Mixos Paint vs Wafer

Mixos Paint is a browser-based tool for painting layered PBR materials onto 3D models, with brushes, geometry-driven smart masks, and live viewport updates. Layers support blend modes, opacity, and separate controls for color, height, roughness, and metallic channels. Smart masks can generate effects such as edge wear, curvature, grime, and cavity. The app imports GLB, glTF, FBX, and OBJ models, and lists 2,669 ready-made PBR materials; users can import their own material libraries. Painting is free without a time limit, but exporting finished texture maps requires a paid plan or license. Paid exports include PBR maps up to 4K and presets for Blender, Unreal, Unity, Godot, Cinema 4D, Maya, and Houdini. The free desktop app's Live Link streams changing maps to Blender, Cinema 4D, and Unreal. Pro costs $8.99/mo, Max costs $17.99/mo, and a Pro license costs $99 once. Mixos says editing runs on the user's device, but it has no certifications or uptime guarantee.

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.