How does roughness differ from glossiness?

Roughness and glossiness are mathematically inverse concepts of the same physical phenomenon (glossiness = 1 – roughness). While older rendering pipelines often used the specular/glossiness workflow, the metal/roughness workflow is now the de facto industry standard for high-performance e-commerce applications, WebGL, and Unreal Engine.

Does a roughness map have to be saved as a linear image or as an sRGB image?

The roughness map contains purely mathematical control information and must be loaded and saved in a linear color space (non-color data). If it is incorrectly interpreted as sRGB, the gamma curve distorts the brightness values. This results in "milky," unrealistic highlights that ruin the visual quality of the rendering.

Are there physically accurate roughness ranges?

Yes. A professional CGI pipeline strictly adheres to physical PBR standards: polished metals typically have extremely low values (0 to 0.3), smooth plastics range from 0.4 to 0.6, while fabrics, concrete, or raw wood have values close to 1.0. Adherence to these specifications ensures that the Digital Twin responds photorealistically under all lighting conditions.

Can I save both metallic and roughness in the same texture?

Not only is this possible, but it’s also the absolute best practice for spatial computing and WebAR. In the so-called ORM workflow (Occlusion, Roughness, Metallic), we combine these three grayscale maps into the RGB channels of a single texture. This drastically reduces draw calls and VRAM usage, ensuring extremely fast load times in the e-commerce configurator.

What is a roughness map? Definition, use & tips

Q: What exactly does a roughness map control?

In high-end Physically Based Rendering (PBR), the roughness map defines the microscopic surface structure (micro-surface). It precisely controls how strongly light is scattered at each point. A black value (0.0) results in a flawlessly smooth, reflective surface, while white (1.0) creates an extremely rough, diffusely scattering material. This precision is essential for the photorealistic rendering of premium products.

Q: Why does my roughness look flatter in the Web Viewer than in the offline render?

Flat or incorrect material renderings in 3D viewers are almost always the result of faulty color management (the map was imported as sRGB instead of Linear). In addition, a texture resolution that is too low or missing mipmaps in the glTF/USDZ file can cause fine micro-details to appear washed out. A clean PBR export pipeline reliably eliminates these rendering artifacts.

Glossary

What is a roughness map?

Daniel Schuster

•

Last updated:

June 12, 2026

In this glossary article:

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Glossary

What is a roughness map?

Daniel Schuster

•

Last updated:

June 12, 2026

‍Definition of Roughness Map

A roughness map is a grayscale texture used in physically based rendering (PBR) specifies how strongly light is scattered at each point on a surface. In practice, we use this in our surface digitization (material scanning) for premium brands such as Kvadrat or Schramm .

Black / low values → smooth, reflective areas
White / high values → rough, diffuse areas

The roughness map thus replaces the "specular gloss value" that was commonly used in the past and ensures that materials react consistently in any HDR lighting setup.

Examples of Roughness Maps

Roughness maps determine how much light is scattered or reflected off a surface. The lighter the pixel, the more matte the material appears—the darker the pixel, the shinier it appears. The following examples show how differently the same principle can look:

Bouclé fabric

Light and dark loops alternate—creating a “spotty” roughness gradient. In the render, this results in soft highlights on the nodules and more diffuse areas in between.

Varnished wood

An almost uniformly dark shade of gray indicates that the surface is predominantly smooth and glossy. Microfiber scratches or dust particles appear as slightly lighter specks and subtly refract the light.

Roughness map of painted wood with fine scratches—dark glossy paint, light matte areas for aged reflections. — **Varnished wood with patina:** Light scratches and dark varnish create vibrant glossy edges and subtle signs of wear in the render.

Fine Linen

Uniform medium gray tones create a silky-matte appearance. The weave structure and yarn direction are preserved without any individual fibers appearing shiny—ideal for high-quality home textiles.

Roughness map of a densely woven fabric: light-colored fiber knots, darker depressions—an ideal microstructure for realistic light scattering. — **Dense microfabric:** The roughness map highlights every fiber and gives upholstery fabrics an authentically rough appearance. Especially when working with fabric and material surfaces, it’s helpful to check the textures in advance using the Checker for tileable textures.

3D rendering of a bright living room with a brown leather sofa and a view of the surrounding nature through large windows

From Technical Term to Visual Experience

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View Work

How Roughness Works in the PBR Shader

Gray value	Microscopic surface	Visual effect
0 – 0.25	almost polished	Clear reflections, harsh highlights
0.25 – 0.5	finely sanded	soft highlights, slight blur
0.5 – 0.75	brushed, matte	diffuse reflections, hardly any mirroring
0.75 – 1	sandblasted, as-cast	Completely matte; light scatters significantly

Note: Roughness controls only the scattering of reflected light, not the color —that comes from the albedo map. For realistic elevation and relief structures (joints, embossing, deep folds), you’ll also need a displacement map.

Typical Workflow – Roughness in 5Steps‍

1. Check the UV setup

Without a clean UV layout (→ UV mapping), you risk stretching and harsh transitions in the roughness.

UV layout of a seat cushion without overlaps – the basis for clean roughness maps — *Clean UVs: Each island is positioned without any overlap—this ensures that your roughness details will map exactly onto the mesh later on.*

Seat cushion with a checkered pattern — Seat cushion with UV Check pattern

2. Capture high-poly details

Sculpt or scan scratches or fiber textures; in Substance 3D Painter, you can paint micro-surface details directly as a roughness layer. Adobe Guide

High-poly wireframe of the seat cushion – modeled folds for the roughness map to be created later — *High-poly base: Creases and microstructures are applied to the detailed mesh—this information is later transferred to the low-poly geometry as roughness.*

3. Roughness Baken

In texture baking (→ Texture Baking), the fine details from the high-poly model are transferred to the low-poly model—providing the perfect foundation for consistent materials.

4. tone value correction & gamma

A roughness map must be saved in linear mode (sRGB off); otherwise, midtones will appear too shiny. Unlike the roughness (linear) map, the Albedo / Base Color Map is imported as sRGB/Color.

5. QA & brand look

Under CI lighting setups in Unreal Engine or Three.js , check: Does the material comply with the brand guidelines? If necessary, slightly adjust the roughness using a curve.

Quick Tips from Real-World Experience

Metal vs. dielectric Metals combine Roughness with Metallic-Map, plastic or wood remain at Metallic = 0.
Scratch trick Micro scratches look better if you add them in an extra layer as a detail normal map and as a Roughness Mask.
Render budget In web viewers, 1024² px is often sufficient; 4 k is better for packshot renderings to avoid banding.

Comparison: Roughness vs. Glossiness

Parameters	Value range	Inverted?	Popular Engines
Roughness	0 (mirror) – 1 (diffuse)	no	PBR Standard (Unreal, Blender Cycles, V-Ray Next)
Glossiness	0 (diffuse) – 1 (mirror)	yes (1 – R)	ältere Workflows (3ds Max, Unity < 5)

Tip: If your team is still using Glossiness, simply adjust the texture using Roughness = 1 – Glossiness.

FAQ - Roughness Map

What exactly does a roughness map control?

It determines how much light is scattered at each point on a surface—from reflective to matte. You can find an illustrative graphic in the Spline Guide to Bump and Roughness Maps.

How do I switch from "Glossiness" to "Roughness" in Adobe Dimension?

You can do this using the standard material preset. In the "Material Properties" panel, set Glossiness to 0 and add your roughness map (Adobe Dimension – Standard Materials) under “Roughness.”

How do I export roughness cleanly from 3ds Max?

Use the "Physical Material": Maps > Roughness > Bitmap and set "Use Roughness". Autodesk explains the workflow step by step (3ds Max Roughness Export).

Do I need special UV maps before baking?

Yes. A clean UV atlas prevents stretching; 8-pixel padding prevents bleeding.

Can I create roughness directly during texture baking?

Yes. With high-→low baking, micro-scratches and wear masks can be rendered in the roughness.

Why does my roughness look flatter in the Web Viewer than in the offline render?

Check whether the map was imported as sRGB instead of Linear and whether mip levels are filtering out the midtones. In Three.js, set `texture.encoding = THREE.LinearEncoding`.

Can I stack multiple detail roughness maps?

Yes. Store the base roughness in the RGB channels and blend a tileable micro-roughness as a detail map using a shader—that way, the main texture stays lightweight.

Are there "physically correct" roughness ranges?

Metals typically range from 0 to 0.3, plastics from 0.4 to 0.8, and cast surfaces up to 1.0. These values produce realistic gloss behavior in PBR engines such as Unreal and V-Ray.