Blog

Directing materials with a mood board instead of a prompt

Words are a poor way to describe travertine. A reference board says it at once - and the render reads it as material, not as a picture to copy.

Parti ·

A mood board of travertine, bronze screening, marble and fabric samples with a colour palette

A prompt that asks for warm stone and bronze will get stone and bronze, but rarely yours. A reference image tagged as material tells the engine what the surfaces should be made of, while the geometry still comes from your source.

The same building rendered in clear morning light with cooler stone
Morning light, the same material palette.

One board, many views

Because the board is a node on the canvas, the same palette feeds every view of the project. Change a sample once and every render downstream can be run again with it.