Creating a texture for Blender from scratch can often be an extremely gratifying endeavor. When you're short on time or are more interested in other aspects of the process, however, using free textures for Blender that you find online will usually be sufficient, especially when you're still learning.

Not all free Blender materials are created equally, however. Here are seven of our most trusted sources for free Blender textures that will never disappoint.

1. Poliigon

Only a very special type of curmudgeon can claim to hate Andrew Price, the energetic personality behind the hugely-popular Blender Guru YouTube channel. If you're a fan, you've likely heard him mention his own pet brand, Poliigon. The Poliigon site acts as an asset resource for 3D artists, and everything that you'll find on it comes directly from Andrew and his team.

While much of what Poliigon offers is unfortunately not free, there are still plenty of textures, models, HDRIs, and brushes that you can try in your own work without handing over a dime. When viewing search results, click the Credits tab, then select Free to filter out textures that come with a price tag.

To make it even easier, there now exists a Blender addon for Poliigon which allows you to browse and download textures straight from Blender without ever having to leave the software.

Mr. Price is a Blender prodigy in his own right, so nothing that you find on his site will be second-rate by any stretch of the imagination. These photorealistic textures can be used in any 3D software, too, not just Blender itself. The same goes for any of the other texture downloads on this list.

2. Poly Haven

Poly Haven doesn't just offer the artist free textures for Blender. Everything that you find on the Poly Haven site is covered by a CC0 Creative Commons license, which means you're free to use them in any way and in any context, with no royalties or attribution required. Much of the work is donated, but plenty comes exclusively from the Poly Haven team.

This platform doesn't even ask you to sign up before browsing and downloading Blender materials. The site's given mission statement places the quality of each asset in its textures' library above all else, making this one of our top sources for premium textures for Blender. For those just getting started with Blender, Poly Haven truly exists in service of the beginner.

The site also offers a Poly Haven addon that lets you browse its library of assets without ever leaving Blender. This is one area you might consider supporting the site by making a one-time purchase of $30 for the handy addon, which includes free lifetime updates. As Poly Haven explains:

While all our assets are 100% free and CC0, we are exploring the idea of funding our work by selling tools like this to make it easier for you to use our free assets.

So far the sales of this add-on alone have allowed us to hire new artists and set up a studio to capture more assets, work on R&D of entire new asset types, and travel around the world to capture free content for everyone.

If you need any more convincing, make sure to look through the Poly Haven Render Gallery to see what other users have created using its assets.

3. ambientCG

The Blender materials on ambientCG are also protected by a CC0 license, making everything on this site eligible for the same perks as the free textures for Blender on Poly Haven.

On every texture's description page, you have the option to view the asset in 3D thanks to the PBR.ONE preview interface. You can examine each selection in an interactive environment, allowing you to dig into the details of how it looks and interacts in a given environment.

Many also offer a shading or tiling preview, and within those modes, you can check out the texture on different shapes, in different environments (e.g., studio, dune, forest), and play with the displacement or tiling scale. All of this together gives you a strong idea of whether it's the right texture you're looking for before downloading.

One other awesome resource that it provides Blender beginners is a collection of concise and helpful ambientCG Asset Creation Tutorials documenting the best way to bring these textures to life on your own turf. If you're just getting started, the lingo is all laid out for you here. If you're having trouble getting the ball rolling, we recommend checking them out.

If you're hooked on learning how to use Blender to its fullest potential, there are plenty more fantastic tutorials for Blender newbies out there to take a look at.

4. Architecture Inspirations

Architecture Inspirations is a Blender materials site geared toward those who model interiors or architectural renderings of buildings. Tasteful hardwood, lush lawns, and HD fabric and tile textures can all be used to build the home of your dreams, even if you're only doing it for fun.

Many materials are offered at a 1K resolution for free, but upgrading to a Pro account allows you to download anything in 4K. You can even download a bunch of free 3D models to use with any of the free Blender shaders.

Along with the Blender asset collection, you'll also find an incredible library of 3D texture tutorials by Architecture Inspirations in support of the total Blender noob. Walkthroughs on lighting your scene, enhancing your materials, and rendering the most attractive and visually stunning final product possible are all covered here in extraordinarily minute detail.

If you aspire one day to create interiors or architectural models for a living, we cannot recommend getting started with Architecture Inspirations enough. Once you've collected some cool textures, make sure to check out our handy guide to using reference images in Blender.

5. CG Bookcase

Zany fabric patterns? Check. Tough industrial mechanical textures? Also accounted for. CG Bookcase is a winner in our books if you need free Blender shaders in any of a number of foundational categories.

You'll find many basic, domestic Blender textures here, such as granite for countertops, stone walls for exteriors, and classy tile arrangements that we wouldn't mind seeing in our own bathrooms and kitchens. Natural textures and botanicals are also in no short supply.

Realistic tree bark, mossy ground cover, and even tree trunk cross-sections can be used to enchant your audience in an incredibly immersive forest scene.

Everything that you'll find on this site can be downloaded immediately, no account or sign-up required. CG Bookcase does ask that those in a position to do so become a Patreon Patron of CG Bookcase, however.

For $1 per set of textures, you'll get a shout-out in the site's special thanks section. For $2 per texture set, you'll have unfettered access to the latest CG Bookcase uploads off-site through a dedicated Google Drive folder.

Once you're ready to get going in Blender, try out these essential Blender keyboard shortcuts to help speed up your workflow.

6. Textures.com

For an industry-caliber library of 3D assets, look no further than Textures.com.

You'll find so much more beyond the average and expected. Blistered paint, roiling lava and brimstone, Medieval brass, Portuguese tile, raw meat, crumpled gold foil, and rugged cliff face textures worn smooth by the arid desert breeze all make this one of the most diverse and interesting collections of textures on this list.

We found ourselves incredibly inspired here, even after only a couple of scrolls through the Textures.com library.

Aside from unique and exciting Blender materials, you'll also find plenty of other weird and wonderful things to play with in Blender or Maya. This nasty, decaying Textures.com decal generator, for example, is so real that we can actually taste it.

Like many other services offering high-quality textures for Blender, much of what you'll find here will, in fact, cost you. But if you're looking to scrounge, there is a dedicated Free tab you can click on in the top navigation bar. Here you will find some fantastic assets you can happily download, all you need to do is create an account.

7. Share Textures

Run by a team of two professional architects, this site has over 1400 free textures and every year it grows larger.

Born from the simple act of sharing their own assets freely with people around them, every texture on Share Textures is free and holds a CC0 copyright status, once again meaning you can download and use whatever you come across without restriction.

Adding to what makes this site worth checking out is that you don't need to create an account to download an asset. If you find yourself making good use of their collection or simply want to support the free site, you can become a paid member on Share Textures Patreon.

The Share Texture YouTube page also hosts a wide collection of tutorial videos, including those for putting blender textures to use. And if you are thinking about trying your textures using an alternative software to Blender, they cover plenty of other popular programs as well.

Free Blender Textures to Build Your Own Library

Sometimes, having a lot to choose from really does get the gears turning for us. If you're not sure what you'd like to create for your next project, any of the free Blender textures on the six sites mentioned above all have plenty to offer the enterprising independent 3D artist.

Give 'em a shot. You might be surprised by what you're able to turn out with the right tools on-hand.