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Well folks, I have some good news and bad news. So lets cover the later first and foremost!
Bad news: Adobe bought out Substance Painter. So I no longer have access to it. Even after buying it years ago! Bummer. Now I have to pay a monthly payment to be able to use it again! I’m so upset. Adobe! You suck!
I guess it’s time to jump ship to an open source software similar to Substance. Anyone here know of one?
The good news is, Substance Painter isn't your only option to paint and texture 3D models. Read on for some of the best Substance Painter alternatives!
Substance Painter, which is now owned by Adobe; is a popular 3D painting program used for a wide variety of purposes, from game design to animation. It allows users to texture 3D models and is considered one of the best programs for digital painting, as it sports a huge array of tools and attributes. A one-stop-shop, Substance Painter is all you’ll need to complete texturing once you’ve refined your model in a sculpting program.
Substance Painter’s features and support system are particularly impressive, which is partly why it’s such excellent software. The program allows users to see real-time edits, and you can do all sorts of detailed work like creating a weathered texture with particle effect generation or using the program’s powerful baking tools to form a second high-poly mesh.
Regarding support, the Substance Academy and Substance Forum provide a wealth of support and tutorials. There’s also a vast array of additional low-cost or free tutorials and discussion forums on the internet you can access.
So, why exactly would someone look for alternatives, if it’s such a gold standard in its field?
There are a few reasons. One might be the cost: If a user doesn’t qualify for, say, an education license that would be free of charge, it might be too expensive. An “Indie License” for those making under $100,000 annually costs around $220 per year and the Pro License comes in at just under $1,000 per year. Especially if you’re just using the software for fun, you might want a more cost-effective or less feature-packed program to play with.
Whatever the reason, you’ve come to the right place. We’ll be going over the best alternatives to Substance Painter and also included some honorable mentions that aren’t exactly replacements but can be really useful in related fields. But before we get into our list, we’ll share exactly what we were looking for in a true alternative.
Blender
As millions of users in the 3D modeling and animation world already know, Blender is incredible (and free!) software. It boasts a robust community and support network that will allow you, to a certain extent, to do much of the tasks that Substance Painter can when it comes to things like painting and texturing.
One reason that some users opt for Painter can be the sheer complexity of Blender, so this program is really better recommended for more seasoned 3D designers. Baking objects from high-poly to low-poly, for instance, can be more of an endeavor in Blender. With really powerful rendering tools, excellent post-processing, and animation capabilities, Blender is great for both professional and hobby work. But since Substance Painter sports a really large library of textures, it takes out some of the online searching needed when looking for objects, so Painter might have the upper hand there.
Overall, though, if you’re already experienced with Blender or feel confident enough to master the program, you can use Blender for the majority of tasks that you might otherwise do in Painter. And since Blender doesn’t cost a cent, you won’t have wasted any money if it turns out it’s not what you’re looking for.
Price: Free
Level: Intermediate-advanced
Similar tools to SP: Wide variety of 3D painting and sculpting tools, can do some exporting of textures back and forth with SP
OS: Windows, MacOS, Linux
Where to get it:
Mari
Produced by Foundry, Mari is capable of creating high-resolution texturing for 3D models, so its core value of texturing is similar to Painter. It’s considered an industry standard for VFX and film for good reason; it’s an enormously powerful program.
That said, Mari is extremely elaborate (and possibly even cluttered) in its interface, with many buttons and icons, which may be daunting for those who don’t have advanced or professional experience in texturing. As such, it’s best for users who have quite a bit of experience in the world of 3D assets.
Mari is particularly outstanding for texturing high-poly models for film work, and generally ideal for large texture sets that Painter isn’t really created to deal with. So if you’re looking for a program that has both of those aspects, Mari may be your best bet. Its biggest drawback besides a steep learning curve is the price, but there’s a free non-commercial version available (it has fewer features than the paid version) that’s still excellent quality.
Price: Non-commercial version is free; ~$660/year or ~$2,280 for a perpetual license (after 30-day free trial)
Level: Advanced
Similar tools to SP: Some overlap with procedural texturing capabilities, such as being able to work with UDIMs as texture sets, and similar levels of texture resolution and detail (though via different toolsets)
OS: Windows, Linux
Pixaflux
Meant for image manipulation and texture creation, Pixaflux is node-based free software that’s an excellent option for those with extensive prior experience in 3D assets. Its PBR-based workflow is incredibly powerful, with standout features like color correction and PBR texture composition. The software does have more similarities to Substance Designer than to Painter, but there’s still enough in common when it comes to texturing. As a bonus, it’s totally free.
Tutorials and support community are excellent. The only thing to note is that it isn’t the most user-friendly program and interface, so it’s best for experienced users only. Pixaflus is also limited to only the Windows operating system at this time.
Price: Free
Level: Advanced
Similar tools to SP: PBR texturing
OS: Windows
Where to get it: Pixaflux
ArmorPaint
ArmorPaint has much in common with Blender; it’s another fairly solid alternative to Substance Painter and is generally regarded as its primary for-fee competitor software. Users are impressed by ArmorPaint’s vast capabilities, such as its seamless UV painting, procedural texturing, use of node-based brushes, and ease of exporting files. You also receive instant visual feedback on your work in the viewport, and the interface is user-friendly.
ArmorPaint has an excellent support network, and there are plenty of free and paid tutorials available. Overall, it has a very solid reputation in the world of 3D assets and painting, and it’s notably more affordable than Substance Painter. The main downside is it doesn’t have quite the staggering array of features that Painter can brag of, like limited baking; it’s also been known to crash at times, but for the most part, is pretty reliable.
Price: ~$20 to download including updates
Level: Intermediate-advanced
Similar tools to SP: Integration into additional 3D software, layer system, clean interface
OS: Windows, Linux
Where to get it: ArmorPaint
Mixer
Having introduced texture painting in 2020, Quixel Mixer is an excellent alternative for many 3D texturing and painting projects. The software is considered is very intuitive with well-labeled tools, so the interface is generally viewed as more user-friendly (especially for beginners) than Substance Painter.
Mixer hooks in well with the MegaScans library and boasts plenty of solid features like 3D mesh painting and a huge material library. Plus, you can paint directly on models.
There’s no baker in Mixer, which is partly why it isn’t necessarily the best option for those looking to find software that’s geared more towards professional use. However, you can theoretically bake maps inside of Mixer, and they can then be exported elsewhere.
Since it’s free for non-commercial use, you don’t really have anything to lose by downloading and playing around with it. Mixer is fairly competitive software for hobbyists or those looking to get their feet wet in the world of 3D painting before moving on to bigger (and potentially more expensive) things.
Price: Free
Level: All levels
Similar tools to SP: Drawing on mesh, vast libraries
OS: Windows, MacOS
Where to get it: Quixel
ZBrush (Multiple Versions)
For the advanced user, ZBrush is one of the prime competitors to Substance Painter. In fact, many professionals use both, transferring ZBrush items to Painter for finishing. The software is considered optimal for high-poly modeling purposes and can proudly tout its phenomenal customer support, as well as its ease in transferring users’ work to other software packages.
ZBrush sports a very powerful system of brushes for finely detailed sculpting, and it’s easy to reduce the poly count with meshes. To paint in ZBrush, you’ll use Polypainting, which allows you to color a 3D model on a “per-vertex” basis (meaning you’re painting on the individual polygons of your mesh).
One obvious downside to ZBrush is its cost if you go with the full version. But depending on your purposes and requirements, you could possibly opt for ZBrushCore, which is less expensive and has fewer features, or even ZBrushCoreMini, which is free with the fewest features. You can’t go wrong with giving the free trial a spin!
Price: Licenses range from ~$900 for a perpetual individual license for the full version to ~$180 for ZBrushCore (after a 30-day free trial); ZBrushCoreMini is free
Level: Beginner (ZBrushCoreMini) – advanced (ZBrush)
Similar tools to SP: Direct painting on flattened UV maps, baking
OS: Windows, MacOS
Where to get it:
PaintCube
While it doesn’t get as much press as some of the other alternatives, PaintCube can be a good option. The program allows you to export or download textures and paint in five different texture modes (such as metal and diffuse).
The software is currently in its beta phase, so a lot of functions will come to fruition later in its development. For example, it currently only supports FBX and OBJ files types but will add more supported options later down the road.
It’s a browser-based program and only operates in Chrome, so that’s likely a reason why it isn’t topping lists of popular painting software programs. Plus, it’s relatively new, so there isn’t a huge support community or range of available tutorials. However, it seems quite likely that will change with time, and the free trial is certainly worth a run.
Price: ~$50/year including updates (after a 14-day free trial)
Level: Intermediate
Similar tools to SP: Layering system
OS: N/A (operates in Google Chrome)
Where to get it: PaintCube
3DCoat
Particularly noteworthy for its interactive UV mapping capabilities and multitude of well-developed painting tools, 3DCoat is definitely a viable alternative to Substance Painter. It gets high marks for dealing with low-poly models, and what’s often cited as being especially appealing about 3DCoat is its versatility, with features including repotology, UV mapping, sculpting, painting, and PBR texturing. 3DCoat is also generally well regarded when it comes to hand painting. Suffice it to say, this program can pretty much do it all. Some drawbacks to 3DCoat can be the price; it isn’t one of the cheapest alternatives, though it does offer a free 30-day trial to test it out. Additionally, the least-expensive paid option only allows for painting on seven layers, so you’ll have to upgrade if you want more capabilities there.
However, it’s still an excellent choice. With an active YouTube tutorial channel and a large user community, you’ll be able to get a lot of support for any questions or concerns you might have when using the program.
Price: Licenses range from ~$100 for an “Amateur” license to ~$570 for “Floating” (after a 30-day free trial)
Level: Intermediate-advanced
Similar tools to SP: Hand painting capabilities, ease of exporting files, stylized texturing
OS: Windows, MacOS, Linux
Where to get it: 3DCoat
Honorable Mentions
These programs don’t quite fit the profile of Substance Painter and its texturing capabilities, but they still have features that can be helpful for 3D painting or other endeavors in the realm of animation and 3D design.
Mudbox
A well-regarded painting and carving program, Mudbox allows users to paint directly on 3D models, manipulate models with a special stylus pen tool, and utilize repotology tools, among many other tasks. Its automated setup makes it very user-friendly.
Created by Autodesk, Mudbox offers a free trial and is a good choice for beginners to get started in the world of 3D painting, texturing, and sculpting. It’s a solid starting point before moving onto Substance Painter or one of its alternatives.
Price: ~$90/year (after a 30-day free trial)
Level: All levels
Features: Texture baking, brush-baked workflows, sculpting, painting
OS: Windows, MacOS
Where to get it: Autodesk
Filter Forge
As its name might imply, Filter Forge is graphics software that incorporates a vast array of filters. It features procedural textures and can be used both as a standalone program or as a plug-in for Photoshop.
This software can output maps of texture images and sports an impressive (node-based) filter editor. The extensive filter library is also hard to beat! Filter Forge is a bit expensive but offers a free trial period. It can be an excellent supplementary program for your 3D design and painting work.
Price: Licenses range from ~$30 for a Basic Edition permanent license up to ~$410 for professional access (after a 30-day free trial)
Level: All levels
Features: Image modification, large filter library
OS: Windows, MacOS
Where to get it: Filter Forge
So here are the alternatives you can get a hold of. And if you are like me and love open souce software, I hope this benefits you!
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