What Materials Make A Realistic 3D Cartoon House Model?

I tend to think of materials as recipes: base color + surface response + detail masks. For a realistic-feeling cartoon house that means using PBR maps (albedo, roughness, normal, metallic) as the foundation, then layering character with AO, curvature, height maps, and decals. Wood needs grain normal maps and a roughness map that varies from weathered boards to varnished trim; plaster or stucco benefits from subtle micro-displacement and a noisy roughness map to break specular highlights. Glass should have proper IOR and thickness, and emissive maps are great for lit windows.

Practical additions: trim sheets for repetitive details, vertex paint to blend textures, and baked maps (AO, curvature, ID) from a high-poly model to drive wear and stains. Don’t forget small props—pots, mailboxes, wiring—each with their own material properties like anisotropic metal for fixtures or SSS for lampshades. Keeping texture resolutions sensible (2K/4K for focal parts) and using procedural noises for non-repeating dirt will keep the model both believable and stylized. In short, mix clean stylized color with realistic shading behavior and layered weathering to make the house feel alive—it’s the little imperfections that get me every time.

I get a kick out of building cartoon-y houses that still feel grounded, so my first stop is a solid PBR material setup—because believable light response sells the scene even when proportions are stylized. For walls I usually start with a base albedo (no pure black or white), a roughness map so different plaster or paint patches reflect differently, and a normal map for subtle bumps. Add an ambient occlusion map baked from a high/low poly pair to anchor shadows into crevices. Bricks or wood planks get tileable diffuse/roughness/normal maps and a curvature map to drive edge wear.

For the roof, shingles or tiles benefit from a height map or parallax occlusion to suggest depth; for leather or fabric (curtains, cushions) I layer a subsurface scattering or slight transmission with micro-normal details to catch soft highlights. Glass needs a low roughness value, proper IOR (~1.45), thickness or two-sided geometry for believable refraction, and an emissive map behind it for interior lights. Metals like gutters, doorknobs, and signage should use a metalness map—metals use the metal workflow in PBR while paints/stucco use dielectric values.

To make it look lived-in I throw in dirt/grime masks (dirt accumulates in AO cavities), moss or lichen on north-facing roofs, chipped paint driven by a curvature/ambient occlusion mix, and decals for stickers or cracks. Procedural noises layered with baked maps help avoid repetition. Practical tips: keep at least 2k textures for hero assets (4k where camera will zoom), use trim sheets for repeated architectural details, and bake curvature/ID/position maps for flexible material blending. People often forget normal bevels on edges—bevel geometry or a bevel-normal map makes the shading read far better. My favorite little trick is a subtle clearcoat on varnished wood to sell that warm, lived-in sheen; it always makes the house feel friendlier to me.

When I sketch out a cute, slightly cartoony house, I think about storytelling through materials before modeling a single brick. Bright, readable colors matter, but realistic material behavior gives weight and light-interest: so I combine stylized albedos with physically plausible roughness and normal detail. For siding I might push saturated color in the albedo but keep a realistic roughness range so sunlight glances off in believable ways. I also create an ID map early on—roof, trim, windows, door—so I can paint wear and different materials quickly.

Technically, my go-to stack is: albedo/diffuse, roughness, metallic (often empty for non-metals), normal, ambient occlusion, and a height map for micro-relief. For blended effects I use vertex colors or a mask to mix tiles and planks without obvious seams. Windows get a thin glass shader with reflection and slight tint, plus an emissive layer for warm interior light at dusk. Cloth items like curtains use a micro-normal map and a tiny amount of subsurface scatter to soften highlights. For extra charm I add decals—peeling posters, nameplates, or bird droppings—and use curvature/AO to drive where grime sits.

If I’m working in a game engine, trim sheets and texture atlases are lifesavers for performance. And for rendering stills, layered shaders (grime over paint, clearcoat over wood) let me dial realism without losing the playful silhouette. I love mixing these approaches because the house ends up readable from a distance but full of tiny details when you zoom in—little cues that tell its story.