CG Channel

3D painting

Linux-based VFX and games studios get new alternatives to the Substance 3D tools. Includes the Blender and Maya integrations.

Monday, May 4th, 2026

Updated: Sparseal's promising texture painting app gets its first official Windows release - and an experimental free build for macOS.

Wednesday, April 22nd, 2026

See the new features in the free alternative to Substance 3D Designer, including a Controlled Variations system for material variants.

Wednesday, April 22nd, 2026

Promising 'minimalist 3D sculpting' tool runs in a browser, on Windows, Mac and Linux, and as an iPad app. Free for personal use.

Monday, March 30th, 2026

See what's new in the promising alternative to the Substance tools for texture painting and material authoring. Free to indie artists.

Thursday, March 12th, 2026

Check out the new features in the latest major version of the 3D texture painting software for games, motion graphics and VFX.

Tuesday, March 10th, 2026

Sparseal's $20 iPad app includes features usually only found in more expensive desktop software, like simultaneous multichannel painting.

Thursday, February 26th, 2026

Quixel Mixer 2023.1 makes it possible to run the material-authoring software offline indefinitely, unlike previous versions.

Friday, February 20th, 2026

See the new features in the open-source alternative to Substance 3D Designer, including DDS support and seven new SDF nodes.

Tuesday, January 20th, 2026

3D texture painting software gets long-awaited Multi-Paint system for projection-painting multiple texture maps simultaneously.

Wednesday, December 3rd, 2025

Check out the new features in the texture painting software, including a Ribbon path for flowing patterns or text seamlessly over a 3D model.

Wednesday, November 19th, 2025

Open-source alternative to tools like Substance 3D Designer and Painter gets a long-awaited update. Check out the new features.

Tuesday, October 7th, 2025

Major update sees the hotly tipped 3D texture painting and material authoring tools leave early access. Still free for indie artists.

Wednesday, July 23rd, 2025