There hasn't been a one-stop shop for free textures in Cinema 4D...until now.
The right textures can make or break your art in graphic design and 3D. Applying textures makes your objects more realistic whether you're using a pre-made palette or actual images and scans taken from real life objects. Having a go-to library of textures enables you to focus more on the story, design, and aesthetic of your work without having to create your own textures using Photoshop or going out and taking your own photos...unless you just HAVE to have that fur texture from your own cat.
.gif)
The problem is trying to round up a comprehensive library without breaking the bank. Wouldn't it be amazing if you had a curated list of websites for free textures? Well guess what buddy? Your birthday just came early (unless it's today, in which case: Happy Birthday)!
We've compiled a list of 50 different websites that, when combined, offer up one impressive free texture library. Just as a note of caution, always make sure you're pressing the correct download button. Ads can be a little sneaky when you're in a rush!
Each website listed below has free textures available. Some of them have a shortlist of really high-quality images, and others have a massive library with a mixed bag of quality. Make sure to lean on that search function. You never know what you'll find.
Also, you'll notice that some of these websites are going to have premium textures available, or maybe even a subscription attached to them. It's very normal to pay for textures; they are more often than not worth the price. But if you're just starting out, work with the free stuff first.
What will you learn about Textures in Cinema 4D today?
- Difference between textures and materials
- How to create a seamless texture tutorial in Photoshop - Video
- 50 free exclusive textures from School of Motion available for download
- One gigantic list of websites full of amazing free textures
So, without further ado, we present "The Ultimate Guide to Free Textures for Cinema 4D!"
What's the difference between textures and materials?
When working in Cinema 4D, people often confuse "textures" and "materials," sometimes using them interchangeably. There are a few nuances to the language and workflow that we believe are important to understand. So before we get to the free stuff, let's cover the differences between a texture and a material in Cinema 4D so you can show off how knowledgeable you are at your next fancy dinner party.
TEXTURE
Textures are single images (or even a movie file) that you can apply to 2D or 3D objects to determine the feel, appearance, and detail of an object.
MATERIAL
A material defines properties of the object, like its color and reflectivity. A material is made up of multiple channels such as diffuse, roughness, bump or height, normals, and other channels that define the details of a material.
Textures can be utilized in those material channels to influence properties like their color, reflectivity, roughness and more. Using textures adds in detail and realism to a material, such as adding scratches to a metal surface or adding fine grain in wood. While you can apply a material without using textures, you can't apply a texture to an object without first adding it to a material!
Got it? Good!
How to Make Your Own Textures for Cinema 4D
Sometimes you find a texture and it's ready to be dropped in without an issue. Sometimes these textures need a little love before they're ready. They may not be seamless yet, and that's okay; there are workarounds. Joey Korenman dives into the world of seamless texture creation with next-level ninja Photoshop skills that are going to take your thinker to a higher plane.
Check out our in-depth tutorial on How to Make Seamless Textures in Photoshop. Or just watch the video below.
{{lead-magnet}}
Huge shout out to The Pixel Lab, Motion Squared, Travis Davids, and The French Monkey for contributing free textures to this epic download.
Texture List:
1. The Pixel LabThe Pixel Lab is a high-output content generating machine of a team. There are so many products available that can help your workflow, including free premium textures and materials.
2. Motion Squared Texture packs, shaders and free content for Cinema 4D! All professionally curated and ready to go!
3. The French Monkey Free textures and displacement map from The French Monkey, enjoy!
4. Texture Hunt Gumroad's Texture Hunt collection has more than 5800 images you can use for free!
5.Quixel Megascans This is a must visit website for premium textures for Cinema 4D.
6. NASA 3D Repository NASA has high-res wrappable textures of planets, moons, and other cool space images.
7. C4D Center A simple library with collections and free content for Cinema 4D.
8. CC0 Textures An extremely expansive list of free high-end textures ready to be used in Cinema 4D. There are even materials created in Substance Designer ready to be added to your library.
9. Gumroad One of our favorite places on the internet, Gumroad hosts all sorts of products to support artists. That of course also includes textures and materials, both paid and free.
10. Texture Haven Texture Haven is a commonly utilized resource among the 3D artists of the world. A hub of quality textures supported by the community.
11. CGTrader A wonderful mixture of free textures and objects ready for your next Cinema 4D scene.
12. Textures.com A well organized library of paid and free textures with a premium artisan touch.
13. 3DTextures.me Need some wicked alien textures? Maybe some foliage? This is the place for you, make sure to thumb through this impressive library of content.
14. CG Bookcase Bark textures, cutouts, and surface imperfection textures all ready to take your renders to the next level.
15. Turbo Squid Turbo Squid is a must check for just about every project. Keep them on your list.
16. Julio Sillet 3D Art So many good textures and materials, several even built in Substance, like this cool stone and bricks pack.
17. Substance Share Substance Share has just about all your Cinema 4D decorative needs, including wonderful textures ready to add to your creative library.
18. Scans Library Scans Library hosts some of the cleanest looking textures and material with a very sharp presentation.
19. Blender Cloud May be labeled for Blender, but they'll work just the same. Seamless free textures under creative commons with no copyright.
20. Pixabay Stock photos ready to be created into seamless textures. Plenty of high-res images to download.
21. Rawpixel Rawpixel has an impressive library of stock images with some very detailed and unique textures begging for someone to use them in motion design.
22. Textures.one Search the databases of many of the biggest free texture sites at once with the help of Textures.one.
23. Pixar Pixar has released a small library of textures that were previously used in their projects.
24. Sketch Up Texture Club This library of textures is massive and with a free account, you can download up to 15 low- and medium-resolution textures per day.
25. Free PBR Free PBR is full of goodies and now offers 180+ FREE PBR texture sets and counting.
26. Architecture Inspirations (Free 1K textures) Weathered, Worn, or Wooden, Arch Inspiration has a sweet little collection of textures.
27. 3DXO Need some sweet grass or tiled textures? Check out 3DXO for some great texture downloads.
28. Wild Textures Stock photos with a dab of seamless textures make this a great resource for free content.
29. Cornelius Dammrich Scene creation playback and textures ready for you to tinker with. Make sure to check this one out and savor a chance at some bonus learning.
30. Every Texture Grab over 1,500 free textures!
31. Natural Earth lll Texture maps for the earth, clouds and other cool map details! Check out the earth in 16K resolution!
32. Real Displacement Textures Just a handful of free textures here, but the coffee texture made our mouth water.
33. Unsplash Unsplash is a terrific website full of photos taken all over the world, and they're available for free. Along with pictures of motorcycles, beautiful landscapes, and hipster coffee shops, you'll find an enormous collection of textures. Sand, rock, painted patterns, metal, and a lot more.
34. Pexels Pexels is a great website for free photographs submitted by extremely talented photographers. Inside the massive library of photos, you'll find very unique textures ranging from wood, rock, liquids, and much more.
35. Stock Snap From organic to painted, get high-resolution photos that can be used as textures.
36. Burst by Shopify Wonderful premium stock photos that aren't just for creating a slick web page.
37. Picography Just a few textures, but the glass one looks pretty slick.
38. Vadim Komarov Vadim has your seasonal needs for a sweet price of zero dollars.
39. ICOMDESIGN Planets Pack Need some sick planetary textures? Wish granted, from ICOMDESIGN!
40. Glenn Patterson Get your greeble and alpha textures here, created by Glenn Patterson on Gumroad.
41. Marco There's a lot of goodies here on Marco's Gumroad page, like these 8K Damaged concrete textures, or 30 4k tileable textures, dirt, scratches, and overlays.
42. Eisklotz Gravel, grape leaves and even HDRIs, make sure to check out this small collection of textures on Gumroad.
43. Miloš Belanec Alpha textures and much more to find here from Miloš.
44. LockedLoaded A few free textures and a pack of grunge textures make this a great little stop in your texture searching journey.
45. Camille Kleinman Need some seamless fabric textures?
46. Studio XS Find over 160 marble textures plus other packs full of different textures, like grids and glitches
47. SeedMesh Want some sweet pavement textures? Check out this simple pack from SeedMesh.
48. Marc Obiols Need some cool woodsy textures in 4k? Here's a delivery of that and some extra content.
49. 3D Jungle Loads of free seamless textures for download.
50. Alex Zaragoza Here are a handful of masonry textures created by Alex Zaragoza!
Master Modeling, Texturing, and More in Cinema 4D
If you like digging through all of these texture resources, you might just fall in love with our 12-week Cinema 4D course, Cinema 4D Basecamp. EJ takes you from C4D rookie to experienced pro over the course of several real-world projects and challenges.
Cinema 4D Basecamp is designed for artists who want to add 3D to their toolkit, but who don't know where to start. Check out the information page to find out more about this exciting course. See you in class!
