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Instead of Adobe Substance 3D Designer

Best Adobe Substance 3D Designer Alternatives in 2026

Taken from Game Texture Software, where Adobe Substance 3D Designer is listed too, in the same order.

  1. 1

    Autodesk Mudbox

    Autodesk Mudbox is desktop software for 3D digital sculpting and painting, used to create detailed characters and environments with textures.

    • Free plan
    • Windows · macOS · Linux · API
    8.1 Club score
  2. 2

    World Machine

    World Machine is procedural 3D terrain software for creating realistic or stylized landscapes.

    • Free plan
    • Windows · macOS · Linux
    8.1 Club score
  3. 3

    Blender

    Blender is a free, open-source desktop suite for 3D creation on Linux, macOS, and Windows.

    • Free plan
    • Open source
    • Windows · macOS · Linux
    8.1 Club score
  4. 4

    Surface Labs

    Surface Labs is a node-based application for building procedural textures and materials by connecting operations into a graph.

    • Free plan
    • Windows · macOS · Linux · iPhone and iPad
    8.0 Club score
  5. 5

    Houdini

    Houdini is SideFX’s procedural 3D creation software for film, television, game development, motion graphics, virtual reality, and synthetic data work.

    • Free plan
    • Windows · macOS · Linux
    7.9 Club score
  6. 6

    Mari

    Mari is a 3D painting package for high-resolution texturing and look development in visual effects, animation, and games.

    • Free plan
    • Windows · Linux
    7.8 Club score
  7. 7

    Marmoset Viewer

    Marmoset Viewer is a WebGL 3D model viewer for sharing interactive presentations on the web.

    • Free plan
    • Windows · macOS · Web · iPhone and iPad
    7.8 Club score
  8. 8

    3DCoat

    3DCoat is a desktop application for Linux, macOS, and Windows that combines sculpting, retopology, UV editing, PBR texture painting, and rendering.

    • Free plan
    • Windows · macOS · Linux
    7.7 Club score
  9. 9

    InstaMAT

    InstaMAT Studio is a content creation platform for designing generative materials, texturing assets, building procedural graphs, and painting in 3D.

    • Free plan
    • Windows · macOS · Linux
    7.7 Club score
  10. 10

    Material Maker

    Material Maker is an open-source tool for authoring procedural PBR materials with node graphs and exporting them for game engines and movie assets.

    • Free plan
    • Windows · macOS · Linux
    7.6 Club score
  11. 11

    TextureLab

    TextureLab is a free, open-source tool for creating tileable, physically based textures.

    • Free plan
    • Windows · macOS · Linux
    7.5 Club score
  12. 12

    AwesomeBump

    AwesomeBump is a free, open-source tool that creates material textures from a single image.

    • Free plan
    • Windows · macOS · Linux
    7.4 Club score
  13. 13

    Pigmi

    Pigmi is a desktop editor for texture palettes, gradient atlases, and PBR material maps, available for Linux, macOS, and Windows.

    • Free plan
    • Windows · macOS · Linux
    7.4 Club score
  14. 14

    Gaea

    Gaea is a Windows terrain design platform for VFX, games, and virtual production.

    • Free plan
    • Windows
    7.4 Club score
  15. 15

    VFX Texture Lab

    VFX Texture Lab is a free, MIT-licensed node-based application for creating procedural assets used in real-time visual effects.

    • Free plan
    • Windows · Linux
    7.3 Club score
  16. 16

    PBRgen

    PBRgen is a web tool that turns a text prompt or image into a full PBR material for 3D software.

    • Free plan
    • Web
    7.2 Club score
  17. 17

    PBRize

    PBRize is a web tool for turning reference images into PBR texture maps for material-authoring workflows.

    • Free plan
    • Web
    7.2 Club score
  18. 18

    Blacksmith3D

    Blacksmith3D is a Windows application for painting textures and morphing 3D models.

    • Free plan
    • Windows
    7.2 Club score
  19. 19

    xNormal

    xNormal is a free Windows application for baking texture maps, including normal maps and ambient occlusion.

    • Free plan
    • Windows
    7.1 Club score
  20. 20

    ZBrush

    ZBrush is a 3D sculpting and modeling application for Windows and macOS, with desktop and iPad versions.

    • Free plan
    • Windows · macOS
    7.1 Club score

The whole list: Game Texture Software