I'm creating PBR Textures and 3D models since 2018 and sharing them for free

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Texture Creation Techniques

  • Discussion of two main paths: photogrammetry and “bitmap-to-material” workflows.
  • High-quality captures: many photos under consistent, low-reflection lighting; processed in tools like Metashape or RealityCapture to build a 3D model, then “baked” to 2D maps (base color, height/displacement, normal, AO).
  • Simpler route: a single clean photo turned into grayscale and derived maps (bump, roughness, height) via software or manual work in tools like Photoshop or Substance Sampler.
  • Polarization (circular or cross-polarized with extra lights) is recommended to remove reflections.

Tools and Software Mentioned

  • Procedural / material tools: Substance Designer, Substance Painter, Substance Sampler, Texturelab, Unreal’s texture graph.
  • Photogrammetry: Metashape, RealityCapture; baking and previewing with Marmoset, Blender.
  • Quick normal/bump generation: Laigter, SpriteIlluminator.
  • Atlas capture: Details Capture (VFX Grace).

Use Cases and Engine Integration

  • Assets used in Unreal Engine; interest in using them in Godot and Babylon.js.
  • Note that models are often high-poly and more suited to offline rendering; textures can be downscaled for games or even retro-style 2D tiles.

Texture Atlases and Technical Notes

  • Atlases group many small elements into one texture to reduce draw calls, especially before bindless textures and in WebGL.
  • Commonly used for vegetation and terrain elements.

Website UX and Implementation

  • Some users report broken layout and interaction on older Firefox, slow loading, and low item density per page.
  • Others say it works fine on recent Firefox versions.
  • Site maintainers acknowledge limited dev resources and reliance on freelancers, contrasting with more polished alternatives like AmbientCG.

Licensing, CC0, and “Copyright-Free” Debate

  • Assets are CC0 / public-domain-style; strong appreciation for clear, truly free resources, especially versus complex commercial licensing.
  • Debate over wording: “copyright-free” vs. more precise legal descriptions.
  • Participants note jurisdiction differences and that CC0 is designed as a practical public-domain equivalent worldwide.

Economics and Market Impact of Free Assets

  • One side worries that free high-quality assets undercut paid asset creators and drive a “race to the bottom.”
  • Others respond that creators are free to give away their work, that patrons can fund it, and that style, scope, and customization mean paid work remains viable—analogous to open-source software dynamics.