So what is a good texture painting app these days?
outrider42
Posts: 3,679
in The Commons
Namely being able to paint across UV maps without breaking the bank. I have been using Blacksmith3D all these years and would like something...modern.
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I'm still using Substance Painter but Armor Paint is coming along really well. There's also Quixel Mixer but I haven't tried that.
Looks interesting - though more expensive.
Forgot to mention Blender - I've used that before - if you buy the Mask Tools addon and/or other similar addons, it can make texturing work pretty easy (but Blender is very slow to bake out textures compared with Substance Painter)
Quixel Mixer is free and brand new - at least for some uses.
https://quixel.com/mixer
Substance Painter is currently 34% off on Steam. This is for a perpetual license with updates until the end of 2021.
I think that it would be difficult to find a texturing program that offers better value than this - provided that you don't mind the requirement to run it from Steam.
I'm not sure how well it would work if you're trying to paint skin textures, but I use Mudbox for tattoos and it works wonderful. It's a $10/mo subscription, but I just cancel it when I don't need it and only sign up if I have to make a new tattoo.
If I were to purchase through Steam, would I also have to subscribe via Adobe? I noticed Adobe has a $19.99/mo subscription that includes access to Substance Painter as well as a couple other apps that I'm not even sure I need (Substance Designer and Substance Sampler). Also, if I want to suscribe to their asset marketplace, that would be included in the $19.99/mo subscription at 30 assets per month. I'm not sure if that asset marketplace is even something that's needed.
i think if you use as learning purposes its free. (i m not use, i still use my old perpetual license for an old version)
For spotlight texturing the zbrush also good, and blender also have a pbr texturer plugin.
for me im little fed up with substance/adobe painter, i plan buy a new video card, when i gather enough money, and subscribe to mari :3
If you buy it on Steam, you don't need a subscription. The Steam version is a perpetual license rather than a subscription but has no upgrade path after the end of 2021. You can keep using it, but you won't get any more updates. You do not get the other benefits included in the subscription (the other programs and the monthly free assets). However, Substance Designer (which is worth having) is also available on Steam.
This is tempting, although updates ending in 2021 make me hesitant.
There's only 6mo left in 2021, so that makes me a bit nervous. Also, it seems like I'd need to subscribe to the asset marketplace anyways and that's the $19.99/mo anyways. I have literally no experience with painting textures...all I've ever done is use Mudbox to paint/draw tattoos on the model and then transfer the output to Photoshop. But it would be cool to make my own textures for clothes, etc.
Here's a quote from Adobe from 2 weeks ago on the Substance Painter Steam page:
"Steam sales are still a thing and there is no plan to change any of that. We hope this alleviates some of the fears expressed when Allegorithmic joined Adobe, a bit more than 2 years ago now".
It's only free updates for 2021 purchasers that run out at the end of the year. It's likely that Substance Painter and Designer perpetual licenses will continue to be available on Steam, so that if you buy it in January 2022, you'll get updates until the end of 2022.
3D Coat is pretty cool, too.
They have just announced a new version of 3DCoat called 3DCoatTextura which just has the texturing, painting and rendering functionality from the full program, but at a lower price point.
That could be good news for some people :)
It is too late for me. (I got the full version last year, but all I wanted was to paint across seams.) I like 3DCoat, it is easy for someone like me, who doesn't know much about computers, to figure out and use.
Snow sultan has a current thread detailing issues with Substance when rendered in Daz Studio. Do most of you have those issues?
Which texture paint program converts the most easily to Studio? I'd like to avoid learning a new render engine, if possible...
https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/505821/an-angry-rant-but-not-exactly-at-daz#latest
I also like the sculpture and retopo tools. I think it's a pretty neat package. It's worth exploring the other features as time and interest allows.
Interesting. I had not thought of looking at Steam, ironic considering how much I talk about gaming. I don't mind needing the Steam client to run a software, I have been doing that for years. It is lightweight. I also don't mind a 2021 edition that will not be updated past the year. That is much preferable to a subscription fee being required to access the software. So Substance Painter on Steam has my attention.
What I am looking to do is just texture, and being able to use high resolution textures and details at 8K or above. I want to be able to use my own texture materials. Sculpting or anything else would be a bonus, but I only want to be able to paint here.
Is there any indication of how much 3DCoatTextura will cost? It goes on sale on July 12, but the current Steam sale ends on July 8, just days before. For Substance Painter the sale knocks off $50, so waiting on 3DCoatTextura to release is a tough call here. I see that you need the 3DCoat Pro version to make textures larger than 2K in size, and to use it commercially. 3DCoat Pro is $379, so what will 3DCoatTextura cost, and will 3DCoatTextura have a "Pro" version?
I don't see any price info on textura, but I would anticipate some sort of introductory special for 3d coat 2021 and textura. Their special for Pro usually knocks $100 off the price.
This all depends on what you are texturing, your interest in learning new software, and your budget.
If you are texturing clothing, hard surfaces or just trying to alter a skin texture, Substance Painter is where its at. 20 dollars a month with only a small learning curve, and plenty of tutorials online to get you started. It even makes normals and bumps while you paint. How cool is that?
Zbrush. Meh. Great for sculpting, not my favorite for painting.
Mari can be intuitive to those that have a lot of experience with Photoshop. The detail you can get from photos are amazing, it can use Photoshop brushes and it does procedural stuff too. It requires more computer power, hand painting and patience. Last I checked, its free for personal use.
Mudbox is a great easy way to transfer photos to figures, and it also has sculpting; similar to zbrush but a smidge different. I personally like the sculpting more for the finer, detail work., and it s fairly cheap at 10 dollars a month.
Overall, I believe, for beginners, Substance is probably the easiest and best bang for your buck.
I imagine they would make it price competitive with Substance Painter's Steam price, since that is going to be their direct competition. But still, it is a tough call, because Textura is brand new software, nobody can say for sure how well it work. There is no demo or anything to test Textura with. While 3DCoat claims Textura will have all of the painting features of full 3DCoat, we cannot verify this claim until the software is finally out. But by then the Steam sale will be over. Oh this is frustrating.
I've not seen any prices for 3DCoatTextura.
I have an amateur license for 3DCoat v4.8 (again bought on Steam) but never use it for texturing, only for uv mapping and retopology. In my humble opinion, Substance Painter is a substantially better texturing program than 3DCoat.
It is nice to hear from your perspective, thanks. Have you by chance tried 3DCoat?
Looks like Mari is more than I'm willing to spend. Also, I would prefer to avoid a subscription, which is why I am looking at the Steam Substance Painter and 3DCoat. But if really makes a difference, I might try a sub out for a while if I am not locked into a contract.
Considering I've used Mudbox to paint/draw tattoos on a mesh, would you recommend Substance Painter for that purpose as well? The most recent set I did I was happy to use my new artist screen/tablet as a learning experience for using the tablet and actually drawing in Mudbox rather than using the projection brush. I don't know that I'm looking to do full-blown skin textures (who knows what the future brings), but I'd be interested in doing things like custom scars, etc and maybe even retexturing older assets. My biggest beef with Mudbox is that it's very difficult to wrap tattoos around a mesh, such as a sleeve. As soon as you start to hit the curve of the arm, it goes all sorts of wonky. It does have a project setting but I've never had success with it. Free drawing stuff is a bit easier because you can spin the mesh as you go, but if you're trying to stencil or use the projection brush, it's not very intuitive at all.
I also have ZBrush, but when I tried to use that to paint tattoos I almost blew a coronary gasket. The program seems so intuitive for sculpting and baking textures and even easy UV mapping, but for projection painting it felt so convoluted and stupid.
There is Marmoset. I'm not really qualified to be able to do a comparitive assessment for all the tools listed in this thread but I do know that the PA D.Master told me that Marmoset is what he uses. It's went up by $100 since he told me that, at $299 now, and now goes for a price that says maybe you should do a 30 day trial for each and then decide.
Marmoset Toolbag 4 - 3D Rendering, Texturing, & Baking Tools
I havent tried 3DCoat, but I am a former Blacksmith user too. Unfortunately most of the more popular programs have gone to the subscription model. It's going to be hard to get away from that.
Mari is expensive in comparison to the others, but it is also a hell of a program. I fell in love with the usability and how it just clicked with me and the way i work. It's like Photoshop on steroids. You can make some bad ass skin textures in this program.
"Considering I've used Mudbox to paint/draw tattoos on a mesh, would you recommend Substance Painter for that purpose as well? The most recent set I did I was happy to use my new artist screen/tablet as a learning experience for using the tablet and actually drawing in Mudbox rather than using the projection brush. I don't know that I'm looking to do full-blown skin textures (who knows what the future brings), but I'd be interested in doing things like custom scars, etc and maybe even retexturing older assets. My biggest beef with Mudbox is that it's very difficult to wrap tattoos around a mesh, such as a sleeve. As soon as you start to hit the curve of the arm, it goes all sorts of wonky. It does have a project setting but I've never had success with it. Free drawing stuff is a bit easier because you can spin the mesh as you go, but if you're trying to stencil or use the projection brush, it's not very intuitive at all.
I also have ZBrush, but when I tried to use that to paint tattoos I almost blew a coronary gasket. The program seems so intuitive for sculpting and baking textures and even easy UV mapping, but for projection painting it felt so convoluted and stupid. "
Yeah it is convoluted and stupid. And you have to get the mesh pretty well subdivided (more than in some of the other programs it seems) to get nice enough textures out of it. Not my favorite. Sculpting/Modelling is where it shines for me.
Mudbox also has its pros and cons. I use it mostly for projecting photos and sculpting finer details. Some areas in the program I dont bother with, like the curve tools. It is also not overly intuitive but there are lots of helpful videos for getting your feet wet. I dont know if you have seen this video, but this one I found most helpful when I first started using the projection tools in Mudbox.
A quick tip : Make sure you subdivide the mesh as much as your computer can handle. The more subdivided it is, the better the textures when you export.
Out of the mess of texturing softwares Ive used over the years, I cant say enough good things about Substance. I even use it just to bake normal maps from sculpts I do in Zbrush and Mudbox. They just come out so nice. It's also fairly easy to understand. It does take a few tutorials to get you going, but its not overwhelming.
Edited to Add: Melissa I would also recommend you trying substance for that stuff too. Its an incredible easy, powerful program. The only downfall with substance is that you can't sculpt in it.
I know nothing about texturing so I'm not sure what these applications do. For example, do they do the whole UV mapping workflow as well as provide painting tools? The UV thing is what puts me off both texturing and modelling - no point in spending a lot of time creating a nice prop if the texturing process is beyond me. I'd like to learn but whenever I've looked at UV tutorials I have been put off from attempting it. My mind can't seem to project that 3D shape into 2D so I am lost among all those islands.
If you know what to adjsut in DS it will look almsot identical as it does in Substance.
I think chevybabe has sold me on Substance Painter, so I will give that a shot. It is on sale for $100 right now for the Steam 2021 version and that sounds reasonable to me. Maybe in time I'll try some others, and it would be great if 3DCoat Textura can provide real competition to Painter, along with the other software mentioned. Competition is always good.