PBR Material Generators for Game Engines: MaterialForge, Substance 3D Sampler, Polycam and Free Options
Last updated 2026-11-02 · Written by the Cosindra team; see the disclosure below.
To make a tileable PBR material from a description for Unreal, Unity or Godot, MaterialForge gives you Base Color, Normal, Roughness, AO, Metallic and Height maps plus an Unreal material recipe for 4 credits, with downloads made for Unreal, Unity HDRP and OpenGL tools, on a free start that covers 20 materials in a new account's first month. To turn photos or scans into a material, Adobe Substance 3D Sampler is the professional pick, in the Substance 3D Collection at US$59.99 a month after a 30-day free trial, and Materialize is a free Windows app that makes height, normal, metallic, smoothness and occlusion maps from one image. For free ready-made materials, ambientCG and Poly Haven publish CC0 libraries, and Polycam's texture generator makes tileable textures from a prompt on its paid plans.
Disclosure: we build MaterialForge. Facts about the other tools were read on their official pages on November 2, 2026, and the free libraries are the right first stop whenever the surface you need already exists.
Is it free and what does it cost?
Cosindra is free to start with no card: the Starter plan gives 30 credits a month, eligible new accounts also get 50 one-time signup credits, and Starter includes one free download shared across products. Paid plans start at $9.99 a month (BYOK, 150 credits a month), and one-time credit packs cost $5 for 50 credits, $10 for 100 or $20 for 200, with credits that never expire. In MaterialForge a material costs 4 credits (9 with Pro Engine on paid plans), adjusting a finished material is free, and From image is on paid plans. For the others: The Adobe Substance 3D Collection, which includes Sampler, is US$59.99 a month with a 30-day free trial; Polycam's AI Texture Generator page says the tool is for paid Polycam users, with a trial to test it, and Polycam's paid plans start at Basic, $150 a year; Materialize is a free download under the GNU GPL v3, for Windows; ambientCG's materials are CC0, free for any purpose including commercial use without attribution; Poly Haven's assets are CC0, free for commercial work with no credit required (official pages, read November 2, 2026).
Official pages: Adobe Substance 3D plans, Polycam pricing, Materialize FAQ, ambientCG, Poly Haven license.
| MaterialForge | Substance 3D Sampler | Polycam texture generator | Materialize | ambientCG and Poly Haven | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| You start from | A description; an image on paid plans | Photos and scans | A prompt or a reference image | One image, or maps you already have | A library of finished materials |
| What you get | Base Color, Normal, Roughness, AO, Metallic and Height, plus an Unreal material recipe | Albedo, roughness, normal and displacement from Image to Material | Up to four tileable textures per prompt | Height, normal, metallic, smoothness, edge and occlusion maps | Full PBR sets |
| Into your engine | Apply in UE5; ZIPs for Unreal, Unreal with ORM, Unity HDRP and OpenGL (Blender, Godot, three.js) | Sends to other Substance apps such as Painter and Stager | Textures for Blender, Unreal, Unity and more | Shaders for Unity and Unreal on its download page | Downloads for any engine |
| Free (read November 2, 2026) | Free start: 20 materials in a new account's first month | 30-day trial of the Collection | A trial; paid plans from Basic, $150 a year | Free, GNU GPL v3 | Free, CC0 |
| Runs in | Browser | Desktop app | Browser | Windows app | Website |
MaterialForge: a material from words, made for the engine
MaterialForge (ours) is for the surface you can describe but cannot find: write "cracked concrete floor, fine dust and subtle oil stains" and get a tileable PBR set and an Unreal material recipe. Every map is derived from the same tileable image, so they all tile together, and UV tiling, tint and the maps themselves can be adjusted for free afterwards. In Unreal, Apply in UE5 builds the material and a Material Instance in your open project through the free desktop app; for Unity HDRP the download adds a mask map, and the OpenGL download flips the normal map for Blender, Godot and three.js. Pro renders the texture and maps at 2048x2048 (2K); Standard renders 1024x1024.
Starter generates in Single mode; Variations, Material Packs, From image and Pro Engine are on paid plans. A result you do not save is kept for 24 hours.
Substance 3D Sampler: the pick for photos and scans
If your source is a photo or a scan, Sampler is built for it: Adobe says its Image to Material removes shadows and generates albedo, roughness, normal and displacement maps, with intelligent tiling, parametric effects such as moss or snow, and a path into Painter and Stager. It comes in the Substance 3D Collection with Painter, Designer and Stager. For authoring materials as a craft, the Substance apps remain the professional pipeline.
Polycam, Materialize and the free libraries
Polycam's texture generator makes up to four seamlessly tileable textures from a prompt or a reference image, with a royalty-free commercial license, for paid Polycam users. Materialize is a free, open source Windows tool that builds height, normal, metallic, smoothness, edge and occlusion maps from one image and tiles them. ambientCG and Poly Haven publish CC0 materials, free for commercial use without credit: when the surface you need is already there, use them first. Meshy's texturing is a different job: it paints a 3D model rather than making a tileable material.
Honest limits
MaterialForge: procedural surfaces such as glass or gold can come back as a recipe only, with no image maps; Apply in UE5 needs the free desktop app and UE 5.7 or 5.8; From image keeps the lighting of your photo, where Sampler is built to remove it. Starter includes one lifetime free download, shared across products. More downloads come with a paid plan (from $9.99 a month for 150 credits) or a one-time credit pack ($5 for 50 credits, $10 for 100 or $20 for 200), whose credits never expire and which opens downloads for 15 to 30 days.
Who should pick what
MaterialForge
You need a surface that does not exist in a library, as a tileable PBR set with an Unreal recipe or a Unity HDRP or OpenGL download, from a description.
Substance 3D Sampler
Your source is a photo or a scan, or materials are your craft and you already use the Substance apps.
ambientCG or Poly Haven
The surface you need already exists in a free CC0 library.
Materialize
You have one good image and a Windows machine, and want free maps from it.
Polycam
You already pay for Polycam and want tileable textures from a prompt next to your scans.
Free tools and guides for these jobs
- How to make a PBR material from a text prompt: the maps, file sizes, tiling and Unreal import settings
- Free texture channel packer: pack an Unreal ORM texture or a Unity HDRP mask map in your browser
- UE5 material recipes: channel by channel, for common surfaces
Don’t take this page’s word for it: the galleries are real, unedited community output.
Common questions
Is it free and what does it cost?
Cosindra is free to start with no card: the Starter plan gives 30 credits a month, eligible new accounts also get 50 one-time signup credits, and Starter includes one free download shared across products. Paid plans start at $9.99 a month (BYOK, 150 credits a month), and one-time credit packs cost $5 for 50 credits, $10 for 100 or $20 for 200, with credits that never expire. In MaterialForge a material costs 4 credits (9 with Pro Engine on paid plans), adjusting a finished material is free, and From image is on paid plans. For the others: The Adobe Substance 3D Collection, which includes Sampler, is US$59.99 a month with a 30-day free trial; Polycam's AI Texture Generator page says the tool is for paid Polycam users, with a trial to test it, and Polycam's paid plans start at Basic, $150 a year; Materialize is a free download under the GNU GPL v3, for Windows; ambientCG's materials are CC0, free for any purpose including commercial use without attribution; Poly Haven's assets are CC0, free for commercial work with no credit required (official pages, read November 2, 2026).
Is there a free PBR material generator?
Yes. Materialize is a free Windows app that makes PBR maps from one image, and ambientCG and Poly Haven publish free CC0 materials. MaterialForge is free to start: a new account's first 80 credits cover 20 materials. Substance 3D Sampler has a 30-day trial, and Polycam's texture generator is for paid plans.
Which tool makes PBR materials for Unity HDRP?
MaterialForge's Unity HDRP download adds a mask map (metallic, AO, detail mask and smoothness) next to an OpenGL normal map. For maps you already have, the free texture channel packer builds the same mask in your browser.
Can I make a PBR material from a photo?
Yes. Substance 3D Sampler's Image to Material is built for photos and scans and removes shadows; Materialize makes maps from one image for free on Windows; MaterialForge's From image, on paid plans, keeps the lighting of your photo, so flat, evenly lit shots work best.
Is Cosindra free, and what does MaterialForge cost?
Yes, you can start free with no card. The Starter plan gives 30 credits every month, and eligible new accounts also get 50 one-time signup credits. A material costs 4 credits, so the 80 credits of a new account's first month cover 20 materials. Adjusting a finished material's parameters is free, and every verified account's first repaint of a model is free. Variations, Material Packs, From image and Pro Engine are on paid plans. Starter includes one free download, shared across products. More downloads come with a paid plan (from $9.99 a month for 150 credits) or a one-time credit pack ($5 for 50 credits, $10 for 100 or $20 for 200), whose credits never expire and which opens downloads for 15 to 30 days.
Official sources
Disclosure: this page is written and maintained by the team behind Cosindra, which appears in the comparison. Competitor capabilities and pricing are described as of the last-updated date above and change over time; always verify on the vendor’s own site. Spotted something outdated or unfair? Tell us and we’ll fix it.