Textures That Tell Stories; Tenjisoft Studio’s VizDev-First Texturing Workflow

Introduction

At Tenjisoft Studio, textures aren’t decoration; they’re evidence. A model becomes believable when its surface records how it was used, aged, and exposed to its environment. We build that record through a VizDev-first approach: define the story and material behavior up front, prototype response in-engine, then author textures that are both expressive and technically disciplined.

1) Texture as a Silent Storyteller

Textures communicate history that geometry cannot. We separate micro-history (finger oils, small scratches, fabric pilling) from macro-history (sun bleach, rust blooms, grime layering). Both must be present in controlled amounts, guided by the object’s purpose.

• Micro evidence: polished zones from contact, edge wear on high-frequency forms, micro-scratches aligned to usage direction (e.g., key insertion path on locks).
• Macro evidence: gradient dust accumulation, runoff streaks below fixtures, layered paint revealing earlier coats.
• Readability rule: Story beats must survive mips and distance. We validate at multiple camera ranges before locking maps.

2) Usage & Interaction: The Physics of Touch

Contact patterns follow physics and ergonomics. We model where and how often touch occurs, then translate those probabilities into masks that drive roughness, albedo wear, and normal variance.

Hands on Glass

• Distribution: smudges cluster near handles, push-plates, and panel edges; rarely centered.
• Roughness logic: oils lower roughness → brighter spec highlights at grazing angles; we avoid albedo darkening unless there’s residue build-up.
• Implementation: fingerprint/smudge decal set + procedural noise; scale with usage count to avoid “copy-paste” repetition.

Foot Traffic & Flow

• Tiles & stone: central path becomes glossy; edge grout darkens with trapped dust; steps erode in the middle.
• Carpet: fiber flattening in routes; color lift under sunlit thresholds; dirt gradient from entrances inward.
• Authoring: layered roughness masks (route splines) + detail normals for fiber direction; decals for gum/stain events.

Tools, Handles, and Grips

• Leather grips: darker, smoother at palm contact; stitch edges retain original roughness.
• Painted metal: micro-chipping aligns with edge normals; sweat zones accelerate oxidation near fasteners.
• Maps: albedo desaturation at worn paint, roughness drop where polished, subtle cavity dirt via AO-driven masks (hand-edited).

3) Age & Weathering: Time’s Effect on Surfaces

Time applies distinct signatures to different materials. We prototype time passes in Substance/Designer graphs to simulate stages: new → used → aged → failed.

• Wood: UV bleaching on sun-facing planes; oil darkening at touch zones; checks/splits along grain; raised fibers where water dried quickly.
• Metal: rust nucleates at scratches and seams; zinc/galv layers fail at edges first; waterline oxides cause color banding.
• Fabric: pilling on synthetic weaves; seam abrasion; perspiration salt rings; UV desaturation on exposed folds.
• Stone/Concrete: capillary staining; freeze-thaw spalling on corners; calcite streaks under leaks.

4) Place & Context: Environment as the Final Painter

Environment dictates wear vectors and contaminant types. We create context profiles that combine climate, exposure, and human activity.

Urban

• Diesel soot gradients near roads; drip streaks below window sills; layered posters with torn paper residue.
• Implementation: direction-aware streak masks (gravity-aligned) + decal library for posters/tears/fasteners.

Coastal

• Salt crystals leave white crust; paint blisters; hardware corrodes at welds first.
• Implementation: edge-biased cavity rust, parallax-free micro-crust normals; conservative albedo for salt to avoid glowing highlights.

Desert

• Sand scours windward faces; UV brittleness; dust settling in lee zones.
• Implementation: directional noise masks; hue shift/desaturation from sun; thin dust decals with camera-distance fade.

Forest/Jungle

• Moss and algae on shade-side; tannin stains from decomposing leaves; perpetual damp roughness lift.
• Implementation: slope/shade-aware blend masks; roughness floor clamp in damp zones; decals for leaf prints.

5) VizDev at Tenjisoft: Designing Texture Behavior

Our VizDev phase prevents rework. We treat textures as behaviors to be proven before mass production.

• Reference science: field photos with angle/lighting notes; categorize by use, age, place. Build a tagged library (e.g., “coastal_rust_joint”, “urban_streak_sill”).
• Usage maps: predict contact zones from ergonomics (handles, reach height, path splines). These drive roughness and wear masks.
• Shader prototypes: in-engine material instances with exposed controls (freshness, moisture, dust). Validate in multiple lighting rigs.
• Readability checks: test at gameplay distances and through mips; if the story vanishes, redistribute detail from albedo to roughness/normal.
• Sign-off: approve behavior, then scale to asset kits with trim sheets and decal sets.

6) Technical Foundations: PBR, UVs, Density, Optimization

PBR Accuracy

• Basecolor discipline: no baked AO; metals carry color via reflection, not painted albedo tints.
• Roughness as story: fingerprints = localized roughness drop; dust = roughness lift; avoid flat 0/1 extremes.
• Normals: clean bakes (hard/soft edges correct); cage setup prevents skew; detail normals add micro-directionality.

UVs & Texel Density

• Consistent density: e.g., heroes 512 px/m, primaries 256 px/m, background 128 px/m (ratios tailored per project).
• Padding & mips: adequate UV padding to prevent color bleed; verify with mip preview.
• Secondary UVs: separate lightmap/channel for baked lighting where needed; no overlaps.

Trim Sheets, Atlases & Decals

• Trim sheets: architecture and props pull from shared trims; allows consistency and low material variety.
• Atlases: small props batched; reduces draw calls and memory fragmentation.
• Decals: unique dirt/scratches without unique 4K maps; author thin and resolution-aware.

Performance-Safe Shading

• Restrict heavy features (parallax occlusion, layered refraction) to hero assets only.
• Channel packing (R/G/B/A) for grayscale maps; compress with platform-appropriate formats.
• Material instance hierarchy to minimize permutations; LOD materials simplify at distance.

7) Real-Life Scenarios We Translate into Maps

Hands on Glass (Doors, Trams, Office Partitions)

• Maps: roughness decals for smear clusters; faint normal for wiped streak direction; minimal albedo change unless residue is visible.
• Behavior: intensity scales with “use count” parameter; cleaning events reset portions with higher roughness.

Public Railings & Banisters

• Maps: polished roughness band on the upper curve; dust AO on underside; small nicks along edges.
• Behavior: indoor vs outdoor toggles corrosion set; stair density modulates polish width.

Tile Floors & Grout

• Maps: route-based gloss lift; darker grout via cavity; embedded particulate decals near thresholds.
• Behavior: wetness parameter increases clearcoat-like highlight; puddle decals avoid deep parallax for performance.

Leather Grips & Seats

• Maps: albedo darkening on palm/seat zones; roughness drop; micro-wrinkle normal aligned to stress.
• Behavior: heat/UV exposure adds fade on tops; perspiration adds salt ring speckle in roughness.

Coastal Fixtures (Gates, Boats, Rails)

• Maps: edge-biased rust; salt crust micro-normal; blistered paint with height-free illusions.
• Behavior: wave splashline parameter; on-shore wind side gains more abrasion.

8) Balancing Efficiency & Believability

Believability must survive budget constraints. We front-load story into roughness and normals, keep basecolor honest, and lean on decals for uniqueness. We scale texture sizes by player proximity and prioritize shader simplicity for distant LODs.

• Impact per ms: spend detail where the eye lands (hands, weapons, door hardware, UI-adjacent props).
• Reuse smartly: trims + decals make sets look bespoke without exploding materials.
• Mip literacy: verify that the story reads at the mip levels assets actually ship at.

Conclusion- Surfaces as Living Evidence

Textures at Tenjisoft are designed, tested, and proven through VizDev before they hit production. We translate real-world evidence into physically correct maps, tell micro- and macro-stories through roughness and normals, and keep performance healthy with trims, decals, and disciplined PBR. The result: assets that feel touched, aged, and placed, alive in their world.