What is the correct description of what a Texture is?

EliasWick

Hello wonderful people!
I am sorry if I may have posted this in the wrong section of the forum. This is the only place that I could find, fitting the subject that I am about to ask.

I've been working as a 3D artist for quite some time now, and today I got really confused, what is a texture really? How do I use the word correctly?

For me, a texture is the complete "Material of texture-maps combined" Am I incorrect here or am I on the right track?
For example, having, a diffuse map, normal map, and specular map combined, is a texture for me.

A normal map for me is just called a map? But can I call that a texture as well?
I am getting crazy over here! I'd appreciate any answer! Thanks!

Eric Chadwick

Usually when game artists say "texture" they refer to a single bitmap used in a material. However, if they say they are texturing, they mean they are creating all the bitmaps that go in the material. Sometimes this includes the material settings also. But usually it means just making the bitmaps.

A material is texturing plus surfacing. Though surfacing is kind of a film CG term, not used much in games. Maybe that'll change.

YakZSmelk

I think Eric already clarified but I thought I'd add this in as well. Shader and Material tend to confused by artists as well.

A Shader is the framework for a Material, so this can be created either in code or in a node based editor. The shader defines the properties of a material.

A Material is the compiled textures(Diffuse, Spec, Normal, etc.)