Texel density is the reason a free CC0 pack looks custom or looks like a stamp. This page is a checklist with Locker3d examples — yellow plaster, worn planks, square tiles, patio tiles — not a generic engine lecture. If you need the resolution theory without interiors, use the 1K / 2K / 4K guide. Packs here stop at 4K. We will not tell you to download 8K from Locker3d.
The only number that matters
Texel density is pixels of texture per meter of surface. A 2048 map on a 2 m wall is about 1024 px/m. The same 2048 map on a 20 cm ceramic is about 10k px/m — waste, and the grout will look like a hairline on a billboard when you tile it. Pick the world size first, then pick 1K, 2K or 4K.
A usable interior default:
- Background walls and ceilings: ~512 px/m (2K on a ~4 m run, or 1K on a 2 m run).
- Walkable floors and mid walls: ~1024 px/m (2K on ~2 m).
- Hero close-ups (island, backsplash, first-person floor): ~2048 px/m (4K on ~2 m, or 2K on ~1 m).
Those numbers are starting points, not religion. Match neighboring surfaces so the plaster does not look sharper than the oak.
Yellow plaster — walls at 2 m
Yellow plaster is pigmented stucco. The catalog copy says plan the tile at about 2 m. Do that. If you UV a 3 m partition with the 4K map repeating three times, trowel marks shrink to noise. If you squash the same map onto a 40 cm column, the ochre wash becomes a poster.
Room camera: 2K. Wall fills the frame: 4K. Metallic stays 0. More walls: wall textures. Urban pairing: urban concrete.
Worn planks — board width, then tile length
Worn planks fail when the board is 8 cm wide in the texture and 40 cm wide in the room. Start the tile at 1.5–2 m so one plank width reads as a board. First-person walk: 4K. Furniture or a far dining camera: 2K. Kit: interior wood and wood.
Do not share one UV island between a tabletop and a 6 m floor. The table wants object-scale grain; the floor wants a longer run. Two mappings, one pack.
Square tiles vs patio tiles
Ceramics are modules. Square tiles are usually a kitchen or wet-room grid. Scale from one tile (often 20–30 cm, sometimes 10 cm mosaic). Patio tiles are outdoor modules — often 30–60 cm. If you use the patio map at kitchen scale, the grout becomes a trench. If you use the kitchen map on a terrace, you get dollhouse ceramics.
2K tiles most interiors. 4K when the camera sits on the grout (beauty backsplash). Category hub: tiles. Floor hub (boards and pavers, not ceramics): floor.
A 10-minute check before you hit render
- Place a 1 m cube or a real door (2.1 m) in the shot. The plaster repeat should look architectural next to it.
- Count grout lines across a 1 m tape on the kitchen floor. If you see 20 lines, the module is wrong.
- Compare roughness on the plaster and the oak under the same HDRI. If one is plastic, that map is still sRGB. Fix: Blender PBR setup.
- Bind 2K everywhere. Swap only the hero to 4K. Do not “upgrade” ceilings to 4K for comfort.
- If two rooms share a material, offset UVs or tint roughness slightly so they do not clone. That is cheaper than a second download.
Engines and the density lock
In Blender, apply scale, then use a Mapping node with the same numbers on albedo, normal and roughness. In Unreal, lock texture tiling on the material instance so a designer cannot stretch one wall. In Unity URP, the same maps drop into Lit — tiling still lives on the material, not in a random Mesh Renderer scale. Software notes: software.
How we write those starting sizes on each asset: how we review CC0 textures. Picking a pack on deadline: client archviz checklist. Interior kit: PBR textures for archviz interiors. New here: start here.
Frequently asked questions
What texel density should I use on an interior floor?
A common real-time target is about 512–1024 px/m on walkable floors. A 2K map on a 2 m plank run is ~1024 px/m. Jump to 4K when the camera is on the boards. Locker3d does not ship 8K.
Why does yellow plaster look noisy or stamped?
The tile is probably smaller than 2 m, or you used 4K on a distant wall. Scale the plaster to about 2 m and keep 2K for a room camera. 4K only if the wall fills the frame.
Do tiles use the same density as wood floors?
No. Scale from one ceramic module (often 20–30 cm), not from a 2 m plank run. Grout must match the real joint. Square tiles and patio tiles are different module sizes.