Technology & Digital Applications Flashcards

Which file format is most commonly used for storing HDR environment maps used in 3D texture lighting?

Answer: .exr

OpenEXR (.exr) supports 32-bit floating-point data per channel, making it ideal for storing HDR (high dynamic range) environment maps.

In Substance Painter, what is the purpose of the 'Baking' step before texturing?

Answer: Transferring mesh details from a high-poly to a low-poly model

Baking transfers surface detail (normals, ambient occlusion, curvature) from a high-resolution mesh onto the low-poly model's texture maps.

What does the term 'texel density' refer to in 3D texturing?

Answer: The number of texture pixels per unit of surface area

Texel density measures how many texture pixels (texels) cover a given unit of surface area, ensuring consistent detail across all objects in a scene.

Which GPU-accelerated technique allows 3D applications to display detailed surface textures without adding geometry?

Answer: Normal mapping

Normal mapping fakes the appearance of surface detail by altering how light interacts with a surface, without changing actual geometry.

In the context of real-time game engines, what is a 'texture atlas'?

Answer: A single large texture sheet combining multiple smaller textures

A texture atlas packs multiple textures into one image to reduce draw calls and improve rendering performance in real-time engines.

What rendering technique uses the roughness and metallic maps together to simulate realistic material appearance in modern game engines?

Answer: Physically Based Rendering (PBR)

PBR (Physically Based Rendering) uses roughness and metallic maps alongside albedo and normal maps to simulate how real-world materials reflect light.

Which software application is specifically designed as a standalone node-based texture creation tool popular in the game industry?

Answer: Substance Designer

Substance Designer uses a procedural, node-based workflow to create tileable textures and material graphs from scratch.