materials skill by arjun988

Materials

Production shading with material reuse. PBR-accurate or intentionally stylized. Minimal unique materials.

When to Use

Look development after UVs
Procedural material creation
Master material library setup
Material variation from shared masters
Engine export material preparation

Workflow

Master Materials → Instance Variations → Object Assignment
    → Vertex Color/Mask Setup → Validation → Export Prep

Master Material Library

Create reusable masters in MAT_ prefix:

Master	Base Setup
MAT_Metal_Base	Principled: Metallic 1, adjustable Roughness
MAT_Plastic_Base	Principled: Metallic 0, Specular 0.5
MAT_Fabric_Base	Principled + Sheen
MAT_Glass_Base	Principled: Transmission 1, IOR 1.45
MAT_Emissive_Base	Principled: Emission strength variable
MAT_Organic_Base	Subsurface scattering enabled

Instance variations: duplicate master, adjust parameters only.

PBR Value Ranges

Material	Metallic	Roughness	Notes
Polished metal	1.0	0.1–0.3
Brushed metal	1.0	0.4–0.6	Anisotropic if available
Painted metal	0.0	0.3–0.5	Base color = paint
Plastic	0.0	0.3–0.6
Rubber	0.0	0.7–0.9
Concrete	0.0	0.8–0.95
Wood (raw)	0.0	0.5–0.7
Glass	0.0	0.0	Transmission 1
Skin	0.0	0.4–0.6	Subsurface 0.1–0.3
Fabric	0.0	0.7–0.9	Sheen

Procedural Material Patterns

Wear mask: Noise → ColorRamp → Lerp between clean/worn Edge wear: Bevel node → Pointiness or Ambient Occlusion Dirt accumulation: AO inverted → multiply with dirt color Rust: Noise mask on metal → orange/brown color override

Material Count Budget

Asset Type	Max Materials
Hero prop	3–5
Standard prop	1–2
Modular piece	1 (atlas)
Character	3–8 (body, cloth, eyes, hair)
Environment module	1–2

Vertex Color Usage

RGB: variation masks (wear, moss, color variation)
R: wear amount, G: dirt, B: wetness
Document channel usage in material notes

Stylized Materials

See stylized-style skill. Key differences:

Flatten roughness range
Hand-painted base color priority
Rim light via Fresnel mix
NPR toon shaders if project requires

MCP Integration

Create material slots via MCP
Assign materials to objects via MCP
Set principled BSDF parameters via MCP
Query material count per scene
Verify material names follow convention

Constraints

MUST DO

Reuse master materials; instance variations
Name materials MAT_[Surface]_[Descriptor]
Match PBR values to style skill direction
Limit material count per asset budget
Test materials in target lighting setup

MUST NOT DO

Unique material per object (unless hero)
PBR values outside physically plausible range (realistic style)
Skip vertex color masks for variation
Leave default material names
Finalize materials before UVs complete

Reference Guide

Topic	Reference	Load When
Surface recipes	`references/surface-recipes.md`	Specific materials
Procedural nodes	`references/procedural-patterns.md`	Wear, dirt, variation

Materials

Production shading with material reuse. PBR-accurate or intentionally stylized. Minimal unique materials.

When to Use

Look development after UVs
Procedural material creation
Master material library setup
Material variation from shared masters
Engine export material preparation

Workflow

Master Materials → Instance Variations → Object Assignment
    → Vertex Color/Mask Setup → Validation → Export Prep

Master Material Library

Create reusable masters in MAT_ prefix:

Master	Base Setup
MAT_Metal_Base	Principled: Metallic 1, adjustable Roughness
MAT_Plastic_Base	Principled: Metallic 0, Specular 0.5
MAT_Fabric_Base	Principled + Sheen
MAT_Glass_Base	Principled: Transmission 1, IOR 1.45
MAT_Emissive_Base	Principled: Emission strength variable
MAT_Organic_Base	Subsurface scattering enabled

Instance variations: duplicate master, adjust parameters only.

PBR Value Ranges

Material	Metallic	Roughness	Notes
Polished metal	1.0	0.1–0.3
Brushed metal	1.0	0.4–0.6	Anisotropic if available
Painted metal	0.0	0.3–0.5	Base color = paint
Plastic	0.0	0.3–0.6
Rubber	0.0	0.7–0.9
Concrete	0.0	0.8–0.95
Wood (raw)	0.0	0.5–0.7
Glass	0.0	0.0	Transmission 1
Skin	0.0	0.4–0.6	Subsurface 0.1–0.3
Fabric	0.0	0.7–0.9	Sheen

Procedural Material Patterns

Material Count Budget

Asset Type	Max Materials
Hero prop	3–5
Standard prop	1–2
Modular piece	1 (atlas)
Character	3–8 (body, cloth, eyes, hair)
Environment module	1–2

Vertex Color Usage

RGB: variation masks (wear, moss, color variation)
R: wear amount, G: dirt, B: wetness
Document channel usage in material notes

Stylized Materials

See stylized-style skill. Key differences:

Flatten roughness range
Hand-painted base color priority
Rim light via Fresnel mix
NPR toon shaders if project requires

MCP Integration

Create material slots via MCP
Assign materials to objects via MCP
Set principled BSDF parameters via MCP
Query material count per scene
Verify material names follow convention

Constraints

MUST DO

Reuse master materials; instance variations
Name materials MAT_[Surface]_[Descriptor]
Match PBR values to style skill direction
Limit material count per asset budget
Test materials in target lighting setup

MUST NOT DO

Unique material per object (unless hero)
PBR values outside physically plausible range (realistic style)
Skip vertex color masks for variation
Leave default material names
Finalize materials before UVs complete

Reference Guide

Topic	Reference	Load When
Surface recipes	`references/surface-recipes.md`	Specific materials
Procedural nodes	`references/procedural-patterns.md`	Wear, dirt, variation

materials

Documentation

Documentation

Materials

When to Use

Workflow

Master Material Library

PBR Value Ranges

Procedural Material Patterns

Material Count Budget

Vertex Color Usage

Stylized Materials

MCP Integration

Constraints

MUST DO

MUST NOT DO

Reference Guide

Documentation

materials

Documentation

Materials

When to Use

Workflow

Master Material Library

PBR Value Ranges

Procedural Material Patterns

Material Count Budget

Vertex Color Usage

Stylized Materials

MCP Integration

Constraints

MUST DO

MUST NOT DO

Reference Guide