Japanese Mosaic

Project

The idea for this new project came to me while visiting one of my favorite places in Japan, the Tokyo National Museum.

Beyond the richness of its collections and exhibitions, I am deeply inspired by the building’s architecture. The mosaic framed by textured plaster on the ground floor of the main building is a hidden gem.

This detail motivated me to recreate the rhythmic pattern, the lively surface texture of the walls, and the beauty of imperfection. Working with this combination of materials became a new challenge for me.

References & Inspiration

Gathering references is one of the most important stages of any project, so having the opportunity to create them personally is a great advantage.

Photographs taken from multiple angles became an invaluable resource throughout the entire workflow.

Software

For material creation I used Substance Designer, and the final renders including video were created in Blender.

Mosaic Creation

First, it was necessary to create the pattern for the future mosaic.

Using an SVG node, I manually recreated the main pattern and multiplied it with a Tile Sampler.

Since the mosaic is framed by plaster and grout, its edges are less exposed to mechanical wear in reality, so there was no need to apply strong deformation.

I applied slight height variations and minimal edge irregularities to the elements. At this stage, the base mosaic was complete and I moved on to creating the textured plaster.

Plaster Creation

I achieved the effect of uneven spatula strokes by combining several Grunge Map masks and multiplying them using a Tile Sampler.

Through a chain of subsequent nodes, I adjusted the plaster scale, blending variation and introduced slight distortion by adding noise.

Next, I blended the main plaster pattern with the surface texture effect obtained by modifying Moisture Noise.

After that, I moved on to adding fine surface details to the base plaster material, such as cracks and small bumps.

Blending the base material strokes with the irregularity masks helped create a sense of height variation. This allowed me to convey the effect of tool pressure during the plastering process.

Cracks are always part of a material’s story, and the museum plaster was no exception.

After creating the main pattern of fine cracks, I added them to a blend by subtracting them from the base.

One of the references captured in the museum revealed an interesting detail. The mosaic elements are embedded into the plaster, forming a smooth, continuous surface, while subtle height differences can be observed in areas without mosaic.

The light hitting the wall further emphasizes this sense of depth.

Moving on to the nodes, I started with the main mask of the entire mosaic.

Using Edge Detect, I added an outline to the mask, then created smooth volume with Bevel and combined it with the base mask using Height Blend.

Next, I created the grout between the mosaic elements. As in the previous step, the mask outline was used as a base, and Flood Fill to Gradient was applied to emphasize surface irregularities.

Using a subtract blend, I removed excess grout and added the result to the main height map chain.

The initial result felt insufficient to me, so I added a bit more grout to create a stronger visual accent.

Let’s briefly return to the reference.

I was drawn to the small, irregular plaster strokes that break the overall rhythm, as well as the intentional flatness and glossy finish of certain surface areas.

I wanted to avoid overloading these elements, so they were placed selectively across the plaster surface.

The resulting additional layer was added to the existing base using Height Blend with an inverted mosaic mask.

Mosaic Base Color

Working with color is the most exciting stage of material creation. Before moving on to coloring the mosaic elements, I needed to take a step back and return to the mosaic setup itself.

I was inspired by a technique described by Vincent Dérozier that makes it possible to assign individual colors to each mosaic element using an SVG node, based on the reference.

After breaking the pattern into individual components, I used Histogram Scan to create separate masks that helped define the main colors and add variation to the mosaic.

The tiles in the central part of the mosaic have a granite-like appearance, with a subtle grain visible on top of the base color.

This effect was achieved by defining the base color using a Gradient Map combined with Mosaic Color, and then blending in a suitable noise mask.

Next, I created a calmer, more restrained color palette with fewer accents to increase overall contrast.

This time, I experimented by avoiding Mosaic Color and instead modifying Cells Noise to achieve smoother, more organic color transitions.

The remaining mosaic elements were colored using the same approach, with subtle differences introduced by adjusting the base color through HSL.

Plaster Base Color

At the next stage, I moved on to coloring the plaster.

To build the base, I used the blended height map, modified it with Directional Warp driven by noise, and then applied a Gradient Map to define the color based on my reference.

I gradually built up the previously created masks, such as grout, scratches, and cracks, blending them together with subtle shifts in color.

The final step involved adding the mosaic color map to the plaster, completing the material.

The work on the additional materials (the baseboard and floor tiles) was carried out using nodes that had already been applied earlier.

Their combinations and parameters were reinterpreted to address new tasks, without introducing fundamentally new techniques.

This approach helped maintain visual cohesion across the scene, ensure consistency between materials, and optimize the workflow through the reuse of proven solutions.

Lighting & Rendering

All rendering for the project, including still images and video, was done in Blender.

Through the lighting and rendering setup, I aimed to convey the atmosphere of a museum interior: soft sunset lighting, dramatic shadows, and a delicate interplay of light across the glossy surface of the mosaic.

Let’s take one example.

The interior renders were created in a single Blender file, with camera and lighting setups organized separately to keep the workflow clean and manageable.

This scene uses six light sources: a key light, a fill light, and four smaller lights used to accentuate highlights on the mosaic.

The key light is a warm source that simulates sunset sunlight, establishing the overall direction and defining the balance between light and shadow.

A cooler fill light was used to gently illuminate shaded areas, enhancing the contrast created by the key source.

Conclusion

Throughout this project, my goal was not only to create realistic materials, but also to capture a sense of space and the context in which they exist.

I’m happy with the final result and genuinely enjoyed the process of working on these materials.

Thank you for taking the time to read this breakdown, and I hope you found it useful.

I’d also like to thank Games Artist for the opportunity to share my workflow and publish this breakdown.

If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me on ArtStation, LinkedIn, or Instagram.