Open PainterGetting started
Install the extension, open the editor and paint your first texture set.
On this page 7 sections
Open Painter is a Blender extension for non-destructive PBR texturing: texture sets, paint and fill layers, folders, masks, mesh-map baking, procedural generators, reusable smart materials and texture export. It runs on Python and Blender's bundled NumPy. Core texturing works offline, needs no account, and is source-available under Community and Studio licensing. See license eligibility.
These pages describe the painter, the optional Connect companion, and the file formats. The add-on repository keeps the deeper reference material (architecture, per-feature validation reports, the Substance Painter parity inventory); each page here links to the relevant file.
Requirements
- Blender 5.2 or newer. The extension is tested on Blender 5.2.1 LTS on macOS Apple Silicon. Other platforms and newer versions have not been tested.
- A mesh with a UV map. Use a 0–1 layout for the quick start. The development build also supports UDIM texture sets, with one independent set per occupied tile.
- No separate Python installation, no account and no network access for the core painter.
Install
- Download the
open_painter-<version>.zipfrom the download page. Do not unzip it; Blender installs the ZIP as-is. It follows Blender's extension packaging format. - In Blender open Edit › Preferences › Add-ons, open the menu at the top right, choose Install from Disk… and select the ZIP. Enable Open Painter if it is not enabled already.
- Click the Editor Type selector in the upper-left corner of any Blender area — the menu that lists 3D Viewport, Image Editor, Shader Editor and the others — and choose Open Painter.
The editor opens in that same area: Assets along the bottom, the paint viewport in the centre, and Texture Set, Layers, Inspector and Assets on the right. It does not create a workspace or rearrange your screen. Use Blender's usual Ctrl+Space to maximise the area, and the Editor Type selector again to switch back to another editor.
Your first texture set
- Select the low-poly mesh and click + in Texture Set. A selected, UV-unwrapped mesh is assigned automatically; use Texture Set Settings › Assign Selected to assign additional meshes. For a mesh with several materials, choose the intended active material slot before assigning. A new texture set immediately creates and assigns a Principled material with all eight channel images connected.
- Choose a resolution from the dropdown in Texture Set. The default is 2048.
- Bake mesh maps. Click Bake Mesh Maps in the tool header to open the Bake tab. Under Setup, add high-poly sources with Add Selected, or disable Bake from High Poly for a self-bake. In Maps, select the required maps and click Bake Selected Maps. See Mesh maps and Bake Check.
- Add layers with Add Layer (Paint, Fill, Folder, Decal, Smart Material or Module). Click a layer's name to select its content; the adjacent mask icon selects its mask effects.
- Click Bake › Results › Add Baked Normal and AO Layer to bring those mesh maps into the material.
- Paint. Select a paint layer and use Paint Material in the Inspector to paint enabled PBR channels together. Paint Channel Brush provides Blender's native brush for one channel. See Painting.
- Apply a material. Select a thumbnail in the bottom Asset Shelf, check its destination in Assets, then click Apply or click the thumbnail again. The type filter in the tool header filters Materials, Smart Materials, Smart Masks and the other categories. See Smart materials.
- Export. Click Export in the tool header, choose Contents, Scope, a destination preset and folder, then review Output Preview and export. See Export and engine targets.
Finding your way around
| Region | What it holds |
|---|---|
| Tool strip (left) | Blender's native texture-paint toolbar. T shows and hides it. |
| Tool header (top) | Asset type filter, Target, Engine Preview, Clean View, Bake Mesh Maps and Export. |
| Asset Shelf (bottom) | Materials, smart materials, smart masks, filters, brushes, alphas, textures and geometry effects. Toggle it from Blender's View menu. |
| Sidebar (right) | Texture Set, Layers, Inspector and Assets, plus Bake, Export and Assistant tabs. N shows and hides it. |
Use More › Open Inspector for a companion Properties area. Clean View hides scene furniture and restores it when disabled. The shared status reads Idle, Updating, Stale, Baking, Failed or Paused. These are Blender's standard shortcuts; there is no custom modal interception. Resize the sidebar and shelf with their native borders. Blender draws every control, so its current theme and interface scale apply.
Saving projects
Project state lives in the scene. Managed images are packed on save, so the .blend is portable and the material preview remains available even with the extension disabled. Original materials and unrelated nodes are retained. Removing a texture set restores its assigned slots where possible and never deletes images, materials, meshes or unrelated nodes; use Blender's orphan cleanup when you want to reclaim unused datablocks. Undo covers project edits; exported and library files are filesystem operations.
Included example
The repository ships examples/open_painter_demo.blend: explicit high-poly/low-poly assignments, baked maps, Painted Steel layers and a viewport-painted roughness image. The high-poly source is hidden; baking temporarily makes it available and restores its visibility afterwards.