This seamless 3D texture at 8K resolution authentically represents a muddy soil crust characterized by mud drying and prominent mud cracks, combined with a rough, grainy mud surface. The material mimics the organic composition of natural soil crusts formed through sediment compaction and drying processes. The base substrate resembles a mineral-rich, fine-grained earth matrix interspersed with coarse particulate aggregates, which contribute to the visible grainy texture and tactile complexity. The drying mud crust exhibits brittle, cracked features resulting from moisture evaporation and natural weathering, while subtle color variations in the BaseColor/Albedo channel capture the earthy browns and muted ochres typical of dehydrated soil layers. The Normal and Height maps emphasize the uneven crust surface and delicate fissures, providing realistic depth and relief crucial for terrain visualization.
In PBR terms, the Roughness channel highlights the coarse, matte finish of the drying mud, reflecting minimal specularity and enhancing the natural appearance of a weathered soil crust. The Metallic channel remains near zero, accurately portraying the non-metallic organic composition of the mud and soil. Ambient Occlusion intensifies the visual depth within the mud cracks and grain clusters, further enhancing the perception of natural surface irregularities. This texture’s high fidelity and photorealistic detail make it well suited for use in arid or transitional environments in 3D scenes, where naturalistic terrain and soil surface visualization is essential. Its seamless design ensures large-area, non-repetitive coverage in popular platforms such as Blender, Unreal Engine, and Unity, supporting realistic environmental rendering and game asset creation.
For optimal application, it is recommended to adjust the UV scale carefully to maintain the fine detail of the mud cracks and grainy crust without stretching or pixelation. Tuning the roughness parameter can help simulate varying moisture levels on the mud surface, from freshly drying to fully desiccated states, adding dynamic realism to your projects. The height or parallax maps can be leveraged to enhance the depth effect of the cracked mud, allowing for convincing surface displacement that reacts naturally to lighting and camera angles, making this texture a versatile choice for realistic terrain and soil surface work in high-end visualizations.
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.
