How can I emulate both packaging paper and studio backdrop paper?

[Sid Edwards]

This is something I’ve struggled to find both assets and tutorials for. 

In real life, more hand-crafted and biodegradable products tend to be made of non-plastic things, like certain cellulose matrices including brown paper with noticeable discoloration and texture.

Simultaneously, print paper and studio backdrop paper also has a very slight texture to it too.

Are there experienced users with advice on achieving realistic papers? What specific materials/textures and normal maps I should be using?

[Omar Domenech]

You’ve got two choices. Either build the shader in a procedural manner, or just slap an image texture to it. For image textures there are websites like Poliigon that have already all sorts of textures set up to make your job easier. Building the procedural shader from the ground up takes a lot of effort and node magical knowledge, that is something you can learn but it will take time. You’d think a realistic shader node will be super complex full of nodes, but I remember from Bartek a lesson where he showed that isn’t the case, it’s easier to cheat and the result is the same. Also lighting gets a huge roll on how your materials look, it’s the light interplay that will inform you of what the surface is, we often forget that.

[Author]

Posts