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Shading and texturing guide for Blender

Getting textures and materials

 
The easiest way to get started with texturing and shading is to start with something that is already out there.

In this section you will find texture and material libraries you can source resources from.

Texturing and shading basics

 
Here is where you start to learn about texturing and shading. The bread and butter of these articles can be found in the beginners' guide. But for complete beginners, start by adding a texture to an object.

If you need something specific though, there are plenty of details uncovered in the other articles.

UV Mapping

 
UV Mapping is the primary way to tell Blender how a texture should be mapped on an object. In this section we uncover all the secrets of this dark art.

UV mapping and unwrapping is an essential skill for any 3D artist. Start with the definitive guide.

For a robust alternative, check out box projection as well.

Shader nodes and concepts

 
Here we go into further details on specific nodes and cover some concepts such as ambient occlusion and transparency

Normals, normal maps and displcement

 
Normals are both related to geometry and shaders. To begin we will discuss the flat and smooth shading of geometry

Baking textures

 
Baking is an essential part for game creation and we can leverage it in many ways to improve performance or create assets that isn't otherwise possible.

Troubleshooting 

 
Sometimes we run into trouble. In this section we look at common problems and how to solve them as well as how to avoid some of them in the future.

Tutorials

 
Here are some tutorials to get you started on projects. From making floors to cartoon shading or making glass.

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