← Back to Search
AVC 185 • Spring 2026

Week 6

Materials and Textures Fundamentals & Boolean Modeling and Material Fundamentals
February 23 – 25, 2026
← Week 5 Week 7 →

Week Overview

Monday covers this lecture covers the fundamental principles of materials and textures in computer graphics, focusing on understanding channels, data types, and the relationship between human perception and digital color storage. Wednesday focuses on this lecture covers student presentations of boolean modeling projects followed by an introduction to material creation using bump maps, normal maps, and displacement techniques.

Materials Textures Shader Nodes Color Theory File Management Blender Boolean Modeling Normal Maps Geometry Nodes Wireframe Texturing
Monday
February 23, 2026

Materials and Textures Fundamentals

This lecture covers the fundamental principles of materials and textures in computer graphics, focusing on understanding channels, data types, and the relationship between human perception and digital color storage.

Watch Full Lecture →
1
Introduction and Setup
0:00 Introduction and Setup
5:16 Materials and Textures Overview
2
File Management
12:35 Polyhaven Material Download
25:48 File Management and Packing Resources
3
Shader Node Basics
42:04 Shader Nodes Introduction
56:01 Base Color Channel
1:20:44 Pixels as Data Storage
4
Color Theory and Perception
1:32:07 Human Vision and Nonlinear Perception
1:44:47 Bit Depth and Color Storage
1:53:26 sRGB vs Linear Color Spaces
5
Material Channels
2:02:17 Metallic and Roughness Channels
2:04:48 Index of Refraction
2:07:59 Alpha Channel and Masking
2:10:30 Material Parameter Demonstration

Key Concepts

  • Materials contain channels that control different visual aspects
  • Textures provide one slider per pixel for detailed control
  • Human vision is nonlinear - we perceive darkness better than brightness
  • sRGB color space accommodates human perception while linear space is used for calculations
  • Different channels expect different data types - color vs scalar values
  • File management becomes critical when working with external texture files
  • Understanding bit depth affects image quality and file size
  • Proper color space tagging prevents incorrect material appearance
Wednesday
February 25, 2026

Boolean Modeling and Material Fundamentals

This lecture covers student presentations of boolean modeling projects followed by an introduction to material creation using bump maps, normal maps, and displacement techniques.

Watch Full Lecture →
1
Student Presentations
13 projects
0:00 Introduction and Setup
1:48 Student Presentation: Boolean Planet
7:25 Curriculum Design and Tool Usage
11:32 Student Presentation: Garden Architecture
18:47 Student Presentation: Skateboard Arena
43:32 Student Presentation: Open Air Building
52:01 Student Presentation: Modern Architecture
57:17 Student Presentation: Castle Design
1:00:40 Student Presentation: Japanese Temple
1:11:20 Student Presentation: Connected Buildings
1:21:51 Student Presentation: Dome Building
1:32:11 Student Presentation: Upside Down Building
1:35:25 Student Presentation: City Station
2
Technical Demonstrations
23:17 Wireframe and Support Structure Techniques
34:35 Introduction to Geometry Nodes
3
Materials and Texturing
1:44:15 Materials Introduction: Color and Roughness
1:46:01 Bump and Normal Mapping
2:16:51 Displacement Mapping
2:24:30 Downloading and Setting Up Textures
2:37:09 Assignment Overview and Next Steps

Key Concepts

  • Boolean operations can be destructive or procedural with different advantages
  • Normal maps store 3D surface angle information in RGB channels
  • Bump maps use scalar black and white data for surface detail
  • Displacement maps actually move geometry vertices unlike bump/normal
  • Wireframe modifier provides quick structural detail solutions
  • Geometry nodes offer procedural alternatives to traditional modifiers
  • Color and normal maps provide most material visual impact
  • Proper texture space configuration is critical for material setup