Physically Based Rendering

Comparison of PBR
Left: Base Source Engine shaders.
Right: The PBR shader.

Physically based rendering (PBR) is an approach in computer graphics that seeks to render graphics in a way that more accurately models the flow of light in the real world. Many PBR pipelines have the accurate simulation of photorealism as their goal. Feasible and quick approximations of the bidirectional reflectance distribution function and rendering equation are of mathematical importance in this field. Photogrammetry may be used to help discover and encode accurate optical properties of materials. Shaders may be used to implement PBR principles.

In Source

Source does not ship with PBR by default. However, it is possible to add PBR shaders to a Source 2013 mod.

Additionally, two third-party Source Engine branches support and use PBR:

• Titanfall branch
• Strata Source

In Source 2

The default shaders in Source 2 utilize PBR.

See Also

• Adding PBR to your mod
• Adapting PBR Textures to Source

External Links

• Physically Based Rendering on Wikipedia