{"id":14059,"date":"2026-05-14T20:44:34","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T20:44:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/3dcoat.com\/documentation\/?post_type=manual_documentation&p=14059"},"modified":"2026-05-14T21:07:02","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T21:07:02","slug":"texturing","status":"publish","type":"manual_documentation","link":"https:\/\/3dcoat.com\/documentation\/manual\/texturing\/","title":{"rendered":"GPU Texturing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Introduction<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

3DCoat offers a robust, industry-leading toolset for 3D texturing, primarily utilizing a Physically Based Rendering (PBR) workflow. Whether you are creating hand-painted stylized assets or hyper-realistic surfaces with complex material properties, the Paint Room<\/strong> and the Node System<\/strong> provide all the necessary tools to achieve your artistic vision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unlike traditional 2D image editors where you paint on flat UV layouts, 3DCoat allows you to paint directly onto the 3D model, eliminating seams and distortions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Texturing Approaches<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

3DCoat supports several texturing paradigms depending on your project needs:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  1. Per-Pixel Painting:<\/strong>\u00a0The standard and most common approach. You paint directly onto the texture pixels mapped to the object’s UVs. It is fast, efficient, and supports high-resolution textures.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Microvertex Painting:<\/strong>\u00a0A unique 3DCoat feature that allows you to paint depth\/displacement directly onto a highly tessellated mesh without UVs. It is excellent for sketching details that will later be baked down to a low-poly mesh.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. PTex (Per-Face Texturing):<\/strong>\u00a0A UV-less texturing method where each polygon gets its own texture space, useful for film and rendering pipelines.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    The PBR Workflow<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    The texturing engine in 3DCoat is built around the Physically Based Rendering standard. When painting, you are simultaneously modifying multiple material channels:<\/p>\n\n\n\n