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

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

A small team of architects has been creating high‑quality, physically based rendering (PBR) textures and 3D models since 2018 and releasing them under a CC0/public‑domain style license, giving game developers and 3D artists free assets for commercial and non‑commercial use. Commenters explore how such textures are made (from photogrammetry to procedural tools), how they integrate with engines like Unreal, Godot, and Blender, and what texture atlases and PBR materials actually are. The project also prompts debate over copyright nuances around CC0, the ethics and economics of giving digital assets away for free, and the usability of the site compared with other free asset libraries such as Polyhaven and AmbientCG.

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.