Unity 5.0 gives its rendering engine an overhaul by introducing what is known as Physically Based Rendering. In short, this method of rendering comes with a lot of useful features. One of them is the more accurate representation of dielectric and non-dielectric materials (metals and non-metals). And it enables energy conservation in a material which basically means that the amount of light leaving a surface will never exceed the amount that hits the surface. A linear workflow is a lot more important in combination with high dynamic range images and tone mapping. I’m not here to embark on a paper that explains all of this because many have gone before in doing so. Please check out the links below to understand PBR a lot better than I could ever explain it.

Physically Based Rendering theory:
– http://interplayoflight.wordpress.com/2013/12/30/readings-on-physically-based-rendering/
– https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Fb9_KgCo0noxROKN4iT8ntTbx913e-t4Wc2nMRWPzNk/edit

What you can expect to get out of this blog is a method of how I usually create textures for an engine that renders using PBR. Hopefully the following tutorial will make creating these textures a lot less troublesome than it may have been before.

If you have any questions for me or tips on how I can improve on this workflow then you can hit me up on Twitter @Tinovdk.

Thanks for your time and happy texturing.