# Manual Cubemap Reflections

Cubemaps are a cheap way of simulating reflections.&#x20;

It was widely used in the 6th and 7th Generations of consoles but can still be useful for performance or artistic reasons.

You can enable the layering of a Cubemap on top of your material, and adjust its opacity. You can also use a mask, which will follow the Global Settings on only affect parts of the mesh.

![Cubemap Layered on top of the Base Color, opacity set as 0.75. ](https://1720136168-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2F9eijyWmo2dAMvSuhkB3O%2Fuploads%2FTcBnogWzCq89aksMor8c%2FCubemap_0.75opacity.png?alt=media\&token=c29a0a97-d73c-4f9f-9471-a5287ca4c536) ![Cubemap Layered on top of the Base Color, opacity set as 1.](https://1720136168-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2F9eijyWmo2dAMvSuhkB3O%2Fuploads%2Fx7OQAxLPN44sbiNNZapb%2FCubemap_1opacity.png?alt=media\&token=c7196321-ccf1-4960-ab69-fe6b30dc403a) ![Masked cubemap.&#x20;
(The base sphere is White)](https://1720136168-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2F9eijyWmo2dAMvSuhkB3O%2Fuploads%2FiYiGYJmE9ihqGnU5A8S0%2FCubemap_1opacity_masked.png?alt=media\&token=09262d6d-f6bb-4a5b-8340-62f03250714b)

They can be useful to add reflections to small glass surfaces, far away windows, or give an impression of immacularity for surfaces like Marble.

{% hint style="warning" %}
Cubemapping dosen't follow the rules of PBR ; They work regardless of Roughness, and the reflections can clash if they are both enabled ! It's up to you to adjust both accordingly (or just use one at a time.)
{% endhint %}
