settled-reach/docs/assets/visual/palette.md

---
title: "Visual Palette"
description: "Phase-4 visual style bible — camera, entity colours, environmental neutrality, D-235 material register, toon/PBR rendering treatment"
type: design
status: active
decision_refs: [D-019, D-033, D-045, D-148, D-149, D-217, D-232, D-235, D-244, D-257]
author: "Araminta"
updated: 2026-07-25
---

# Visual Palette

Status: **Active** — Phase-4 style bible (T-1052). This document is the current
source of truth for rendered-look art direction. It supersedes the framing (not
every individual data point) of the two documents listed in
[Superseded documents](#superseded-documents) below.

---

## 1. Camera

Two camera records exist and apply to **different surfaces** — this was
previously conflated in this document; corrected here.

| Camera | Angle | Where it applies | Status |
|--------|-------|-------------------|--------|
| **D-148** | 30° low-angle `Camera3D` tilt (−30° from horizontal in the confirmed preset convention — see D-148's 2026-07-06 editorial note), 45° static map rotation | **Gameplay** — the default in-world camera, Phase 5+ | Active, confirmed default |
| **D-019** | −72.5° from horizontal (midpoint of the old "15–20° from vertical" sprite-tilt range) | **Offline renderer only** — the retired 2D-sprite production pipeline (`renderer/`, now repurposed per D-244 as the flat-2D-artwork generator; see `renderer/README.md`) | Superseded for gameplay by D-148; survives only as an offline-render setting |

**Why both survive:** D-148 replaced D-019 as the *gameplay* camera when the
project pivoted to live 3D rendering (D-149) and then to fully 3D objects
(D-244) — there are no more pre-rendered sprites to view "at the angle" during
play. D-019's −72.5° Camera3D setting doesn't disappear, though: it is still
the correct setting for the **offline** render rig that produces flat 2D
artwork (paintings, flags, billboards, signage — the D-244(b) content class),
because that pipeline still renders a 3D scene down to a flat texture and
needs a camera angle to do it. Two different cameras, two different jobs:
one drives what the player sees, the other bakes a flat image asset.

Do not describe D-019's angle as "the gameplay camera" anywhere — that
sentence is what this document is correcting.

---

## 2. Rendering Treatment — Toon vs. PBR

**Authority: [D-257](../../../governance/decisions/architecture.md#d-257)**
(environment props share the character toon shading treatment; minimal-PBR
carve-out for glazing). This section is the practical guidance derived from
that record — the binding decision and its full rationale live in D-257, not
here.

**Environment props and furniture share the character toon treatment.** One
shader family, one look, across the whole in-world scene — with a single,
narrow, explicitly-named exception for glass and polished/mirror-finish metal,
which get a distinct minimal-PBR material rather than being forced through
the flat toon response.

### 2.1 What "sharing the toon treatment" means concretely

- Environment `.glb` models use the same shader family as characters:
  `toon.gdshader` (flat lit/shadow-band ALBEDO, no PBR lighting response) or
  `toon_masked.gdshader` (recolor-mask variant, for props that need
  runtime tint — e.g. a favorite-color object, a faction-liveried crate)
  where a tintable variant is needed. `outline.gdshader` (inverted-hull) applies
  to entities and to any prop the visual hierarchy calls out for emphasis (see
  §4 tie-in below) — not universally to every static prop, matching the
  existing entity > object > structure outline-weight hierarchy.
- glb-gen's postprocess convention of forcing `roughness=1.0` / `specular=0.0`
  "for toon compatibility" (`postprocess_glb.py::setup_materials()`) is
  **correct and should stay the default** for furniture, crates, signage,
  street furniture, wall/roof/facade instances — i.e. the D-235 ObjectTag
  vocabulary's bulk. These are flat-lit like characters; PBR specular
  highlights on a stucco wall or a wooden table would read as wet/glossy and
  contradict the toon language players already learn from characters.
- **Exception — glass and polished/mirror metal:** the ratified D-235 glazing
  tokens — `glass_curtain_wall` (wall axis) and `industrial_glazing` (facade
  axis) — and any deliberately reflective/polished metal prop (chrome
  fixture, mirror, glossy display case) get a **separate minimal-PBR
  material**: `roughness` in the 0.05–0.2
  range and non-zero `specular`/`metallic` as appropriate, layered so the toon
  shadow-band lighting model still governs the base surface response but a
  specular highlight and partial reflection are allowed through. This is not
  a full PBR material (no environment-map reflections, no fresnel-driven
  rim lighting stack) — it is "toon base + a controlled specular term,"
  the smallest change that makes glass/chrome read as glass/chrome instead
  of matte plastic.

### 2.2 Rationale

- **Visual grammar principle (mine, standing):** consistency compounds. A
  station built from one shader family reads as one coherent object, the way
  a real Rimworld or Hades scene does. Mixing a toon character against a
  PBR-lit room breaks the "one world" read the moment the player looks at
  their own hands next to a table.
- **The postprocess default already assumes this.** `setup_materials()`'s
  comment ("for toon compatibility") was written for the character pipeline
  but Trellis is the *same* generator for environment `.glb`s — there was
  never a second postprocess path. Diverging environment props onto full PBR
  would mean either forking the postprocess script or hand-overriding every
  environment asset's material after generation. Sharing the treatment means
  the existing pipeline is already correct and needs no new work.
- **The exception is functionally forced, not a taste call.** A flat-lit
  `roughness=1.0` glass pane doesn't read as glass — it reads as a frosted
  grey panel, which actively misleads the player about sightlines (can I see
  through this?) in a game whose core mechanic is occlusion-based perception.
  Where "can the player see through/into this" is gameplay-load-bearing
  (`glass_curtain_wall`, `industrial_glazing`, shop windows, interior
  partitions), the material needs to look transparent/reflective enough to answer that
  question at a glance. This is a narrow, named carve-out — it does not
  reopen "should props be PBR," it closes the one case where toon-only
  actively lies to the player.
- **Scale check:** this holds at boxes-with-labels (a labelled box has no
  material response either way, so the ruling is inert today) and at full
  art fidelity (the shader assignment is a material-slot choice per asset,
  not a structural decision that needs revisiting later).

### 2.3 What this does NOT change

- D-235's material/token vocabulary (§3) is unaffected — this ruling is about
  shader/material *response*, not which WallMaterial/RoofForm tokens exist.
- The character shader files (`toon.gdshader`, `toon_masked.gdshader`,
  `toon_garment.gdshader`, `outline.gdshader`) are not modified by this
  ruling — environment props reuse them as-is or via a near-identical
  environment-scoped shader variant if slot/uniform needs differ
  (implementation detail for whoever writes the first environment shader,
  not an art-direction fork).

---

## 3. Color / Material Register — D-235 ObjectTag Vocabulary

D-235 (amended 2026-07-07, T-995) ratified the **logical** token vocabulary —
`wiki/economics/object_tag_vocabulary.toml`, 4 axes (wall/roof/facade/street),
32 specific tags + 4 generic fallback parents. D-235's own Implementation note
explicitly parks the **rendered look** of those tokens for "Phase 5+ and
post-launch" art production. This section is that pre-specification: not new
tokens, but the register each shipped tag should render into once art exists,
so asset generation has a target from day one instead of drifting per-artist.

**How to read this table:** "Hue range" is a rendered-look target for the
BaseColor map's dominant tone, expressed relative to D-235's existing rule
that *color is template-bounded* (a cultural palette cue, seed-selected within
range, "always within the template's register") — this section does not
override that; it gives the physically-plausible hue family each material
naturally sits in, which the template's seed then picks within. "Weathering
baseline" describes how the D-217 condition bands (Intact/Worn/Cracked/Broken,
driven by `prosperity_score`) should visually read for that material — i.e.
what "Worn" looks like on brick vs. on corrugated metal.

### 3.1 Wall materials

| Tag | Hue range | Grain / texture character | Weathering baseline (D-217 bands) |
|-----|-----------|---------------------------|-----------------------------------|
| `concrete_wall` | Neutral grey, warm-leaning (`#8a8680`–`#6e6a64`) — never blue-grey/cool-grey | Fine aggregate speckle, subtle formwork seams | Intact: even matte. Worn: rain-streak staining, hairline cracks. Cracked: spalling at edges, exposed aggregate. Broken: structural cracking, rebar-stain bleed. |
| `steel_frame` | Dark warm charcoal (`#3a3632`) frame, infill panel per adjacent tag | Visible bolted/riveted joints, slight surface oxidation tint even when "new" | Intact: factory-primer flat. Worn: surface rust bloom at joints/edges only. Cracked: running rust streaks below joints. Broken: structural rust-through, buckling. |
| `brick_wall` | Warm terracotta-to-ochre (`#9c5a3c`–`#c48a52`), never cool/pink brick | Visible coursing + mortar joint shadow, slight color variance per brick (batch variation) | Intact: crisp mortar lines. Worn: mortar erosion, efflorescence (white mineral bloom). Cracked: spalled brick faces, missing mortar. Broken: collapsed coursing, exposed cavity. |
| `rendered_wall` | Whatever the template's color_range picks — this tag is a **finish**, not a hue driver; render surface is smooth and matte regardless of picked hue | Smooth, minimal grain, occasional hairline render-crack pattern at Worn+ | Intact: clean flat. Worn: surface staining/streaking under sills and joints. Cracked: render cracking, patches of exposed substrate. Broken: large render loss, substrate fully exposed. |
| `stone_wall` | Warm grey-tan (`#a89e8c`–`#8c8172`) — **explicitly not cool grey**; this is the D-235 fallback-graph's flagship "gets it wrong if literal" case | Visible coursing, natural stone color variance tile-to-tile, tool-marked or rough-cut surface depending on template | Intact: clean-cut edges. Worn: lichen/mineral staining in shadowed recesses. Cracked: mortar loss between courses, chipped arrises. Broken: displaced/missing stone units. |
| `timber_wall` | Warm mid-brown (`#7a5c3e`–`#9c7a52`), never grey-driftwood unless template explicitly calls for weathered/coastal register | Visible grain direction, board/plank joint lines | Intact: sealed/painted finish. Worn: graying at exposed edges, finish wear. Cracked: splitting along grain, missing sealant. Broken: rot, structural failure at joints. |
| `stucco_wall` | Warm off-white to sand (`#d8cfc0`–`#c4b89e`) — whitewashed per the tag description, not pure white | Smooth, slight hand-applied texture variance | Intact: clean whitewash. Worn: staining streaks below any protrusion. Cracked: hairline cracking, patch-color mismatch. Broken: large loss exposing substrate. |
| `glass_curtain_wall` | Neutral-to-cool tint on the glass itself (`#c8d4dc` @ low opacity) — see §2.1 PBR exception, this tag needs the specular/transparency carve-out to read correctly | Minimal — reflection/transparency IS the surface character | Intact: clean, full reflectivity. Worn: dust film, reduced reflectivity. Cracked: visible cracked panes, some opacity/frosting. Broken: missing panes, boarded sections. |
| `composite_panel` | Whatever the template picks — this is a **prefab finish** tag like `rendered_wall`, hue is template-driven, not material-driven | Flat, uniform, visible panel-seam grid (regular rhythm, unlike masonry coursing) | Intact: crisp seams, clean finish. Worn: seam staining, minor panel discoloration. Cracked: panel warping, seam gaps. Broken: missing/detached panels. |
| `rammed_earth_wall` | Warm ochre-to-umber banding (`#8a6a48`–`#6e5236`) | Strong horizontal layer banding (the construction method's signature texture) | Intact: crisp banding. Worn: surface erosion softening band edges. Cracked: vertical cracking across bands. Broken: section collapse/erosion loss. |

### 3.2 Roof forms

| Tag | Hue range | Grain / texture character | Weathering baseline |
|-----|-----------|---------------------------|----------------------|
| `flat_roof` | Neutral dark grey (`#4a4844`) membrane | Flat, minimal detail, visible seam lines on membrane roofing | Intact→Broken: ponding stains, membrane cracking, vegetation growth at Broken. |
| `pitched_roof` | Warm dark grey-brown (`#4e463e`) generic shingle/slate register unless a specific tag (below) narrows it | Directional shingle/slate coursing | Moss/lichen accumulation in shadowed pitches as condition drops; missing units at Cracked+. |
| `corrugated_roof` | Weathers to **rust-orange** (`#a65c34` at Worn+), starts galvanized silver-grey (`#a8aaa8`) when Intact — **explicitly does not stay silver**, this is D-235's own worked example | Strong linear corrugation shadow pattern | Intact: clean galvanized sheen. Worn: rust bleeding from fastener points. Cracked: broad rust staining, sheet lifting at edges. Broken: rust-through holes, missing sheets. |
| `clay_tile_roof` | Warm terracotta (`#b56a3e`–`#c8825a`) | Individual tile coursing, slight per-tile hue variance | Moss/lichen in valleys, cracked/slipped/missing tiles as condition drops. |
| `terraced_roof` | Match the deck surface (paved/planted per template), not a distinct roof hue | Flat deck texture, visible rail/parapet line | Surface wear on deck material, planter/rail deterioration at lower bands. |
| `vaulted_roof` | Match wall material register (masonry vaults read as an extension of the wall) | Strong directional shadow from the vault curvature | Standard masonry weathering (see stone/brick wall rows). |
| `green_roof` | Vegetated green, seasonally variable — the one roof tag where hue is intentionally NOT template-locked | Organic, irregular, canopy-like from above | Condition reads as vegetation health/coverage, not surface damage — sparse/patchy at low prosperity, not "broken" in the structural sense. |

### 3.3 Facade rhythms

Facade tags are about **pattern**, not hue — they inherit the wall tag's
color register. Grain/weathering guidance:

| Tag | Grain / texture character | Weathering note |
|-----|---------------------------|-------------------|
| `regular_facade` | Even punched-window grid, no added ornament | Weathers uniformly with the wall tag beneath it. |
| `ornamental_facade` | Raised/carved detail catches shadow distinctly from the flat wall plane | Ornament erodes/chips *before* the flat wall does — detail loss is the earliest visible sign of Worn. |
| `industrial_glazing` | Regular steel-mullion grid, factory-sash proportions (wide, short panes) | Mullion rust (if `steel_frame`) precedes glazing damage. |
| `arcade_facade` | Strong repeating vertical shadow rhythm from the colonnade | Ground-level wear concentrates at column bases (foot traffic), not evenly. |
| `shuttered_facade` | Shutters as a distinct, often higher-saturation accent color against the wall's muted register — this is the one facade tag allowed a saturation bump (bounded by §5's object-tier ceiling below) | Shutter paint fades/peels faster than the wall behind it — a secondary, faster weathering clock on the same building. |
| `screen_facade` | Fine repeating perforation/louvre pattern, strong dappled shadow | Screen material (usually metal or timber lattice) weathers per its own material, independent of the wall plane behind. |
| `colonnade` | Freestanding column rhythm, deep shadow gaps between wall plane and columns | Column bases weather fastest (ground contact, foot traffic) — same principle as arcade_facade. |
| `lattice_screen` | Fine timber/metal lattice, mashrabiya-register — highest facade information-density texture in the set | Individual lattice elements can go missing at Cracked+ without the whole screen reading as "broken." |

### 3.4 Street surfaces

| Tag | Hue range | Grain / texture character | Weathering baseline |
|-----|-----------|---------------------------|----------------------|
| `paved` | Neutral grey (`#66645e`) | Fine asphalt/poured texture, minimal joint pattern | Cracking, pothole pattern, patch-color mismatch (repairs never quite match original pour age). |
| `cobble` | Warm grey-tan, matches `stone_wall`'s register | Strong individual-unit texture, visible mortar/sand joints | Displaced/missing setts at low condition, not surface cracking (it's a unit system, not a monolithic pour). |
| `packed_earth` | Warm ochre-brown (`#7a6248`) | Irregular, rutted, no joint pattern | Erosion channels, puddling, vegetation encroachment at edges as condition drops (or rises — an unmaintained packed-earth street can look "worse" toward Intact-adjacent if it's simply less used, this tag is condition-light). |
| `canal_way` | Water surface — hue driven by reflection/sediment, not a fixed material hue | N/A — water plane, not a solid surface | Water clarity/debris accumulation stands in for the condition ladder here. |
| `elevated_walkway` | Match structural material used (steel_frame/timber/composite per template) | Grated or planked, visible support structure below | Structural weathering per the material tag, plus grate/plank gap wear from foot traffic. |
| `heavy_haul` | Neutral dark grey (`#4e4c48`), reinforced-surface register | Deep rut/track wear pattern, wider joint spacing than `paved` | Track-line wear concentrates on wheel paths, not the full surface — an asymmetric wear pattern unlike `paved`'s even cracking. |
| `boardwalk` | Warm grey-brown weathered timber (`#8a7a64`), coastal/wetland register — assume some grey weathering even at Intact, unlike `timber_wall` | Plank coursing, visible gap joints | Individual plank replacement creates natural color patchwork even at high condition — this is the one street tag where slight inconsistency reads as *authentic*, not neglected. |

### 3.5 Generic fallback placeholders

`generic_wall` / `generic_roof` / `generic_facade` / `generic_street` render
as a **flat, neutral, low-saturation grey** (`#6e6c68`, roughly the mean of
the specific tags' hue ranges above) with **no grain and no weathering
variation** — condition bands still apply structurally (a generic-fallback
wall can still be "Broken" in silhouette/damage terms) but carry no material
texture, so the player reads "this is a wall, its specific material hasn't
loaded yet" rather than mistaking it for a deliberate concrete/stone choice.
This is the visual expression of D-235's fallback chain — a placeholder must
look *unfinished*, not like a legitimate flat concrete building, or its
eventual upgrade-in-place would read as an inconsistent hue reskin instead of
"detail arriving."

---

## 4. What Survives from Prior Documents

Per D-244 (2026-06-16) and this ticket's acceptance criteria, the following
principles from the pre-cascade documents are **inherited**, restated here in
current (3D, D-235-token) terms rather than the old (2D sprite, era-ladder)
terms they were originally written in:

| Inherited principle | Original source | Current expression |
|----------------------|------------------|----------------------|
| **D-033 entity color = relationship to player** | visual-grammar-v01.md §3 | Unchanged — still the live decision, still the single most important color system in the game. Applies to entities regardless of render fidelity (rectangle, sprite, or 3D mesh). |
| **"Functional warmth"** — industrial infrastructure that people made livable, not military/not luxury | workshop-outcomes.md visual identity statements + Gore's naming | Standing mood target for the whole D-235 register above: hue ranges lean warm (terracotta, ochre, warm grey) rather than cool/clinical by default; the *cool* end of the palette is reserved for deliberately institutional template registers, not the default. |
| **Environmental neutrality — strict zero shift (D-045)** | workshop-outcomes.md §1.10 | Unchanged, still active. The D-235 material register above is diegetic/static — condition bands (D-217) shift with simulated `prosperity_score`, never with narrative/investigation state. This document adds no new exception to D-045. |
| **Entity always wins visual ties** (visual hierarchy: entity > object > structure) | visual-grammar-v01.md §1.4 / workshop-outcomes.md §1.4 | Survives as a rendering-order and saturation-hierarchy principle. In 3D terms: entity materials/outlines render at the highest effective saturation and are never occluded in a way that reads ambiguous against a similarly-toned prop. The saturation ceiling table (below) replaces the old sprite-outline-weight table. |
| **Object favorite-color saturation ceiling** | visual-grammar-v01.md §3.6 | Restated: entity colors (D-033) remain the highest-saturation elements in any scene; object/prop colors (including the `shuttered_facade` accent exception in §3.3) stay moderate; structure/material register (§3) stays lowest. Same three-tier ceiling, now anchored to D-235 tags instead of "Era 1/2/3" object palettes. |
| **Readability over beauty** | workshop-outcomes.md Principle 1 | Standing design principle, unchanged, applies to 3D rendering exactly as it applied to sprites. |
| **Lighting-driven atmosphere, not baked mood** | workshop-outcomes.md Principle 2 / visual-grammar-v01.md's "sprites are shape templates" | Re-expressed in §2 above: toon shading gives shape + local shadow-band response; scene lighting (not baked texture darkening) still carries mood. The specific mechanism (Light2D CanvasModulate) is retired with the sprite pipeline, but the principle — materials stay neutral, the lighting rig does the emotional work — carries forward to whatever 3D lighting setup Phase 5 builds. |

---

## 5. Superseded Documents

Two earlier documents overlap this one. Both are **explicitly marked
superseded** here (and should carry a pointer back to this section) so no two
contradictory style documents stay live at the same time:

- **`docs/design/visual-grammar-v01.md`** — already carries its own
  superseded banner (2026-06-12, pointing at D-235/D-228 +
  character-visuals-spec.md). That banner is correct and unchanged by this
  ticket. What's **specifically superseded**: the entire sprite-era
  production model (§2 entity sprite dimensions, §4 z-level stack as sprite
  layers, §5 typography-for-sprite-canvas sizing, §6 two-tier animation
  frame-count tables, §9 resolution chain / Nano Banana workflow, and the
  **three-construction-era material ladder** (§1.2–§1.4's Era 1/2/3 zone
  palettes) — the era ladder is the exact thing D-235 retired by name
  ("Era is NOT a material filter here"). What's **not superseded, just
  relocated**: D-033 entity color values and D-045 environmental neutrality,
  both restated current in §4 above.
- **`docs/workshops/art-direction-mood-board/workshop-outcomes.md`** — this
  is a workshop transcript (type: workshop, status: archived) and correctly
  stays archived as a historical record; it is **not** live style guidance
  and should not be read as such. Its **candidate decisions** (D-042 through
  D-051 as originally proposed in §7) were formally recorded as the
  perception.md decisions cited throughout this document (D-033, D-043,
  D-044, D-045, D-046 etc.) — those decision records are the living
  artifact, not the workshop prose. Its **three-construction-era material
  system** (§1.8) is superseded by D-235 for the same reason as above. Its
  **camera angle content** (§1.2, §9.3) is superseded by D-148 per §1 above.
  Everything else in it (lighting three-reference model, fog cone shape,
  two-tier animation, insert overlay bloom spec, z-stack layer *concept* —
  not its sprite-specific implementation detail) remains valid design
  intent, inherited into current decisions rather than into this document
  directly.

**Going forward:** this document (`palette.md`) is the single live style
bible for Phase 4+ rendered look. New style guidance should land here, not in
a new parallel document, unless it's genuinely a different concern (e.g. the
model-naming/manifest conventions living in `docs/assets/visual/conventions.md`,
authored separately under T-1050).

---

## Appendix — Decision Cross-References

| Decision | Relevance |
|----------|-----------|
| D-019 | Original top-down camera + offline-renderer −72.5° angle. Superseded for gameplay by D-148; survives for the offline 2D-artwork render rig. |
| D-033 | Entity color = relationship to player. Unchanged, still the primary information-bearing color system. |
| D-045 | Environmental neutrality — strict zero shift. Governs how the D-235 material register (§3) may and may not respond to game state. |
| D-148 | 30° low-angle gameplay `Camera3D`, supersedes D-019 for gameplay. |
| D-149 | 3D characters rendered live in scene, not pre-rendered sprites. Backing precedent for §1's camera reasoning (no more sprites to render "at the angle" during play) and for §2's shared-shader-family argument (characters and environment props come off the same live-3D pipeline). |
| D-217 | Tile condition thresholds (prosperity_score bands) — the weathering-baseline mechanism referenced throughout §3. |
| D-232 | Trait-template catalog — era reframed as maintenance/wear + past-vogue holdover, not a material-tech ladder. Backing rationale for retiring the Era 1/2/3 ladder in §5. |
| D-235 | Building exterior visual grammar + ratified ObjectTag vocabulary (`object_tag_vocabulary.toml`). §3 is this document's rendered-look layer on top of D-235's logical tokens; §2's glazing carve-out names its ratified `glass_curtain_wall`/`industrial_glazing` tokens. |
| D-244 | 3D objects in-world; 2D limited to textures + flat artwork. Establishes the toon-shader-family context for §2 and retires the sprite catalog framing this document used to have. |
| D-257 | Environment props share the character toon shading treatment; minimal-PBR carve-out for glazing. The binding authority for §2 — this document states the practical guidance, D-257 is the decision record. |