Design Nomenclature / Surface & Material
Texture
Also called tactile texture, visual texture, surface texture
The character of a surface at a scale finer than its form — either tactile, meaning real relief the hand can register, or visual, meaning pattern with no relief at all. The distinction earns its keep because photography, print, and normal maps all exist to convert the first into the second.
In practice
In 3D the word slides toward "any image bound to a material," which is a file, not a surface quality. Both senses run in the same sentence constantly.
Not to be confused with
- PatternThe object a mould is made from. It carries every surface the casting will have, plus the allowances the casting will not: draft so it releases, and extra size to cover shrinkage. A pattern is tooling, not a deliverable — it can be crude everywhere it does not touch the mould.
- TactilityHow a surface reads to the hand: thermal conductivity, compliance, friction, micro-relief. Largely uncoupled from appearance — two surfaces that photograph identically can feel nothing alike, and the hand out-discriminates the eye at fine scale. Almost always specified by reference sample, because the vocabulary is far weaker than the perception.