This seamless 8K PBR texture captures the intricate surface characteristics of natural cardboard, focusing on the subtle embossing that brings out the material’s tactile quality. The base substrate is composed primarily of pressed cellulose pulp fibers, which create a fibrous, slightly porous matrix. Intertwined strands of cardboard fiber are clearly visible, contributing to the detailed grain structure and emphasizing the organic, uncoated nature of the surface. The emboss effect manifests as gentle, raised patterns that simulate the impression left by manufacturing processes or packaging designs, adding dimensionality without overwhelming the natural fiber texture.
The cardboard surface exhibits a moderately rough finish, indicative of untreated or lightly processed cardboard sheets. The fine grain is composed of varying fiber strand sizes and orientations, which create a natural, random distribution of micro-elevations and depressions. This complexity is reflected in the PBR maps: the BaseColor channel presents a warm, muted beige tone with subtle variations from fiber clusters and pulp density, while the Normal map enhances the emboss details and fiber relief to simulate light interaction realistically. The Roughness map maintains a mid-to-high value range, conveying the matte, slightly coarse texture, whereas the Metallic channel remains at zero, as cardboard is non-metallic. Ambient Occlusion accentuates crevices within the embossing and fiber intersections, deepening shadowed areas for added realism. Height and Displacement maps are finely tuned to represent the subtle depth of the emboss without extreme surface distortion, ensuring compatibility with parallax or tessellation techniques.
The composition of this texture reflects the natural cardboard’s makeup, where cellulose fibers form the primary structural elements, bound together by natural adhesives and minimal additives. The visible fiber strands and grain patterns reveal the fibrous pulp’s alignment, while the embossing effect simulates pressed or stamped design elements that may be encountered in packaging or eco-friendly product materials. The surface finish is matte and unpolished, retaining the organic imperfections and subtle roughness that characterize raw cardboard sheets. The color palette remains neutral and earthy, with slight variations in tone that mimic natural pulp bleaching and fiber density fluctuations.
Rendered at an impressive 8K resolution, this texture is optimized for use in Blender, Unreal Engine, and Unity, offering high fidelity and seamless tiling for various 3D visualization needs. When applying this texture, it is advisable to carefully adjust the UV scale to maintain the natural grain proportion and avoid repetition artifacts. Additionally, fine-tuning the roughness values can help simulate different cardboard finishes, from slightly waxed to fully raw, while blending the height and normal maps allows for enhanced emboss depth without causing unwanted geometry distortion. This makes the texture versatile for packaging mockups, environmental props, or any project requiring realistic cardboard surfaces with tactile fiber detail.
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.
