Shading

The rig allows you to choose how the model is shaded inside of Blender. You can choose from an emission shader, a basic PBR shader, or you own custom shader group, as well as allowing you to choose how textures are interpolated.

Editing any of these properties will be reflected on all existing models attached to the rig.

Emission Shading (Unshaded)

By default, the rig uses an Emission shader, which can be considered as 'unshaded'. It's similar to how it looks in game.

Tip

To have Blender roughly match the same color space that Project Zomboid uses, it is recommended to change Blender's color space to 'Standard' when using an Emission based workflow. The option can be found in the 'Color Management' panel in the 'Render' tab in the Properties Editor.

You can edit the strength of the emission shader, which can be used to indicate if the character is in a darker or a brighter area.

PBR Shading

There is an option for a basic PBR shader, which uses the Principled BSDF node.

You can edit:

• The roughness of the model (less is shinier)
• How metallic the model is

Custom Shading

The 'Custom' setting is the most robust one, allowing you to create your own Shader Node groups and connect them into the logic used by the rig's material.

When making a custom shader group for the rig, you must make sure that:

• The first input is a Color input named 'Color'
• The second input is a Float input named 'Alpha'
• The first and only output is a Shader output named 'Shader'

An included example shader node group named 'SHD-Toon' is included, and looks like this:

Texture Interpolation

You can select whether the textures used on the rig will use Linear interpolation or Closest interpolation.

Linear Interpolation is:

• Smoothed
• What Project Zomboid uses
• Slightly ugly when closely zoomed in

Closest Interpolation is:

• Pixelated
• Better for close-ups