@@ -133,7 +133,7 @@ Budget-conformance props. Not examples. Conventions: [`showcase/README.md`](show
   <a href="showcase/wall-torch/"><img src="showcase/wall-torch/preview.webp" width="24%" alt="Wall torch: a dressed stone plaque with an iron plate and arm holding a cup, a leaning wooden torch with a pitch-wrapped head and a bright flame, on a dark studio floor" /></a>
   <a href="showcase/tavern-stool/"><img src="showcase/tavern-stool/preview.webp" width="24%" alt="Tavern stool: a round wooden seat on turned splayed legs with stretchers at two heights and iron ferrules on flat treads, on a dark studio floor" /></a>
   <a href="showcase/iron-cauldron/"><img src="showcase/iron-cauldron/preview.webp" width="24%" alt="Iron cauldron: a round-bellied cast-iron pot hanging by its bail from a timber tripod on a dark studio floor" /></a>
-  <a href="showcase/wooden-ladder/"><img src="showcase/wooden-ladder/preview.webp" width="24%" alt="Wooden ladder: a raked timber ladder with six evenly spaced rungs and iron shoes, leaning against a dark wall section" /></a>
+  <a href="showcase/wooden-ladder/"><img src="showcase/wooden-ladder/preview.webp" width="24%" alt="Wooden ladder: a raked timber ladder with six evenly spaced turned rungs and iron shoes, leaning on a weathered barn-board wall with a coil of hemp rope hung over a rung" /></a>
   <a href="showcase/hay-bale/"><img src="showcase/hay-bale/preview.webp" width="24%" alt="Hay bale: a bound straw bale with two sisal twine belts on a dark studio floor" /></a>
   <a href="showcase/crate-stack/"><img src="showcase/crate-stack/preview.webp" width="24%" alt="Crate stack: three slatted shipping crates stacked and yawed, each with iron corner straps and runners, on a dark studio floor" /></a>
   <a href="showcase/stone-archway/"><img src="showcase/stone-archway/preview.webp" width="24%" alt="Stone archway: a semicircular masonry arch with coursed piers, projecting imposts, nine voussoirs and a proud keystone, on a dark studio floor" /></a>
 
@@ -326,7 +326,7 @@
       "name": "wooden-ladder",
       "dir": "showcase/wooden-ladder",
       "teaches": "A procedural timber ladder with raked tapered stiles, six turned rungs, ferrule caps, and level shoe plates through UVs, bake, LOD, collider, and Unity glTF, asserting recomputed budgets rather than an API contract.",
-      "alt": "A wooden ladder with tapered stiles and evenly spaced round rungs, leaning against a dark wall section.",
+      "alt": "A timber ladder with tapered stiles and six evenly spaced turned rungs, leaning on a weathered board wall with a coil of hemp rope hung over its second-highest rung.",
       "witnessesFix": "Recomputed: 2536 tris, two materials with 612 wood and 736 metal faces, UVs in 0..1 with zero AABB overlap, outer AABB 0.490×0.376×1.487 m, zmin 0, hygiene and coplanar pairs 0, tenon clearance 8 mm, shoe bite 20 mm, rung pitch even to 0.002 m, LOD ratios in band, convex collider 24 tris, non-empty glTF. --skip-decimate exits 9; --stray-vert and --twin-sole exit 15; --lift-z exits 16; --fat-rungs exits 17; --short-stile exits 18; --drift-rungs exits 19.",
       "hero": "docs/gallery/assets/wooden-ladder-hero.webp",
       "preview": "showcase/wooden-ladder/preview.webp",
 
@@ -7,6 +7,16 @@ level shoe plates under sleeves that follow the rake. Then the shipped
 pipeline: unique-cell UVs, Cycles high-to-low normal bake, LOD chain,
 convex collider, Unity glTF export.
 
+**Hero.** The ladder leans on a render-only barn wall of staggered
+weathered boards (a Brick texture turned onto the wall plane, with a
+stretched noise for grain), and a hand-coiled rope hangs over the
+second-highest rung. The rung is found the way `rung_pitch` finds rungs:
+the wooden shells wide in X and short in Z. The coil is a teardrop laid
+from a three-lobed section, per the showcase rope rule. It hangs forward of
+the rung, away from the wall. The wall and the coil are staging, not part
+of the asset, its budgets or its export. The asset sheet judges the bare
+`LadderLow`.
+
 It asserts **budget conformance** of the generated result. It does not
 witness an API contract. "It rendered without error" is not a check.
 
 
@@ -990,9 +990,9 @@ def wood_material(name):
     nt.links.new(shift.outputs["Vector"], noise.inputs["Vector"])
     ramp = nt.nodes.new("ShaderNodeValToRGB")
     ramp.color_ramp.elements[0].position = 0.30
-    ramp.color_ramp.elements[0].color = (0.12, 0.052, 0.018, 1.0)
+    ramp.color_ramp.elements[0].color = (0.10, 0.056, 0.028, 1.0)
     ramp.color_ramp.elements[1].position = 0.72
-    ramp.color_ramp.elements[1].color = (0.38, 0.18, 0.065, 1.0)
+    ramp.color_ramp.elements[1].color = (0.33, 0.19, 0.095, 1.0)
     nt.links.new(noise.outputs["Fac"], ramp.inputs["Fac"])
     gain = nt.nodes.new("ShaderNodeMath")
     gain.operation = "MULTIPLY_ADD"
@@ -1423,6 +1423,136 @@ def wire_normal(mat, tex):
     nt.links.new(nrm.outputs["Normal"], bsdf.inputs["Normal"])
 
 
+def barn_wall_material():
+    """Render-only lean surface: staggered weathered boards, dark seams."""
+    mat = bpy.data.materials.new("BarnBoards")
+    mat.use_nodes = True
+    nt = mat.node_tree
+    bsdf = nt.nodes["Principled BSDF"]
+    coord = nt.nodes.new("ShaderNodeTexCoord")
+    # Brick rows run along the texture's Y; turn the wall's Z onto it.
+    mapping = nt.nodes.new("ShaderNodeMapping")
+    mapping.inputs["Rotation"].default_value = (math.radians(90.0), 0.0, 0.0)
+    nt.links.new(coord.outputs["Object"], mapping.inputs["Vector"])
+    boards = nt.nodes.new("ShaderNodeTexBrick")
+    boards.offset = 0.37
+    boards.inputs["Scale"].default_value = 1.0
+    boards.inputs["Brick Width"].default_value = 1.35
+    boards.inputs["Row Height"].default_value = 0.17
+    boards.inputs["Mortar Size"].default_value = 0.006
+    boards.inputs["Mortar Smooth"].default_value = 0.3
+    boards.inputs["Bias"].default_value = 0.0
+    boards.inputs["Color1"].default_value = (0.070, 0.052, 0.038, 1.0)
+    boards.inputs["Color2"].default_value = (0.105, 0.080, 0.058, 1.0)
+    boards.inputs["Mortar"].default_value = (0.008, 0.007, 0.006, 1.0)
+    nt.links.new(mapping.outputs["Vector"], boards.inputs["Vector"])
+    grain = nt.nodes.new("ShaderNodeTexNoise")
+    grain.inputs["Scale"].default_value = 6.0
+    grain.inputs["Detail"].default_value = 8.0
+    stretch = nt.nodes.new("ShaderNodeMapping")
+    stretch.inputs["Scale"].default_value = (0.12, 1.0, 6.0)
+    nt.links.new(coord.outputs["Object"], stretch.inputs["Vector"])
+    nt.links.new(stretch.outputs["Vector"], grain.inputs["Vector"])
+    mix = nt.nodes.new("ShaderNodeMix")
+    mix.data_type = "RGBA"
+    mix.blend_type = "MULTIPLY"
+    _sock(mix.inputs, "Factor_Float").default_value = 0.55
+    nt.links.new(boards.outputs["Color"], _sock(mix.inputs, "A_Color"))
+    nt.links.new(grain.outputs["Color"], _sock(mix.inputs, "B_Color"))
+    nt.links.new(_sock(mix.outputs, "Result_Color"), bsdf.inputs["Base Color"])
+    bsdf.inputs["Roughness"].default_value = 0.88
+    bump = nt.nodes.new("ShaderNodeBump")
+    bump.inputs["Strength"].default_value = 0.6
+    bump.inputs["Distance"].default_value = 0.004
+    nt.links.new(boards.outputs["Fac"], bump.inputs["Height"])
+    nt.links.new(bump.outputs["Normal"], bsdf.inputs["Normal"])
+    return mat
+
+
+def rope_coil(low, turns=3, loop_r=0.135, rope_r=0.012):
+    """A hand-coiled rope hung over the second-highest rung (ladder frame).
+
+    Rungs are read off the mesh the way ``rung_pitch`` reads them: the
+    wooden shells wide across X and short in Z. The coil's loops hang in
+    the plane across the rung, their tops draped over it, and are laid
+    from a three-lobed section turned one step per ring, as the showcase
+    rope rule asks.
+    """
+    me = low.data
+    rungs = []
+    for g in _vertex_shells(me):
+        pts = [me.vertices[i].co for i in g]
+        if (max(p.x for p in pts) - min(p.x for p in pts) > 0.25
+                and max(p.z for p in pts) - min(p.z for p in pts) < 0.08):
+            rungs.append(pts)
+    rungs.sort(key=lambda pts: sum(p.z for p in pts))
+    rung = rungs[-2]
+    rz = sum(p.z for p in rung) / len(rung)
+    ry = sum(p.y for p in rung) / len(rung)
+    rr = (max(p.z for p in rung) - min(p.z for p in rung)) / 2.0
+    # The wall stands on the side the rails rake toward; the coil hangs
+    # forward of the rung, away from it, so it never meets the boards.
+    top_band = [v.co.y for v in me.vertices if v.co.z > max(p.z for p in rung) + 0.3]
+    foot_band = [v.co.y for v in me.vertices if v.co.z < 0.08]
+    wall_side = 1.0 if sum(top_band) / len(top_band) > sum(foot_band) / len(foot_band) else -1.0
+    ztop = rz + rr + rope_r
+    x0 = 0.035
+
+    steps, sides = 36 * turns, 9
+    pitch = 2.3 * rope_r
+
+    def centre(i):
+        # a hanging loop is a teardrop: pinched over the rung, full below;
+        # it reaches far forward of the rung and barely behind it
+        t = i / 36.0 * 2.0 * math.pi
+        fan = 1.0 - 0.06 * (i / steps)                 # turns read as separate
+        s = math.sin(t)
+        reach = (loop_r * 0.9 if s > 0 else loop_r * 0.28) * fan
+        y = ry - wall_side * reach * s
+        z = ztop - loop_r * 1.35 * fan * (1.0 - math.cos(t))
+        return Vector((x0 + pitch * i / 36.0, y, z))
+
+    bm = bmesh.new()
+    try:
+        rings = []
+        for i in range(steps + 1):
+            c = centre(i)
+            tang = (centre(i + 1) - centre(i - 1)).normalized()
+            n = tang.cross(Vector((1.0, 0.0, 0.0))).normalized()
+            b = tang.cross(n)
+            ring = []
+            for k in range(sides):
+                a = 2 * math.pi * k / sides + i * (2 * math.pi / sides)
+                lobe = 1.0 + 0.16 * math.cos(3 * (2 * math.pi * k / sides))
+                ring.append(bm.verts.new(c + rope_r * lobe * (n * math.cos(a) + b * math.sin(a))))
+            rings.append(ring)
+        for r0, r1 in zip(rings, rings[1:]):
+            for k in range(sides):
+                f = bm.faces.new((r0[k], r0[(k + 1) % sides], r1[(k + 1) % sides], r1[k]))
+                f.smooth = True
+        bm.faces.new(list(reversed(rings[0])))
+        bm.faces.new(rings[-1])
+        cme = bpy.data.meshes.new("RopeCoil")
+        bm.to_mesh(cme)
+    finally:
+        bm.free()
+    rmat = bpy.data.materials.new("Hemp")
+    rmat.use_nodes = True
+    rnt = rmat.node_tree
+    rb = rnt.nodes["Principled BSDF"]
+    rnoise = rnt.nodes.new("ShaderNodeTexNoise")
+    rnoise.inputs["Scale"].default_value = 90.0
+    rnoise.inputs["Detail"].default_value = 6.0
+    rramp = rnt.nodes.new("ShaderNodeValToRGB")
+    rramp.color_ramp.elements[0].color = (0.16, 0.115, 0.065, 1.0)
+    rramp.color_ramp.elements[1].color = (0.40, 0.31, 0.18, 1.0)
+    rnt.links.new(rnoise.outputs["Fac"], rramp.inputs["Fac"])
+    rnt.links.new(rramp.outputs["Color"], rb.inputs["Base Color"])
+    rb.inputs["Roughness"].default_value = 0.9
+    cme.materials.append(rmat)
+    return bpy.data.objects.new("RopeCoil", cme)
+
+
 def render_still(low, wood, tex, path, engine):
     scene = bpy.context.scene
     wire_normal(wood, tex)
@@ -1447,22 +1577,24 @@ def render_still(low, wood, tex, path, engine):
     try:
         bmesh.ops.create_cube(bm, size=1.0)
         for v in bm.verts:
-            v.co.x *= 1.4
+            v.co.x *= 3.8
             v.co.y = top_y + lean * (v.co.y + 0.5) * 0.10
-            v.co.z = (v.co.z + 0.5) * 1.75
+            v.co.z = (v.co.z + 0.5) * 1.95
         bm.to_mesh(panel_me)
     finally:
         bm.free()
-    pmat = bpy.data.materials.new("LeanWall")
-    pmat.use_nodes = True
-    pb = pmat.node_tree.nodes["Principled BSDF"]
-    pb.inputs["Base Color"].default_value = (0.034, 0.032, 0.031, 1.0)
-    pb.inputs["Roughness"].default_value = 0.85
-    panel_me.materials.append(pmat)
+    panel_me.materials.append(barn_wall_material())
     panel = bpy.data.objects.new("LeanWall", panel_me)
     panel.rotation_euler.z = low.rotation_euler.z
     scene.collection.objects.link(panel)
 
+    # A laid-rope coil hung over the second-highest rung: the ladder in use,
+    # not in a catalogue. Render-only, parented to the ladder so it turns
+    # with it; not part of the asset, its budgets or its export.
+    coil = rope_coil(low)
+    coil.parent = low
+    scene.collection.objects.link(coil)
+
     floor_me = bpy.data.meshes.new("Floor")
     bm = bmesh.new()
     try:
@@ -1540,7 +1672,7 @@ def light(name, loc, energy, size, col, rot):
     scene.view_settings.view_transform = "Standard"
 
     fcode = gallery_framing.check_framing(
-        scene, cam, hero=[low], elements=[low], stage=[floor, wall, panel],
+        scene, cam, hero=[low], elements=[low, coil], stage=[floor, wall, panel],
     )
     if fcode:
         return fcode