Map generator
Metallic map generator for PBR materials
Classify which pixels are truly metal, keep painted or oxidized areas dielectric, and export metalness with the rest of the material response.
Reviewed:
Direct answer: Metallic Map Generator
PLAYTEX AI generates a metallic channel inside the PBR Map Generator. In a metalness workflow, bare conductive metal is near white and ordinary dielectric material is near black; broad mid-gray values should be used only when the material mix justifies them. Treat the map as linear data, then export it separately or in the blue channel of an ORM texture.
- Bare metal
- Near white
- Dielectric
- Near black
- ORM channel
- Blue
Why metallic maps make plastic, paint, or rust look wrong
Metalness describes material class, not brightness. Painted metal is usually dielectric at the coating surface even when metal exists underneath.
| Symptom | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Stone or wood reflects like metal | Bright albedo pixels were classified as metallic. | Set non-conductive materials to black regardless of image brightness. |
| Painted metal looks like polished chrome | The metal substrate was applied through the intact coating. | Keep paint dielectric and reveal metal only at exposed chips or wear. |
| Metal response looks gamma-shifted | The scalar map was sampled as sRGB color. | Import metalness as linear data. |
| ORM import swaps material behavior | Metalness is not in the expected blue channel. | Confirm R=AO, G=roughness, B=metallic. |
Metalness review settings
- Conductive metal
- White / 1.0
- Dielectric
- Black / 0.0
- Paint and oxide
- Usually dielectric
- Color space
- Linear / NoColorSpace
- glTF / ORM
- Blue channel
- Pair with
- Roughness and base color
Sources used for this review
- Official: Khronos glTF PBR
- Official: Three.js MeshStandardMaterial metalnessMap
- Official: Khronos ORM channel pipeline
From source to reviewed handoff
Name the real materials
Identify bare metal, paint, oxide, dirt, stone, wood, or plastic before generating a mask.
Generate metalness
Use PLAYTEX AI to create the channel, then correct regions that image brightness classified incorrectly.
Review with roughness
A correct metalness mask can still look wrong if every metal region has the same roughness.
Export for the target
Keep a separate master and allow the engine package to place metalness in the expected channel.
Classify common surface regions
Use the visible top layer. The hidden substrate does not make an intact coating metallic.
| Surface region | Metalness | Watch for |
|---|---|---|
| Bare steel, copper, aluminum | White or near-white metalness | Use base color for the metal reflectance color |
| Paint over metal | Black while the coating is intact | Expose metal only where paint is removed |
| Rust or oxide | Usually black dielectric response | Blend carefully at partial wear boundaries |
| Wood, stone, plastic | Black | Brightness does not make these metallic |
Review before export
- Classify materials before reading pixel brightness
- Keep intact coatings dielectric
- Import the map as linear data
- Review metalness and roughness together
- Confirm blue-channel placement in ORM
Metallic Map Generator FAQ
What is a metallic map?
It is a scalar texture that tells a metalness PBR shader which surface regions behave as conductive metal and which behave as dielectric material.
Should a metallic map be black and white?
Most pure material regions are close to black or white. Intermediate values can represent blended coverage or transition pixels, but broad gray guesses often look wrong.
Is rust metallic?
Visible rust and oxide layers are generally treated as dielectric, even though the underlying material is metal.
Where is metallic stored in ORM?
In the blue channel when using the common occlusion-roughness-metallic channel order.