by 3d illusions·Rendering
Images © 3d illusions. Used for product review; image policy.
Shader Shaper earns a spot in the Superhive library for turning a texture node into tileable bump, normal, and depth maps and wiring up the shader in one step. Its high bit depth output targets gradient and edge artefact free results, even on curved surfaces.
Shader Shaper is a Blender add-on for generating shader maps. Select a texture node and click generate, and it creates bump, normal, and depth maps, then sets up your shader to use them. Its output is tileable, meaning the height data in the depth, bump, and normal maps matches at the seams. The content of the input image itself is not made tileable, so tileable source images still give the best results.
Maps can be adjusted interactively: resolution, aspect ratio, and normal map format for compatibility with game engines and 3D applications, plus per-map micro detail controls to set fine detail strength on each map separately. Distortion removal, flattening, and seam smoothing tools address wave-like distortions, flat surfaces, and non-tileable inputs. An enhance option lets smaller AI models that are free for commercial work perform well.
The add-on supports CPU and GPU acceleration, and its high bit depth output targets gradient and edge artefact free results, even on curved surfaces. It is Blender 5 ready, with documentation available on the developer's page.
Shader Shaper is best for blender artists generating tileable bump, normal, and depth maps and setting up shaders from texture nodes.
Shader Shaper is completely free to download and use.
Shader Shaper supports both CPU and GPU acceleration. On the GPU side it works with Nvidia cards using CUDA 11.8 to 12.9 on Windows and Linux, and AMD cards using ROCm 6.0 or ROCm 6.4 on Linux only. Apple systems are CPU only. This matters for the enhance option: the developer notes that enhance should only be used on small models such as depth anything v2 small, particularly without GPU acceleration, because large models take a long time to process when enhance is enabled.
Shader Shaper is described as Blender 5 ready. It generates bump, normal, and depth maps from a selected texture node and then sets up your shader to use them. For detailed installation and usage instructions, the developer points to the documentation tab on the product page. A demo video is also available if you want to see the add-on in action before installing. The add-on supports both CPU and GPU acceleration, and lets you interactively adjust map resolution, aspect ratio, and normal map format for compatibility with game engines and 3D applications.
Shader Shaper output can be used in commercial projects. The add-on includes an enhance option that lets smaller AI models, which are free to use for commercial work, produce stronger results. The developer advises using enhance only on small models such as depth anything v2 small, especially if you are not using GPU acceleration, since large models take a long time to process with enhance enabled.
Shader Shaper produces tileable maps in the sense that the height data in the depth, bump, and normal maps matches at the seams. The content of the input image itself is not made tileable, so you still need to use tileable input images for the best results. For maps generated from non-tileable images, the add-on includes seam smoothing tools to help them repeat more cleanly.
Shader Shaper is listed as free in this catalog, but licensing terms can change, so check the developer's page for current details. Note that the add-on's output can be used in commercial projects, and the enhance option is designed to let smaller AI models that are freely usable for commercial work perform well. The developer advises using enhance only on small models such as depth anything v2 small, particularly without GPU acceleration, since large models take a long time to process when enhance is enabled.
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