UE5 Textures
Best practices for texture assets in Unreal Engine 5.
Naming Convention
code
T_BaseAssetName_MapType
| Suffix | Map Type |
|---|---|
| _D | Diffuse/Base Color |
| _N | Normal Map |
| _R | Roughness |
| _M | Metallic |
| _E | Emissive |
| _A | Alpha/Opacity |
| _O | Ambient Occlusion |
| _ORM | Packed AO/Roughness/Metallic |
| _H | Height/Displacement |
Examples: T_Rock_D, T_Rock_N, T_Rock_ORM
Resolution Requirements
| Rule | Details |
|---|---|
| Power of 2 | 256, 512, 1024, 2048, 4096, 8192 |
| Maximum | 8192x8192 |
| UI Exception | UI textures can be non-power-of-2 |
Compression Settings
| Format | Use Case |
|---|---|
| BC1/DXT1 | RGB, no alpha (smallest) |
| BC3/DXT5 | RGBA with alpha |
| BC5 | Normal maps (2-channel) |
| BC7 | High quality RGBA |
| ASTC | Mobile platforms |
| ETC2 | Mobile fallback |
sRGB Settings
| Texture Type | sRGB |
|---|---|
| Base Color/Diffuse | ON |
| Normal Map | OFF |
| Roughness | OFF |
| Metallic | OFF |
| AO | OFF |
| Emissive | ON |
| Masks | OFF |
Rule: sRGB OFF for any non-color data
Texture Packing
Combine grayscale maps into single texture channels:
code
ORM Texture (3 maps in 1): R = Ambient Occlusion G = Roughness B = Metallic A = (unused or mask)
Benefits:
- •Fewer texture samples
- •Reduced memory
- •Better performance
Texture Groups
Assign appropriate texture groups for LOD behavior:
| Group | Use Case |
|---|---|
| World | Environment textures |
| Character | Character textures |
| Weapon | Weapon textures |
| UI | Interface textures |
| Effects | VFX textures |
Best Practices
| Practice | Reason |
|---|---|
| Enable mipmaps | Prevents aliasing at distance |
| Consistent texel density | Visual consistency |
| Pack grayscale maps | Performance |
| Use BC5 for normals | Quality preservation |
| Appropriate max size | Memory optimization |
Import Settings Checklist
- • Correct compression format selected
- • sRGB set correctly for texture type
- • Mipmap generation enabled
- • Power of 2 dimensions (or UI exception)
- • Appropriate texture group assigned
- • Normal map detected and configured
Mobile Considerations
| Platform | Format |
|---|---|
| iOS | ASTC |
| Android | ASTC or ETC2 |
| Fallback | ETC2 |
Set platform-specific overrides in texture settings for mobile builds.
Documentation: https://dev.epicgames.com/documentation/en-us/unreal-engine/texture-format-support-and-settings-in-unreal-engine