This seamless 8K PBR texture represents aged cardboard with a focus on the natural composition and structural details inherent to this material. The base substrate is composed primarily of compressed wood pulp fibers, which form a dense yet porous matrix. These interwoven cardboard fiber strands create a distinctive grain pattern that runs predominantly along a single orientation, reflecting the manufacturing process where fibers align under pressure. The surface reveals visible cardboard pulp fiber bundles and subtle fiber strand separations, which contribute to the tactile roughness and organic feel. Over time, the cardboard has developed discoloration typical of natural aging, exhibiting variations in tone from light beige to muted browns and soft yellows, indicative of oxidation and exposure to environmental factors.
The cardboard surface shows signs of wear and weathering, such as slight creasing, diffuse stains, and fiber swelling, which add complexity to the texture’s roughness and height maps. These details are captured through a finely tuned normal map that emphasizes the subtle undulations and fiber relief, while the height (displacement) channel enhances the perception of depth along creases and fiber separations. The roughness map reflects a matte, uncoated finish typical of aged cardboard, with regions of slightly higher roughness where fibers have frayed or absorbed moisture. There is no metallic component in this organic material, and thus the metallic map remains black, supporting a purely diffuse light response. Ambient occlusion is carefully baked to accentuate fiber intersections and crevices, increasing the realism of shadowed areas within the grain pattern.
Color information is provided through a high-resolution BaseColor (Albedo) map, which accurately reproduces the subtle variations of natural cardboard discoloration and fiber color shifts. The overall coloration is warm and neutral, with no artificial pigments, reflecting an unbleached, natural cardboard pulp. The texture is perfectly tileable, making it suitable for large surfaces without visible seams. This 8K resolution ensures that fine fiber details and discoloration nuances remain crisp and clear even under close inspection, which is essential for photorealistic renders in Blender, Unreal Engine, and Unity environments.
For practical use, it is advisable to carefully adjust the UV scale to match the real-world dimensions of cardboard sheets, as fiber orientation and grain are sensitive to stretching and can lose realism if improperly scaled. Additionally, fine-tuning the roughness can help simulate varying degrees of wear or moisture exposure, while blending height and normal maps can enhance surface complexity without introducing artifacts. This texture is ideal for 3D projects requiring authentic aged packaging, environmental props, or any asset benefiting from a natural, fibrous cardboard surface with detailed weathering effects under neutral lighting conditions.
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.
