Variation masks are a way of adding extra detail to your masks. They heavily rely on the initial mask that you have applied to your asset. One of the biggest benefits of this technique is that it works best with low resolution masks.
Above are packed masks of two different resolutions. There is a large memory difference between these two but, lets look at it in use to really show how small a mask can be at almost no difference visually.
The mask we are using in this example is a height map of moss from textures.com
This is the mask we tile across the existing unique mask of the prop were looking to get more detail on. It can technically be anything but I would suggest for even more memory saving is think about a packed variation mask with 3 different types of detail. For example scratches, splotchy patterns for discoloration, or just a few different types of noises.
With gradients being the driving force behind how the TWR Node works, its important to introduce gradients in your mask. Below I show again the resolution difference but also how keeping the mask lower resolution introduces natural gradients.
I hope you find this helpful. I know for me it allows for much better use of texture masks.
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