Material and surface authoring is the process of describing how a surface exists in a digital space. In modern 3D production, this is not handled by a single image, but by a coordinated set of texture maps that work together to describe color, reflectivity, roughness, depth, and material response.

These maps act as instructions for lighting and rendering systems, allowing a surface to appear metallic, soft, worn, polished, organic, or synthetic depending on how the data is authored.

A production-ready surface typically relies on multiple maps — each responsible for a specific aspect of material behavior. These can include color information, surface roughness, metallic response, depth cues, and other physical characteristics.

I design these systems so they work together efficiently, producing surfaces that remain consistent under different lighting conditions and scale cleanly across assets and environments.

Depending on the project, materials may be authored procedurally, handcrafted, or built through hybrid approaches. Procedural methods allow surfaces to remain flexible and adjustable, while handcrafted work provides precise artistic control.

I choose workflows based on production needs — balancing flexibility, reuse, visual specificity, and performance.

Because materials are evaluated constantly in real-time engines, efficiency matters. I author surfaces with an understanding of performance constraints, memory usage, and shader behavior — ensuring materials look strong without unnecessary overhead.

This allows assets to remain visually rich while staying stable and predictable inside interactive environments.

Material and surface authoring supports:

• Real-time games and interactive worlds • Cinematic and hybrid pipelines • Environment and prop production • Character and creature assets • Procedural and system-driven asset workflows