by Joshua Knauber·Rendering
Images © Joshua Knauber. Used for product review; image policy.
Layer Painter stands out in the superhive library for putting a layer-based texturing workflow directly inside Blender, generating the node tree behind the scenes. Note that the version listed here is the legacy build and is no longer updated; an open-source version is now maintained by the community on GitHub.
Layer Painter adds a layer system to Blender that generates the node tree for you in the background, so you can create complex materials faster than setting up node trees by hand. The concept is similar to Substance Painter, though Layer Painter is meant for simpler tasks, and it keeps everything inside Blender without switching applications. The Eevee viewport gives realtime feedback for painting and editing materials.
The layer stack lets you add, move and group layers, hide channels, and change blending modes and opacity, while showing the masks and filters on each channel. Layers are based on the Principled BSDF's PBR channels, and you can use values, textures or node groups per channel. Masks can be hand-painted, baked or procedural, filters can adjust properties like hue, and vector fx include pixelating, blurring and an Anti-Tile effect to reduce texture repetition.
For output, you can bake Ambient Occlusion, Bevel Masks and normal maps, or bake the entire material to PBR textures for use in Blender or other software. Layer Painter is now open source; the version listed here is the legacy build and is no longer updated.
Layer Painter is best for pBR and stylized material work inside Blender using a layer-based system with masks, filters and baking.
Layer Painter is completely free to download and use.
Layer Painter is an addon for Blender 2.82 and later, so it works on that version and newer releases. It runs inside Blender rather than as a separate program, and the Eevee viewport gives you realtime feedback while painting and editing materials. The interface can be customized, and there's a built-in workspace to get you started. For the exact supported versions, check the developer's documentation.
Layer Painter is listed as free in this catalog. It is also now open source, with the open-source version hosted on GitHub and maintained by the community going forward. The legacy version listed here still works but is no longer updated. Pricing and licensing can change over time, so check the developer's page and GitHub for the current terms before relying on any particular arrangement.
Layer Painter can bake Ambient Occlusion and Bevel Masks, which can then be used by masks in your material. It can also bake a normal map based on the bevel shader, as well as a normal map from a high poly mesh. Beyond individual maps, you can bake the entire material down to PBR textures for further use in Blender or in other software.
Layer Painter, as listed here, is the legacy version and will not be updated anymore. You can still use it, but ongoing development has moved to an open-source version that the community updates from now on. That open-source version is available on GitHub, and a Discord is listed for more information. Check those links on the developer's page for the maintained release.
Layer Painter can use any texture site, and even most of Extreme PBR's materials can be used as a base. Its settings offer multiple ways of adding textures, including custom texture libraries and other import functions. You can also quickly create new textures to paint on directly inside the addon, and assign textures, values or node groups to individual channels.
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