This seamless 3D texture captures the intricate interplay of heat haze and fire smoke veil on a subtly dynamic surface, rendered at an impressive 8K resolution in photorealistic PBR quality. The base substrate evokes a lightweight, organic polymer layer that simulates atmospheric distortion caused by rising heat, while delicate wisps of smoke emerge like fine fibrous aggregates suspended within the texture. A faintly brushed surface finish with micro-variations enhances the natural diffusion of light, creating nuanced blur and depth effects. Carefully blended colorants mimic thermal gradients with warm amber and soft gray oxide layers, contributing to a realistic albedo map that balances translucency and opacity without metallic reflections, ensuring a neutral base for diverse lighting conditions.
In the PBR channels, the BaseColor/Albedo reflects subtle tonal shifts between pale yellows and smoky grays, representing the heat haze and smoke veil’s organic complexity. The Normal map encodes fine-grain distortions and soft undulations, simulating atmospheric turbulence and gentle surface ripples caused by thermal currents. Roughness values are calibrated to medium-high levels, producing a matte, slightly diffused surface that avoids harsh reflections while preserving the illusion of heat shimmer. The Metallic channel remains near-zero, emphasizing the non-metallic nature of the heat and smoke effects. Ambient Occlusion enhances localized shadowing within the micro-variations, adding depth to the smoke wisps, while the Height/Displacement map captures subtle elevation changes to simulate volumetric distortion and atmospheric layering.
Designed for seamless tiling and optimized for use in advanced 3D workflows, this texture is fully compatible and Unreal, Blender, and Unity ready, supporting neutral flat lighting and albedo-only setups for maximum flexibility. Its high level of detail ensures that environments requiring realistic, atmospheric fire and heat effects—such as game scenes, visual effects, and architectural visualizations—benefit from authentic heat haze and smoke veil renderings. For best results, adjust the UV scale to a moderate level to maintain natural repetition, and fine-tune roughness parameters to match the intensity of your scene’s lighting conditions, enhancing the subtle heat distortion and soft smoke veil appearance without overpowering surrounding elements.
How to Use These Seamless PBR Textures in Blender
This guide shows how to connect a full PBR texture set to Principled BSDF in Blender (Cycles or Eevee). Works with any of our seamless textures free download, including PBR PNG materials for Blender / Unreal / Unity.
What’s inside the download
*_albedo.png — Base Color (sRGB)*_normal.png — Normal map (Non-Color)*_roughness.png — Roughness (Non-Color)*_metallic.png — Metallic (Non-Color)*_ao.png — Ambient Occlusion (Non-Color)*_height.png — Height / Displacement (Non-Color)*_ORM.png — Packed map (R=AO, G=Roughness, B=Metallic, Non-Color)
Quick start (Node Wrangler, 30 seconds)
- Enable the addon: Edit → Preferences → Add-ons → Node Wrangler.
- Create a material and select the Principled BSDF node.
- Press Ctrl + Shift + T and select the maps
albedo, normal, roughness, metallic (skip height and ORM for now) → Open.
The addon wires Base Color, Normal (with a Normal Map node), Roughness, and Metallic automatically.
- Add AO and Height using the “Manual wiring” steps below (5 and 6).
Manual wiring (full control)
- Create a material (Material Properties → New) and open the Shader Editor.
- Add an Image Texture node for each map. Set Color Space:
- Albedo → sRGB
- AO, Roughness, Metallic, Normal, Height, ORM → Non-Color
- Connect to Principled BSDF:
albedo → Base Colorroughness → Roughnessmetallic → Metallic (for wood this often stays near 0)normal → Normal Map node (Type: Tangent Space) → Normal of Principled.
If details look “inverted”, enable Invert Y on the Normal Map node.
- Ambient Occlusion (AO):
- Add a MixRGB (or Mix Color) node in mode Multiply.
- Input A =
albedo, Input B = ao, Factor = 1.0.
- Output of Mix → Base Color of Principled (replaces the direct albedo connection).
- Height / Displacement:
Cycles — true displacement
- Material Properties → Settings → Displacement: Displacement and Bump.
- Add a Displacement node: connect
height → Height, set Midlevel = 0.5, Scale = 0.02–0.08 (tune to taste).
- Output of Displacement → Material Output → Displacement.
- Add geometry density (e.g., Subdivision Surface) so displacement has polygons to work with.
Eevee (or lightweight Cycles) — bump only
- Add a Bump node:
height → Height.
- Set Strength = 0.2–0.5, Distance = 0.05–0.1, and connect Normal output to Principled’s Normal.
Using the packed ORM texture (optional)
Instead of separate AO/Roughness/Metallic maps you can use the single *_ORM.png:
- Add one Image Texture (Non-Color) → Separate RGB (or Separate Color).
- R (red) → AO (use it in the Multiply node with albedo as above).
- G (green) → Roughness of Principled.
- B (blue) → Metallic of Principled.
UVs & seamless tiling
- These textures are seamless. If your mesh has no UVs, go to UV Editing → Smart UV Project.
- For scale/repeat, add Texture Coordinate (UV) → Mapping and plug it into all texture nodes.
Increase Mapping → Scale (e.g., 2/2/2) to tile more densely.
Recommended starter values
- Normal Map Strength: 0.5–1.0
- Bump Strength: ~0.3
- Displacement Scale (Cycles): ~0.03
Common pitfalls
- Wrong Color Space (normals/roughness/etc. must be Non-Color).
- “Inverted” details → enable Invert Y on the Normal Map node.
- Over-strong relief → lower Displacement Scale or Bump Strength.
Example: Download Wood Textures and instantly apply parquet or rustic planks inside Blender for architectural visualization.
To add the downloaded texture, go to Add — Texture — Image Texture.
Add a node and click the Open button.
Select the required texture on your hard drive and connect Color to Base Color.
