Texturing is the process of adding surface detail, colour and material qualities to a 3D model, so a grey mesh looks like wood, metal, cloth or stone. Colour and surface qualities are stored in a material, often using image files called textures that are wrapped onto the model with a UV map. Lighting is the placement of virtual lights in a 3D scene to make objects visible, show their form and create mood. The classic starting setup is three-point lighting: a key light, a fill light and a back light.
This lesson continues from 3D Modelling for Beginners: Create Game Props and Assets With the Extrude Tool. For colour choices, revisit Colour Theory for Game Design and Animation.
Part 1: Applying texture and colour
Materials
A material describes how a surface reacts to light. Modern game engines use physically based rendering (PBR) materials with a few key settings:
| Property / map | What it controls | Example |
| Base colour (albedo) | The surface’s own colour, without lighting or shadows. | Red paint, brown wood grain. |
| Roughness | How rough or glossy the surface is. | Rough = chalky stone; smooth = polished metal or wet paint. |
| Metallic | Whether the surface behaves like metal. | Gold coins (metallic) vs a wooden crate (not). |
| Normal map | Fake small bumps and dents without extra polygons. | Wood grain, rivets, brick edges. |
| Emission | Makes the surface glow. | Lanterns, screens, magic crystals. |
UV unwrapping
A UV map is a flattened version of a 3D model’s surface, like unfolding a cardboard box. U and V are the horizontal and vertical axes of the flat image (X, Y and Z are already used for 3D space). In Blender, you mark seams where the model should be “cut”, then choose UV › Unwrap. The flat UV layout can then be painted in any 2D art program or with Blender’s texture paint mode.
Simple ways to colour game props
- Flat colour materials: give each part its own coloured material. Quick and perfect for a clean low-poly style.
- Palette texture: one small image with colour swatches; each face’s UVs are placed on a swatch. Many low-poly games use this, because one texture serves hundreds of props.
- Hand-painted textures: paint light, shadow and detail directly into the base colour for a stylised look.
- Photo-based or PBR textures: use openly licensed texture libraries (for example CC0 sites) for realistic surfaces.
Part 2: Basic lighting for a 3D scene
Types of lights
- Point light: shines in all directions from one point, like a light bulb or candle.
- Sun (directional) light: parallel rays from far away; lights a whole outdoor scene evenly.
- Spot light: a cone of light, like a torch or stage spotlight.
- Area light: light from a surface such as a window or softbox; gives soft shadows.
- Ambient / environment light: general light from the sky or surroundings that stops shadows from being completely black.
Three-point lighting
- Key light: the main, brightest light, usually placed about 45° to one side of the camera and slightly above the subject. It defines the form and main shadows.
- Fill light: a softer, dimmer light on the opposite side that lightens the shadows the key creates.
- Back light (rim light): placed behind the subject, it outlines the edges and separates the subject from the background.
This official Blender Fundamentals video shows three-point lighting set up step by step in Blender:
Lighting in games
Game lighting must run in real time. Engines combine real-time lights (which can move and change) with baked lighting, where light and shadow are pre-calculated and stored in textures called lightmaps to save processing power. Light colour temperature also tells a story: warm orange light for evening or firelight, cool blue for moonlight or tension.
Example
A student textures the treasure chest from the previous lesson. She marks seams around the lid and base, unwraps the model and paints a simple texture: brown wood planks with darker lines between them and golden metal bands. In the material, she sets the bands to metallic with low roughness so they shine, and the wood to high roughness. For the scene, she adds a warm key light from the front-left, a dim cool fill from the right and a strong back light behind the chest so its outline glows, then renders a portfolio image.
Exercise
- Give a model three flat-colour materials with different roughness and metallic settings. Describe how each looks under the same light.
- Mark seams, unwrap a simple prop and apply a checker texture to check for stretching; then paint or apply a real texture.
- Set up three-point lighting around your prop. Render three images: key only, key + fill, and key + fill + back. Compare them.
- Relight the same scene for two moods – a sunny afternoon and a spooky night – by changing light colours, strengths and positions.
Next: Persistence of Vision, Simple 2D Movement and the Bouncing Ball Timing Exercise
Syllabus link: This post is relevant to the CAPE® Animation and Game Design Syllabus, Unit 2: Interactive Design and Game Development, Module 3: Animation for Games – Specific Objective 6 (“apply texture and colour to 3D Object”); Specific Objective 7 (“use basic Lighting for 3D scene”).
Attributions to media used in this post:
Cube Representative UV Unwrapping.png – Zephyris at English Wikipedia – CC BY-SA 3.0 (via Wikimedia Commons)
Hand-painted house 3D model stages.png – Drummyfish – CC0 (via Wikimedia Commons)
Portrait with simple three-point lighting, by Robert Judge.jpg – Robert Judge – CC BY 2.0 (via Wikimedia Commons)
© 2026 Vedesh Kungebeharry. All rights reserved.
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