Thursday, June 6th, 2024 Posted by Jim Thacker

Free tool: paint textures in Blender with HAS Paint Layers


Games artist Vlad Hirourk has released HAS Paint Layers, a handy new free texture-painting add-on for Blender.

The tool makes it possible to paint PBR textures on multiple layers within the open-source 3D software, with support for layer opacity, blending modes and adjustments.

A streamlined tool for layer-based PBR texture painting in Blender
Although there are a number of existing add-ons for creating layer-based textures in Blender – both commercial tools and open-source projects like Ucupaint – HAS Paint Layers delivers the key functionality through a streamlined interface.

Users can paint textures in multiple layers, with the option to use layers as masks or adjustments for the ones below, and adjust layer opacity and blending mode.

The workflow supports PBR texture painting, with users able to assign layers to specific material properties, including roughness, metallic, normal and alpha.

It is also possible to import existing textures to use as layers.

Writing on X, Hirourk describes the approach taken in the add-on as similar to that in tools like Substance 3D Painter or 3DCoat.

Plays nicely with existing Blender pipelines
Paint layers created with HAS Paint Layers should load in Blender even without the add-on installed, and the node groups it creates can be used in any material set-up.

As of yesterday’s 0.3.1 update, it is also possible to create your own custom node groups and use them as adjustment layers.

Still gaining new features rapidly
Although it was only released at the start of the week, the add-on is evolving fast, with Hirourk having already put out two updates in three days.

Features planned for future releases include layer groups, the option to merge layers, and to export layers for editing in tools like Photoshop.

Price and system requirements
HAS Paint Layers is compatible with Blender 3.1-4.1. It’s free.

Download free Blender layer-painting add-on HAS Paint Layers


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