DevKit > About PBR and Reflection Probes
PBR is a new way of making and rendering materials and textures in Second Life. It makes things look more realistic because with PBR, the materials react in a natural way with the lighting ambiance.
From now on, any object can have 2 sets of textures. The old "legacy" textures, and the new PBR textures.
At the date I write this note (June 26, 2024), all major viewers support PBR. Firestorm added support for PBR in their very last update (June 2024) so if you use Firestorm, make sure that you use the latest version.
I didn't want to impose the PBR texture to everybody, because I think that it will take time until each user in SL gets used to this new type of materials. That's why Good Moaning furniture, by default, still use the legacy textures. But i have added an option "PBR" in the texture selector, which allows you to switch to PBR.
There is no problem, but PBR often requires some additional work from you. In short: an object receives the light from the sky, even if it is inside your home. So if you watch a PBR furniture in your home, you might see some strange reflections on it and some wrong lighting, because it is lightened by the sun, even if it is inside your home and under a roof!
To solve this problem, Linden has introduced the Reflection Probes. A reflection probe is an object that prevents the light from the sky to penetrate directly inside a given area.
Instead of a long textual explanation, I recommend you to watch this video. I am NOT the author of it, it is made by ARTSY. It explains why and how to set up a reflection probe, and it is beginner-friendly: