Textures for a PBR workflow
In simple terms, PBR (Physical Based Materials) is a concept or a workflow that helps create materials that will look good in any lighting condition. These set of textures have a massive impact on the quality of a material. You may feel tempted to use Google as a way to find textures. There are some hidden gems where you can get some great wood and marble textures, but in the majority of cases, you will probably find a lot of low resolution textures. At the same time be aware of some websites that sell "PBR" textures. PBR is now being used to sell almost anything, but necessarily you are getting the best quality. If you have access to a preview or a sample, visualize the texture at 100% and look at the corners. If the corners are blurred, then don't waste your time. Having the corners and the edges blurred means that when you use the texture any tilling you do will be quite visible as there will be a difference of sharpness in certain areas. As you can guess, this will have an impact on your material's quality.
PBR workflow
Why is this PBR so important?
Following a PBR workflow will ensure that the material you create looks good in any lighting condition. Obviously, you may need to do some minor tweaks here and there. However, before using a PBR workflow, a material you made for a specific lighting condition, let's say overcast day, would not necessarily look good on a full sunny day. This lack of a workflow introduced a lot of problems, as you had to almost remake materials from one scene to another, as they wouldn't look right if used in a different scenario. And you can still see that when buying premade materials and models. The previews look amazing, but when you drop the model on your scene, it is flat, and the colours don't look right. 9 out of 10, the material isn't PBR. I will not go in-depth on this topic as you have some excellent articles that explain what PBR is and how you can use it. Below I listed by order some articles that will help you with that:
Below is an example of the different textures that are used on a PBR workflow. However, not all the textures are necessary, as not all the materials will need the height and cavity texture.
Textures
Good textures are essential for realistic materials. Try to use PBR ready textures for the best results.
• Not all PBR textures are created equal. Check for quality first.
• Check - Arroway Textures, Friendly Shade, RD Textures and Texture Haven
• Substance Designer is a good tool to create your textures
• Substance Source contains more than 4000 materials with multiple variations.
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