Best 3D Texturing Software:
Our Top 10 Picks for 2025
Naturally, when ordering product 3D models from CG artists, manufacturers, and marketers expect to get the highest quality 3D objects and scenes. However, often it’s bad texturing with seams and twisted patterns that gives away an amateur 3D modeler. Although it’s not about 3D texturing software, it’s mostly how a CG artist uses it.
CG specialists must have advanced 3D modeling and texturing skills to make top-quality photorealistic models. And only those artists who work in a 3D modeling company can be fully trusted. See it for yourself — a studio provides its employees with all necessary hardware, the latest 3D software, add-ons, and other 3D tools. On top of that, 3D companies oblige all artists to take special training and courses so they deliver top-notch 3D modeling and texturing services.
So, before ordering 3D modeling, ask client managers for a portfolio and make inquiries about what 3D tools they use for modeling and texturing. To keep up with modern 3D technologies, read our top 10 best 3D texturing software that every professional will use in 2025.
#1. Autodesk Mudbox
OS: Windows, macOS, Linux
Price: $105/year
Free Version: no
Free Trial: 30 days
Mudbox is a 3D sculpting and 3D texture painting software by Autodesk. Thanks to Autodesk’s reputation, many CG specialists trust it and make tutorials and courses on its new features for the growing community.
Aside from its user-friendly interface and brush-based workflow, which many 3D artists find tactile and intuitive, Mudbox features an advanced retopology tool. It allows creating clean meshes from any imported and scanned data, which reduces the number of polygons and makes 3D texturing smooth and seamless. After retopology is complete, CG experts can apply textures directly to a 3D model and bake the texturing to maintain visual appeal while ensuring easy rendering.
Features:
- Intuitive sculpting tools
- Brush-based workflows
- Retopology capabilities
- Advanced texture painting options
- Layer-based environment
#2. Adobe Photoshop
OS: Windows, macOS
Price: $20.99/mo, $55.99/mo for the whole package
Free Version: no
Free Trial: 7 days
Photoshop is a legendary photo editing software used by professionals in various industries. Because it’s so popular, there are also various tutorials and courses on Photoshop and a strong community of users all over the globe. Also, its developers are constantly improving the CG tool and upgrading existing functionality to enhance the working experience and simplify the workflow.
Photoshop is one of the programs for texturing 3D models that meet high industry standards and allows CG artists to use a wide range of plugins with new functions and effects. Today, it provides all the important 3D tools like painting in 3D and creating custom textures and maps from scratch. After the texture is ready, CG artists can save it in a .png file format and export it to another software.
Features:
- Image editing
- Retouching
- Graphic design
- Digital painting
#3. Blender
OS: Windows, macOS, Linux, FreeBSD
Price: free
Free Version: yes
Free Trial: no
Blender is an open-source 3D creation suite that supports all 3D processes, including modeling, rendering, rigging, simulation, 3D photo montage, motion tracking, video editing, and even 2D animation. Blender features a powerful rendering engine, an intuitive interface, and all the 3D sculpting and texturing tools that CG artists may need.
Because Blender is also free software, it stands out from many other 3D texturing tools and has a strong community around it. Almost every CG artist uses Blender and reports detected bugs so that developers can fix them in the next Blender version. In the end, you get a working 3D tool that is also truly improving from release to release.
Features:
- Robust modeling
- Sculpting
- Animation
- Rigging
- Rendering
- Simulation
- Video editing tools
#4. ZBrush
OS: Windows, macOS
Price: $49/mo
Free Version: no
Free Trial: 30 days
ZBrush by Pixologic is a leading 3D modeling and texturing software widely used by CG experts to create high-resolution 3D models. It closely resembles traditional sculpting and is known for its powerful internal processing capabilities. This allows artists to create highly complex 3D objects composed of billions of polygons—without the need for expensive graphics cards.
With ZBrush, CG artists can sketch out 2D or 3D concepts and turn them into detailed, realistic 3D models within the same 3D texture painting software. It also offers advanced tools for adding lighting and atmospheric effects, enabling users to produce photorealistic renders. Additionally, ZBrush makes it easy to prepare models for 3D printing or to export them to other software platforms and applications.
Features:
- Introducing Dynamics
- Controlled Cloth Sculpting
- Dynamic Subdiv Revisited
- Snapshot3d Additions
- Performance
- ZModeler Upgraded
#5. Adobe Substance Painter
OS: Windows, macOS, Linux
Price: $119.99/mo for PRO version (team subscription), $24.00/mo for Substance 3D Texturing (individual subscription)
Free Version: no
Free Trial: 30 days
Substance Painter is one of those 3D texture software programs that allow users to paint in full 3D. Therefore, you can use it to create textures and paint masks that can then be imported into other 3D tools and material filter generators.
Another advantage of Substance Painter is that it’s compatible with other Adobe products and all popular operating systems. Although some users find Substance Painter effective for hard surface texturing, only because it works with a limited number of UV maps.
Features:
- Automatic UV Unwrapping
- Smart Materials and Masks
- Subsurface Scattering
- Dynamic Material Layering
- UV Reprojection
- UV Tiles
- Post Processing
- Iray Renderer
- Sparse Virtual Textures
- Custom Shaders.
#6. 3D Coat
OS: Windows, macOS, Linux
Price: $397/year Professional, $99/year Educational, $568/year Floating
Free Version: no
Free Trial: 30 days
3D Coat by Pilgway is 3D sculpting and texture painting software that brings endless opportunities for custom 3D modeling. Using it, CG artists can create free-form organic and hard-surfaced 3D models and do retopology to prepare surfaces for smooth texture mapping.
Using 3D Coat, CG experts can create any type of UV maps and texture models with natural painting tools. It allows users to make their own physically based rendering materials, which provide high shading quality. All in all, 3D-Coat is a great photorealistic 3D texturing tool for both static imagery and animation.
Features:
- Digital sculpting
- Polygonal sculpting
- Retopology
- UV mapping
- Texturing
- Rendering
#7. ArmorPaint
OS: Windows, Linux + experimental macOS and Android builds
Price: $19
Free Version: no
Free Trial: no
ArmorPaint provides CG artists with the option of painting multiple maps at once. This allows them to create custom textures and materials with complex colors and bump maps. To make 3D painting smooth and fast, ArmorPaint supports GPU acceleration, which means it is running on the graphics processing unit and its resources. Of course, you need the latest advanced hardware for a seamless, perfect workflow. Again, CG artists from well-reputed 3D companies have all they need to use such 3D texturing software to their fullest.
On top of all that, ArmorPaint has experimental versions that can run on an iPad. This option allows CG specialists to create stunning, complex textures even outside of the office and gives them additional creative freedom.
Features:
- 3D Painting Software
- Node Based
- GPU Accelerated
- Ray Tracing
- Live Link
- Baking
- Path Traced Viewport
#8. Mari
OS: Windows, macOS, Linux
Price: $1,229/year (team subscription), $689/year (individual subscription)
Free Version: no
Free Trial: 30 days
Mari from Foundry is a powerful software that provides CG specialists with unlimited texture painting. It can handle thousands of textures per 3D model, which allows creating the most complex objects and characters. Because of its naturalism and cutting-edge performance, it’s one of the most popular 3D texturing software programs used in the movie industry.
For the next version of Mari, developers collaborated with the 3Delight and VRay teams. Together, they focused on providing CG artists with closer approximations for their texturing and rendering, as well as simplifying the workflow between Mari and Katana, the lighting and rendering applications. All in all, Mari is a professional 3D tool that experienced CG artists use mostly for animations and complex tasks.
Features:
- Bakery. Introducing the Bakery
- Complex geometry handling
- Streamlined look development
- Roller brush
- Automatic Project Backup
- Node Graph UX
- Backdrop Nodes
#9. SelfCAD
OS: Windows, macOS, Linux
Price: $14.99/mo, $11.99/mo (one-year subscription)
Free Version: for students only
Free Trial: 10 days
SelfCAD is one of the most popular browser-based and cloud-based 3D model texturing software. It allows CG artists to create 3D models literally from scratch, i.e., from 3D sculpting and texturing to 3D printing the final object.
On top of that, SelfCAD has a huge database of already completed 3D printable designs and a comprehensive library of objects and parts. This way, CG artists can save time on working on 3D models without compromising the quality of 3D objects.
Features:
- 3D Design
- Modeling
- Sculpting
- Sketching
- Rendering
- Animation
#10. PaintCube
OS: Windows, macOS, Linux
Price: Free
Free Version: yes
Free Trial: Beta
PaintCube is another web-based 3D texture painting software that provides CG artists with a convenient and seamless UV workflow. Firstly, it has all the painting and texturing software to paint textures directly onto the models in 3D space. Secondly, it has a layering system that allows creating and organizing layers of texture information while painting. Once the texture is done, it can be easily customized, edited, and exported to Photoshop or used for VFX applications and games.
Features:
- Painting onto 3D models
- Layered system
- Custom materials
- Cross-platform compatibility
- Exporting
Download CGIFURNITURE price guide and learn the costs of top-tier 3D visualization projects of different scales!
Conclusion
These were the 10 most advanced 3D texturing software and programs that will be trending in 2025. Surely, they all have their pros and cons, as well as different prices and characteristics. Now, based on our review, you can determine which 3D tool will work best for your project and ask your CG artists to use it.
Ready to order quality 3D models for your business? Reach out to us for first-class 3D modeling services and 3D texturing!
Which 3D texturing tool is best for beginners?
Substance 3D Painter is the best 3D texturing tool for beginners — it’s intuitive, powerful, and widely used in the industry.
What is 3D texturing?
3D texturing is the process of applying a 2D texture to a 3D object. It is based on wrapping a 2D image around a 3D model and creating a certain surface. To create photorealistic texture, CG artists can also add maps, sculpt, paint and shade it as they need before proceeding to render.
How do I choose the right texturing software for my project?
Choose based on:
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Skill level – Beginners: Substance Painter, Quixel Mixer.
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Project type – Games: Substance, Films: Mari, Stylized: 3D Coat.
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Budget – Free: Quixel Mixer, Blender.
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Workflow – Match with your modeling/rendering tools.
What’s the average cost of professional 3D texturing software?
The average cost is $20–$50/month or $200–$500/year for tools like Substance 3D Painter or Mari. Some offer free versions for students or indie creators.
substance painter is a great texturing software