#polyhaven

This is probably old news to everyone but me, but there are some incredible free repositories to be found for Blender these days. These two in particular really stood out to me.

PBR Texturing, Material Application & Final Renders - Post 5

Introduction

This final blog documents the texturing and presentation stage of Development Project 2. After completing the modular modelling and assembly of the building, the focus shifted to applying PBR textures, testing material consistency across modular assets, and producing final renders using minimal lighting.

The aim of this stage was to ensure the building reads as a cohesive structure while maintaining realistic surface detail suitable for real-time environments.

PBR Texture Selection

For texturing, I used a brick wall PBR texture sourced from Poly Haven. Poly Haven provides high-quality, physically based materials that are suitable for game engines and real-time workflows.

The selected brick wall texture includes:

Albedo (Base Color)

Normal map

Roughness map

Ambient Occlusion map

This texture was chosen because it closely matches the material observed in my real-world reference photographs and suits the industrial architectural style of the building.

Importing & Material Setup in Unreal Engine

The PBR texture maps were imported into Unreal Engine and assembled into a single material using the Material Editor. Each texture map was connected to its appropriate channel to ensure physically accurate shading.

Care was taken to:

Maintain correct texture scale

Preserve surface detail without exaggeration

Keep roughness values balanced for realistic light response

Applying Textures to Modular Assets

Once the material was created, it was applied consistently across all modular assets, including wall modules, corner pieces, and the assembled building.

Key considerations during this process included:

Aligning the brick pattern across modular seams

Ensuring the texture tiles seamlessly between modules

Maintaining consistent scale from individual assets to the full building

This step was essential to avoid visible breaks where modular pieces connect and to ensure the building reads as a single cohesive structure.

Overview of Modular Assets

modular assets created and used for the final building assembly. These assets were designed as individual, reusable components that could function independently while also working cohesively when combined into a complete structure.

The modular set includes:

Wall modules with different window variations

Door and entrance modules

Corner and structural wall pieces

Stair modules and small architectural extensions

Fence, railing, and gate elements

Utility props such as pipes and exterior units

Each asset was modelled with consistent proportions so that they align naturally when assembled. By applying the same PBR brick material across all relevant modules, visual continuity was maintained between separate pieces, allowing the building to read as a single unified structure rather than a collection of individual parts.

Minimal Lighting & Rendering

To evaluate the material clearly, the building was rendered using minimal lighting. A simple lighting setup was used to:

Avoid overpowering the texture detail

Test material response under neutral conditions

Focus attention on surface quality and form

This approach made it easier to identify any texture stretching, tiling issues, or shading inconsistencies across the building.

Final Outcome

The final renders demonstrate that the PBR texture works effectively across both individual modular assets and the complete building. The brick material adds realism and visual weight to the structure while maintaining consistency across modular connections.

This stage confirms that the modular system functions not only structurally, but also visually when textured and presented as a finished asset.

Conclusion

The texturing and rendering phase successfully completed Development Project 2. By using high-quality PBR textures, aligning materials carefully across modular assets, and presenting the building with minimal lighting, the final result achieves a clean and believable architectural appearance. This project demonstrates a full modular environment workflow from reference research to final rendered output.

References