This seamless 8K PBR 3D texture captures the subtle complexity of an overcast sky dominated by soft, stratiform cloud layers. The material composition emulates a natural atmospheric substrate—a diffuse, semi-translucent volumetric medium—where the primary "material" is composed of countless microscopic water droplets suspended evenly to create the uniform, smooth appearance characteristic of stratus clouds. This results in a gently undulating cloudscape that forms a continuous sky dome, ideal for realistic environmental lighting and reflections in 3D applications.
The texture’s form reveals a layered, horizontal stratification pattern, reflecting the typical geometry of stratus cloud decks. These layers have a low-relief, soft-edged topology with subtle variations in thickness and density, which the height and normal maps reproduce through delicate gradients and shallow displacement effects. The surface finish is matte and diffuse, lacking specular highlights or metallic reflections, which corresponds to a very high roughness value in the PBR setup. The color palette is neutral and muted, primarily cool off-whites and pale grays, simulating the scattering of sunlight through thick moisture-laden air, and mapped to the BaseColor (Albedo) channel to maintain photorealistic fidelity.
From a PBR channel perspective, the BaseColor provides the essential diffuse tones of overcast cloud cover, while the Normal map adds soft undulations and textural depth mimicking the volumetric folds and stratification of the cloud layers. The Roughness map is tuned to high values to replicate the diffuse scattering of light with minimal glossiness. There is no metallic component, so the Metallic channel remains at zero, reinforcing the non-reflective, organic nature of the sky. Ambient Occlusion subtly enhances the perception of depth within the cloud layers without introducing hard shadows, maintaining the soft and gentle atmospheric feel. The Height (Displacement) map uses slight variations to simulate the layered thickness and subtle billowing effects, improving realism, especially when combined with parallax or tessellation techniques.
Rendered at a striking 8K resolution, this texture ensures exceptional clarity and detail suitable for demanding projects in Blender, Unreal Engine, and Unity. Its seamless tiling capability allows it to be wrapped around sky domes or applied as panoramic skyboxes without visible borders, maintaining immersion in wide-angle views. For optimal results, it is recommended to adjust the UV scale carefully to balance detail density and performance, and to fine-tune roughness settings slightly lower in close-up shots to introduce a hint of cloud moisture sheen. Additionally, blending the height map with normal maps during rendering can enhance the volumetric depth perception without excessive geometry overhead.
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.
