Filter Forge vs Material Maker
Filter Forge
filterforge.comMaterial Maker
materialmaker.orgSide by side
| Figure | Filter Forge | Material Maker |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $12/mo | Free |
| Free plan | — | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 9 | 2 |
| Spec score · 3D Texturing Software | 8.1 (#8) | 8.1 (#9) |
| Spec score · Game Texture Software | 7.9 (#17) | 7.9 (#18) |
| Audience | The maker describes photographers, game developers, and digital artists as users of the free filter library. | The creator describes Material Maker as a hobby project for making textures and materials for 3D games and related graphics work. |
| Purpose | Filter Forge provides photo effects, seamless textures, and an editor for creating custom filters. | Material Maker is an open-source procedural materials authoring tool for creating PBR materials with node graphs and exporting them for game engines and movie assets. |
Plans
Filter Forge
- Professional Edition — 1-month subscription$12 a month
- Studio Edition — 1-month subscription$19 a month
- Professional Edition — 3-month subscription$29, paid once
- Studio Edition — 3-month subscription$49, paid once
- Basic Edition — permanent license$59, paid once
- Professional Edition — permanent license$139, paid once
- Studio Edition — permanent license$259, paid once
- Professional Edition plus lifetime upgrades$288, paid once
- Studio Edition plus lifetime upgrades$538, paid once
In their own words
Filter Forge
Filter Forge has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.
Material Maker
Material Maker is an open-source tool for authoring procedural PBR materials with node graphs and exporting them for game engines and movie assets. It supports static and dynamic PBR, raymarching, and dynamic unlit materials. The official site lists more than 200 nodes; users can create nodes by combining existing ones or describing them in GLSL. Materials can be exported for Godot, Unity, and Unreal Engine. Unreal requires extra steps: Unreal Engine 4 needs manual material setup, while Unreal Engine 5 uses a generated Python script that must be run in Unreal. The tool provides 2D and 3D previews, image and spritesheet export, and loading of custom OBJ models. An experimental procedural-brush feature can texture 3D models. A website library offers community materials, nodes, brushes, and environments. Material Maker runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows. It is free through Itch.io, with a Steam plan at $14.99 as a one-time purchase. Its code uses the MIT License and assets use Creative Commons Zero 1.0 Universal.