PBR Materials

Create and configure physically-based rendering materials with multiple texture channels for realistic rendering.

Usage

/blockbench-pbr <action> [args]

Actions:

• create <name> - Create a new PBR material
• configure <material> - Set material properties
• channel <material> <channel> - Assign texture to channel
• list - List all materials
• export <material> - Export texture_set.json

Prerequisites

• Blockbench must be running with the MCP plugin enabled
• PBR materials plugin may be required depending on format

Steps

Creating PBR Materials

1. Create material using mcpblockbenchcreatepbrmaterial:

``json { "name": "metal_surface", "channels": ["color", "normal", "mer"] } ` - name: Material identifier - channels`: Which PBR channels to enable

Configuring Materials

1. Configure properties using mcpblockbenchconfigure_material:

``json { "materialuuid": "<uuid>", "metalness": 1.0, "roughness": 0.3, "emissive": 0.0, "subsurfacescattering": false } ` - metalness: 0.0 (dielectric) to 1.0 (metal) - roughness: 0.0 (smooth/shiny) to 1.0 (rough/matte) - emissive: Emission intensity - subsurface_scattering`: Enable SSS for skin/wax/etc.

Assigning Texture Channels

1. Assign texture using mcpblockbenchassigntexturechannel:

``json { "materialuuid": "<material-uuid>", "channel": "normal", "textureuuid": "<texture-uuid>" } ``

Managing Materials

1. List materials using mcpblockbenchlist_materials:

- Returns all PBR materials in the project - Includes channel assignments

1. Get material info using mcpblockbenchgetmaterialinfo:

- materialuuid: Material to inspect - Returns full configuration - Includes textureset.json preview

Import/Export

1. Import texture set using mcpblockbenchimporttextureset:

- path: Path to texture_set.json - Imports Bedrock/RTX format materials

1. Save material config using mcpblockbenchsavematerialconfig:

- materialuuid: Material to export - path: Output path - Exports textureset.json format

PBR Channels

MER Channel Packing

The MER texture packs three properties into RGB:

• R: Metalness (0-255 maps to 0.0-1.0)
• G: Emissive (0-255 maps to 0.0-1.0)
• B: Roughness (0-255 maps to 0.0-1.0)

Common Material Presets

Example Workflow

User: Create a metallic machine material

1. Create PBR material "machine_metal" with channels [color, normal, mer]
2. Configure: metalness 1.0, roughness 0.4
3. Create/assign color texture with base metal color
4. Create/assign normal texture for surface detail
5. Create MER texture:
   - R channel: 255 (full metalness)
   - G channel: 0 (no emission)
   - B channel: 102 (0.4 roughness)
6. Assign MER texture to mer channel
7. Export texture_set.json for Bedrock/RTX

Integration with Fabrica

For Hytale models, PBR is handled through shading modes:

• Use fullbright shading for emissive surfaces
• Use reflective shading for metallic surfaces
• Standard PBR export is for Bedrock/RTX rendering

texture_set.json Format

{
  "format_version": "1.16.100",
  "minecraft:texture_set": {
    "color": "machine_color",
    "normal": "machine_normal",
    "metalness_emissive_roughness": "machine_mer"
  }
}