diff --git a/AgentData/lighting_and_skybox_plan.md b/AgentData/lighting_and_skybox_plan.md
index 653a631..1d99438 100644
--- a/AgentData/lighting_and_skybox_plan.md
+++ b/AgentData/lighting_and_skybox_plan.md
@@ -226,8 +226,8 @@ graph LR
 
 ---
 
-## Open Questions
+## Open Questions (Answered)
 
-1. **Cubemap source** — procedural gradient skybox (no asset needed) vs actual HDR cubemap `.dds` file?
-2. **Sampler heap** — does the engine already have a linear sampler registered, or does one need to be created?
-3. **Specular** — want Blinn-Phong specular in Phase 2, or just diffuse + ambient for now?
+1. **Cubemap source** — **Procedural gradient skybox** chosen because asset loading infrastructure is not yet established.
+2. **Sampler heap** — Evaluate what exists. However, with a procedural skybox, we won't need a sampler for Phase 3! (The sky color can be procedurally generated from the reconstructed view direction).
+3. **Specular** — **Blinn-Phong** specular, structured in an agnostic way so PBR (physically based rendering) parameters can be plugged in later.
diff --git a/Assets/compiled/Triangle.vert.dxil b/Assets/compiled/Triangle.vert.dxil
index 7e88767..49c09b1 100644
Binary files a/Assets/compiled/Triangle.vert.dxil and b/Assets/compiled/Triangle.vert.dxil differ
diff --git a/Assets/source/Triangle.vert.hlsl b/Assets/source/Triangle.vert.hlsl
index 705adce..5569b7d 100644
--- a/Assets/source/Triangle.vert.hlsl
+++ b/Assets/source/Triangle.vert.hlsl
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 struct Output
 {
     float4 Color : TEXCOORD0;
+    float3 Normal : TEXCOORD1;
     float4 Position : SV_Position;
 };
 
@@ -12,14 +13,16 @@ Output main(uint vertexIndex : SV_VertexID)
 
     ByteAddressBuffer buffer = ResourceDescriptorHeap[BufferIndex];
 
-    uint stride = 28;
+    uint stride = 40;
     uint offset = vertexIndex * stride;
 
     float3 pos = asfloat(buffer.Load3(offset));
-    float4 col = asfloat(buffer.Load4(offset + 12));
+    float3 normal = asfloat(buffer.Load3(offset + 12));
+    float4 col = asfloat(buffer.Load4(offset + 24));
 
     //output.Position = float4(pos, 1.0f);
     output.Position = mul(ViewProjection, mul(Model, float4(pos, 1.0f)));
     output.Color = col;
+    output.Normal = normal;
     return output;
 }
diff --git a/Juliet/include/Graphics/VertexData.h b/Juliet/include/Graphics/VertexData.h
index 2de9735..5845e86 100644
--- a/Juliet/include/Graphics/VertexData.h
+++ b/Juliet/include/Graphics/VertexData.h
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ namespace Juliet
     struct Vertex
     {
         float Position[3];
+        float Normal[3];
         float Color[4];
     };
 
diff --git a/Juliet/src/Graphics/MeshRenderer.cpp b/Juliet/src/Graphics/MeshRenderer.cpp
index 250b701..6de922d 100644
--- a/Juliet/src/Graphics/MeshRenderer.cpp
+++ b/Juliet/src/Graphics/MeshRenderer.cpp
@@ -1,9 +1,9 @@
 #include <Graphics/MeshRenderer.h>
 
+#include <Core/HAL/Filesystem/Filesystem.h>
 #include <Core/Logging/LogManager.h>
 #include <Core/Logging/LogTypes.h>
 #include <Core/Math/Matrix.h>
-#include <Core/HAL/Filesystem/Filesystem.h>
 #include <Graphics/GraphicsDevice.h>
 #include <Graphics/Mesh.h>
 #include <Graphics/VertexData.h>
@@ -148,21 +148,6 @@ namespace Juliet
 
         MemCopy(ptrOneByte + indexOfByteOffset, g_MeshRenderer.Indices.Data, totalIndexBytes);
 
-        // index_t index             = 0;
-        // for (Mesh& mesh : g_MeshRenderer.Meshes)
-        // {
-        //     // Vertices first
-        //     Vertex* mapVertices = static_cast<Vertex*>(map);
-        //     MemCopy(mapVertices + index, vertices + mesh.VertexOffset, mesh.VertexCount * sizeOfVertex);
-        //
-        //     // Indices next
-        //     uint8*  ptrOneByte = static_cast<uint8*>(map);
-        //     uint16* dst        = reinterpret_cast<uint16*>(ptrOneByte + indexOfByteOffset);
-        //     MemCopy(dst, indices, mesh.IndexCount * sizeOfIndex);
-        //
-        //     ++index;
-        // }
-
         CopyBuffer(cmdList, g_MeshRenderer.VertexBuffer, g_MeshRenderer.LoadCopyBuffer, totalVertexBytes, 0, 0);
         CopyBuffer(cmdList, g_MeshRenderer.IndexBuffer, g_MeshRenderer.LoadCopyBuffer, totalIndexBytes, 0, indexOfByteOffset);
 
@@ -203,42 +188,41 @@ namespace Juliet
     {
         Mesh result = {};
 
-        constexpr Vertex vertexData[] = {
-            // Front Face (Z = -0.5f) — Red
-            { { -0.5f, 0.5f, -0.5f }, { 0.8f, 0.2f, 0.2f, 1.0f } },
-            { { 0.5f, 0.5f, -0.5f }, { 0.8f, 0.2f, 0.2f, 1.0f } },
-            { { 0.5f, -0.5f, -0.5f }, { 0.8f, 0.2f, 0.2f, 1.0f } },
-            { { -0.5f, -0.5f, -0.5f }, { 0.8f, 0.2f, 0.2f, 1.0f } },
+        constexpr Vertex vertexData[] = { // Front Face (Z = -0.5f) — Red
+                                          { { -0.5f, 0.5f, -0.5f }, { 0.0f, 0.0f, -1.0f }, { 0.8f, 0.2f, 0.2f, 1.0f } },
+                                          { { 0.5f, 0.5f, -0.5f }, { 0.0f, 0.0f, -1.0f }, { 0.8f, 0.2f, 0.2f, 1.0f } },
+                                          { { 0.5f, -0.5f, -0.5f }, { 0.0f, 0.0f, -1.0f }, { 0.8f, 0.2f, 0.2f, 1.0f } },
+                                          { { -0.5f, -0.5f, -0.5f }, { 0.0f, 0.0f, -1.0f }, { 0.8f, 0.2f, 0.2f, 1.0f } },
 
-            // Back Face (Z = 0.5f) — Green
-            { { 0.5f, 0.5f, 0.5f }, { 0.2f, 0.8f, 0.2f, 1.0f } },
-            { { -0.5f, 0.5f, 0.5f }, { 0.2f, 0.8f, 0.2f, 1.0f } },
-            { { -0.5f, -0.5f, 0.5f }, { 0.2f, 0.8f, 0.2f, 1.0f } },
-            { { 0.5f, -0.5f, 0.5f }, { 0.2f, 0.8f, 0.2f, 1.0f } },
+                                          // Back Face (Z = 0.5f) — Green
+                                          { { 0.5f, 0.5f, 0.5f }, { 0.0f, 0.0f, 1.0f }, { 0.2f, 0.8f, 0.2f, 1.0f } },
+                                          { { -0.5f, 0.5f, 0.5f }, { 0.0f, 0.0f, 1.0f }, { 0.2f, 0.8f, 0.2f, 1.0f } },
+                                          { { -0.5f, -0.5f, 0.5f }, { 0.0f, 0.0f, 1.0f }, { 0.2f, 0.8f, 0.2f, 1.0f } },
+                                          { { 0.5f, -0.5f, 0.5f }, { 0.0f, 0.0f, 1.0f }, { 0.2f, 0.8f, 0.2f, 1.0f } },
 
-            // Top Face (Y = 0.5f) — Blue
-            { { -0.5f, 0.5f, 0.5f }, { 0.2f, 0.2f, 0.8f, 1.0f } },
-            { { 0.5f, 0.5f, 0.5f }, { 0.2f, 0.2f, 0.8f, 1.0f } },
-            { { 0.5f, 0.5f, -0.5f }, { 0.2f, 0.2f, 0.8f, 1.0f } },
-            { { -0.5f, 0.5f, -0.5f }, { 0.2f, 0.2f, 0.8f, 1.0f } },
+                                          // Top Face (Y = 0.5f) — Blue
+                                          { { -0.5f, 0.5f, 0.5f }, { 0.0f, 1.0f, 0.0f }, { 0.2f, 0.2f, 0.8f, 1.0f } },
+                                          { { 0.5f, 0.5f, 0.5f }, { 0.0f, 1.0f, 0.0f }, { 0.2f, 0.2f, 0.8f, 1.0f } },
+                                          { { 0.5f, 0.5f, -0.5f }, { 0.0f, 1.0f, 0.0f }, { 0.2f, 0.2f, 0.8f, 1.0f } },
+                                          { { -0.5f, 0.5f, -0.5f }, { 0.0f, 1.0f, 0.0f }, { 0.2f, 0.2f, 0.8f, 1.0f } },
 
-            // Bottom Face (Y = -0.5f) — Yellow
-            { { -0.5f, -0.5f, -0.5f }, { 0.8f, 0.8f, 0.2f, 1.0f } },
-            { { 0.5f, -0.5f, -0.5f }, { 0.8f, 0.8f, 0.2f, 1.0f } },
-            { { 0.5f, -0.5f, 0.5f }, { 0.8f, 0.8f, 0.2f, 1.0f } },
-            { { -0.5f, -0.5f, 0.5f }, { 0.8f, 0.8f, 0.2f, 1.0f } },
+                                          // Bottom Face (Y = -0.5f) — Yellow
+                                          { { -0.5f, -0.5f, -0.5f }, { 0.0f, -1.0f, 0.0f }, { 0.8f, 0.8f, 0.2f, 1.0f } },
+                                          { { 0.5f, -0.5f, -0.5f }, { 0.0f, -1.0f, 0.0f }, { 0.8f, 0.8f, 0.2f, 1.0f } },
+                                          { { 0.5f, -0.5f, 0.5f }, { 0.0f, -1.0f, 0.0f }, { 0.8f, 0.8f, 0.2f, 1.0f } },
+                                          { { -0.5f, -0.5f, 0.5f }, { 0.0f, -1.0f, 0.0f }, { 0.8f, 0.8f, 0.2f, 1.0f } },
 
-            // Right Face (X = 0.5f) — Cyan
-            { { 0.5f, 0.5f, -0.5f }, { 0.2f, 0.8f, 0.8f, 1.0f } },
-            { { 0.5f, 0.5f, 0.5f }, { 0.2f, 0.8f, 0.8f, 1.0f } },
-            { { 0.5f, -0.5f, 0.5f }, { 0.2f, 0.8f, 0.8f, 1.0f } },
-            { { 0.5f, -0.5f, -0.5f }, { 0.2f, 0.8f, 0.8f, 1.0f } },
+                                          // Right Face (X = 0.5f) — Cyan
+                                          { { 0.5f, 0.5f, -0.5f }, { 1.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f }, { 0.2f, 0.8f, 0.8f, 1.0f } },
+                                          { { 0.5f, 0.5f, 0.5f }, { 1.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f }, { 0.2f, 0.8f, 0.8f, 1.0f } },
+                                          { { 0.5f, -0.5f, 0.5f }, { 1.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f }, { 0.2f, 0.8f, 0.8f, 1.0f } },
+                                          { { 0.5f, -0.5f, -0.5f }, { 1.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f }, { 0.2f, 0.8f, 0.8f, 1.0f } },
 
-            // Left Face (X = -0.5f) — Magenta
-            { { -0.5f, 0.5f, 0.5f }, { 0.8f, 0.2f, 0.8f, 1.0f } },
-            { { -0.5f, 0.5f, -0.5f }, { 0.8f, 0.2f, 0.8f, 1.0f } },
-            { { -0.5f, -0.5f, -0.5f }, { 0.8f, 0.2f, 0.8f, 1.0f } },
-            { { -0.5f, -0.5f, 0.5f }, { 0.8f, 0.2f, 0.8f, 1.0f } }
+                                          // Left Face (X = -0.5f) — Magenta
+                                          { { -0.5f, 0.5f, 0.5f }, { -1.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f }, { 0.8f, 0.2f, 0.8f, 1.0f } },
+                                          { { -0.5f, 0.5f, -0.5f }, { -1.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f }, { 0.8f, 0.2f, 0.8f, 1.0f } },
+                                          { { -0.5f, -0.5f, -0.5f }, { -1.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f }, { 0.8f, 0.2f, 0.8f, 1.0f } },
+                                          { { -0.5f, -0.5f, 0.5f }, { -1.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f }, { 0.8f, 0.2f, 0.8f, 1.0f } }
         };
         constexpr size_t cubeVertexCount = ArraySize(vertexData);
         result.VertexCount               = cubeVertexCount;