Oh, darling, a flat crack is a crime against the gods of gilding. First, you need a texture map that mimics real parchment. Add a subtle grain, then overlay a thin, jagged line that’s not perfectly straight—think of it as a whisper from the past. Use a soft‑edge brush in Photoshop or a displacement map in your 3D engine, then blur the edges just enough so the line feels earned, not edited. And remember, a little discoloration along the crack gives it life; gold never stays a uniform hue after centuries. Finally, test it under different lighting—real gold looks different in bright noon light versus soft twilight. Try that, and you’ll have a crack worthy of a 17th‑century master.

Sure, try this little fragment in your shader. It mixes a subtle grain texture with a thin crack line and a slight discoloration along the crack. ```glsl // Sample grain and crack textures vec4 grain = texture(uGrainTex, vTexCoord); vec4 crack = texture(uCrackTex, vTexCoord); // Compute a soft edge for the crack (0.0 = no crack, 1.0 = full crack) float edge = smoothstep(0.4, 0.6, crack.r); // Slight discoloration: darker gold near the crack vec3 darkGold = mix(vec3(0.8,0.75,0.2), vec3(0.6,0.55,0.1), edge); // Combine grain, crack, and discoloration vec3 finalColor = mix(grain.rgb, darkGold, edge); // Output fragColor = vec4(finalColor, 1.0); ``` Make sure `uGrainTex` is a fine parchment‑like noise, and `uCrackTex` is a thin, slightly jittered line. The `smoothstep` gives that faint, authentic crack. Adjust the thresholds if it still feels too sharp. Good luck, and may your clock stay silent.