Normal map - defines per-pixel shading information albedo map, diffuse map, color map, all the same thing really (albedo defines diffuse and specular in metalness workflow more here) gloss map, roughness map, same thing, defines how rough or smooth the surface is which in turn defines how broad or narrow the specular…
I'm guessing the term Physical is used since it tries to mimic reality to a greater extent than more traditional used to. There's a substance texture as well which pretty much defines a Index Of Refraction value which defines the material. What this affects is such parameters as at what viewing angle will the material…
with any sort of paint, that paint becomes the material you're defining, not the metal underneath until the paint scrapes off. usually unless it's some form of pearlescent or layered paint it won't have any specular color. find a picture of paint on a tank. it's very matte, which means it doesn't reflect much of anything.…
The main defining characteristic for this type of material is the color variation in the specular reflections. Ideally you would even want to use a two-layered specular component, like you would for a car shader, to pull off the effect. Simple greyscale makes the look very hard to pull off, you've gotta "bake" the color…
Studying PBR theory, a question came to my mind. According to the sources, Diffuse and Specular, in physics, are 2 sides of the same coin: Specular is when the light bounces from the surface linearly in the opposite direction Diffuse is when it gets scattered around (and, if I got it correctly, roughness and microsurface…
I feel like that was kind of a confusing explanation, though it does have some good points (and maybe some inaccuracies? some things I couldn't quite make sense of some stuff from the wording). There's a few key bits of physics at play. Absorption, refraction, reflection, transmission are the most important in the context…