Learn the fundamental process of adding image textures to your 3D models in Blender. Applying textures is key to bringing your creations to life with color, detail, and realism.
Select the object you want to texture. At the top of the Blender interface, click on the Shading tab to switch to the Shading workspace. This layout is optimized for working with materials.
If your object doesn't have a material, go to the Material Properties panel (the checkered sphere icon) on the right and click the + New button. This will create a default material with a Principled BSDF node in the Shader Editor below.
In the Shader Editor window, press Shift + A to open the Add menu. Navigate to Texture > Image Texture and click to place the new node in the editor.
On the new Image Texture node, click the Open button. Browse your computer to find and select the image file (e.g., a .jpg or .png) you want to use as your texture.
Click and drag the yellow dot next to Color on the Image Texture node to the yellow dot next to Base Color on the Principled BSDF node. Your texture will now appear on the object in the 3D Viewport.
Pro Tips for Texturing in Blender
Enable the built-in Node Wrangler add-on (Edit > Preferences > Add-ons). Select the Principled BSDF node and press Ctrl + T to automatically add an Image Texture, Mapping, and Texture Coordinate node.
For precise texture placement, you must UV unwrap your model. Go to the UV Editing workspace to control how the 2D texture map is projected onto your 3D object.
Textures aren't just for color. Use other texture maps (like roughness, metallic, or normal maps) and connect them to their corresponding inputs on the Principled BSDF node for much more realistic materials.
You don't always need an image file. Blender has powerful procedural texture nodes like Noise Texture and Voronoi Texture that you can use to create complex materials directly inside the Shader Editor.
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