal unique materials.

When to Use

• Look development after UVs
• Procedural material creation
• Master material library setup
• Material variation from shared masters
• Engine export material preparation

Workflow

Master Materials → Instance Variations → Object Assignment
    → Vertex Color/Mask Setup → Validation → Export Prep

Master Material Library

Create reusable masters in MAT_ prefix:

Master	Base Setup
MAT_Metal_Base	Principled: Metallic 1, adjustable Roughness
MAT_Plastic_Base	Principled: Metallic 0, Specular 0.5
MAT_Fabric_Base	Principled + Sheen
MAT_Glass_Base	Principled: Transmission 1, IOR 1.45
MAT_Emissive_Base	Principled: Emission strength variable
MAT_Organic_Base	Subsurface scattering enabled

Instance variations: duplicate master, adjust parameters only.

PBR Value Ranges

Material	Metallic	Roughness	Notes
Polished metal	1.0	0.1–0.3
Brushed metal	1.0	0.4–0.6	Anisotropic if available
Painted metal	0.0	0.3–0.5	Base color = paint
Plastic	0.0	0.3–0.6
Rubber	0.0	0.7–0.9
Concrete	0.0	0.8–0.95
Wood (raw)	0.0	0.5–0.7
Glass	0.0	0.0	Transmission 1
Skin	0.0	0.4–0.6	Subsurface 0.1–0.3
Fabric	0.0	0.7–0.9	Sheen

Procedural Material Patterns

Wear mask: Noise → ColorRamp → Lerp between clean/worn Edge wear: Bevel node → Pointiness or Ambient Occlusion Dirt accumulation: AO inverted → multiply with dirt color Rust: Noise mask on metal → orange/brown color override

Material Count Budget

Asset Type	Max Materials
Hero prop	3–5
Standard prop	1–2
Modular piece	1 (atlas)
Character	3–8 (body, cloth, eyes, hair)
Environment module	1–2

Vertex Color Usage

• RGB: variation masks (wear, moss, color variation)
• R: wear amount, G: dirt, B: wetness
• Document channel usage in material notes

Stylized Materials

See stylized-style skill. Key differences:

• Flatten roughness range
• Hand-painted base color priority
• Rim light via Fresnel mix
• NPR toon shaders if project requires

MCP Integration

1. Create material slots via MCP
2. Assign materials to objects via MCP
3. Set principled BSDF parameters via MCP
4. Query material count per scene
5. Verify material names follow convention

Constraints

MUST DO

• Reuse master materials; instance variations
• Name materials MAT_[Surface]_[Descriptor]
• Match PBR values to style skill direction
• Limit material count per asset budget
• Test materials in target lighting setup

MUST NOT DO

• Unique material per object (unless hero)
• PBR values outside physically plausible range (realistic style)
• Skip vertex color masks for variation
• Leave default material names
• Finalize materials before UVs complete

Reference Guide

Topic	Reference	Load When
Surface recipes	references/surface-recipes.md	Specific materials
Procedural nodes	references/procedural-patterns.md	Wear, dirt, variation