AwesomeBump vs Wafer

AwesomeBump creates material textures from a single image, including normal, height, specular, ambient occlusion, metallic and roughness maps. It can convert normal maps to height maps and height maps to normal maps, as well as extract bump information from an image. Other tools include seamless texture creation, perspective transformation, real-time tessellation, grunge maps, material textures and bump-map mixing. The maker says 99% of image processing happens on the GPU, with parameters adjustable in real time. Images can be saved as PNG, JPG, BMP or TGA. The project is free software under the GNU Lesser General Public License version 3 or later, with support for Windows, Linux and macOS. The README links Windows 5.1 binaries for Windows 7, 8 and 10, and Linux builds for Ubuntu 18 and Ubuntu 14. Build instructions require graphics hardware supporting OpenGL 4.0; an OpenGL 3.3 build is available without tessellation. The README also warns that the current CMake script does not work.

Wafer is 3D texture painting software for stylized, hand-painted, and NPR assets. Its drawing tools—including brushes, lasso clips, gradients, wet painting, and blur—work directly on 3D geometry. A non-destructive layer system includes paint and fill layers, editable masks, blend modes, and opacity controls. Artists can use 2D or 3D symmetry with independently configurable pivots, paint across multiple PBR channels, or define custom channel layouts for stylized shaders. Projects can contain multiple meshes, materials, and texture sets, with configurable channel packing for export. An integrated asset browser includes stencils, triplanar textures, brush alphas, HDRIs, decals, and stamps. The desktop download is free to try, but saving documents and exporting textures require a purchase. Indie costs $45, paid once; Studio and Studio (Floating) each cost $120 as a one-time purchase. Each listed plan includes one year of updates. Desktop purchases apply only to the listed Windows and macOS versions and are not compatible with the Apple App Store or other platforms.