Physically based rendering uses standardized material properties, commonly base color, metallic, and roughness, so surfaces respond consistently to lighting.

Core workflow
Metallic-roughness
Color channel
Base color
Surface channels
Roughness + metallic
Evaluated under
Lighting environment

Read channels separately

Base color describes intrinsic surface color, roughness controls highlight spread, and metallic selects conductor-like behavior. Normal and opacity maps add detail or cutout behavior.

Inspect generated PBR data

AI-generated maps can look convincing in one render while carrying baked shadows, inconsistent values, or alpha settings that do not transfer to another engine.