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Best Productivity ResourcesBy Shushant LakhyaniVerified creator

Desktop App

InstaMAT

Procedural materials and 3D texturing, free for individuals and small studios.

Visit InstaMAT4.4

  • Rating

    4.4 / 5

  • Pricing

    Freemium

  • Difficulty

    Advanced

  • Works on

    Windows, macOS, Linux

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What is InstaMAT?

InstaMAT is a 3D material platform with node-based procedural material creation, non-destructive layer-based texturing and painting on 3D models, and a tool that turns a single photo into PBR maps. The free Pioneer licence covers individuals and businesses with less than $100,000 in annual revenue or funding, with commercial rights and attribution. It runs on Windows, macOS and Linux, with integrations for Maya, 3ds Max, Blender, Unity and Unreal.

Pros: what InstaMAT does well

  • Covers both Substance Painter and Designer workflows
  • Free commercial use under $100,000 revenue
  • Runs on Windows, macOS and Linux

Cons: where it falls short

  • Free licence requires attribution
  • Smaller community than Substance

Who InstaMAT is for

Indie artists and small studios who need pro texturing for free.

Who can skip it

Large studios above the revenue limit.

InstaMAT alternatives

Not sold on InstaMAT? These do a similar job, and each card says what it has in common.

All Workflows resources

Material Maker

Focus: pbr textures, 3d and open source. Shares procedural materials and substance alternative with InstaMAT. Free (InstaMAT: Freemium). Rated 4.3 (InstaMAT: 4.4).

Desktop AppFreeWindows, macOS
4.3Visit

Ghostty

Focus: terminal, emulator and gpu. Also in Workflows and Personal Productivity, like InstaMAT. Free (InstaMAT: Freemium). Rated 4.9 (InstaMAT: 4.4).

Desktop AppFreemacOS, Linux
4.9Visit

RaycastEditor's pick, verified

Focus: launcher, shortcuts and keyboard. Also in Workflows and Personal Productivity, like InstaMAT. Adds iOS. Rated 4.9 (InstaMAT: 4.4).

Desktop AppFree planmacOS, Windows
4.9Visit

fzf

Focus: fuzzy finder, command line and shell. Also in Personal Productivity and Workflows, like InstaMAT. Free (InstaMAT: Freemium). Adds Offline. Rated 4.8 (InstaMAT: 4.4).

Desktop AppFreemacOS, Windows
4.8Visit

lazygit

Focus: git client, terminal ui and developer tool. Also in Workflows and Personal Productivity, like InstaMAT. Free (InstaMAT: Freemium). Adds Offline. Rated 4.8 (InstaMAT: 4.4).

Desktop AppFreemacOS, Windows
4.8Visit

navi

Focus: terminal, cli and cheatsheet. Also in Personal Productivity and Workflows, like InstaMAT. Free (InstaMAT: Freemium). Rated 4.8 (InstaMAT: 4.4).

Desktop AppFreemacOS, Windows
4.8Visit

Free alternatives to InstaMAT

Want to spend nothing? These free picks cover similar ground.

Upscayl

Focus: image upscaling, ai and electron. Also in Workflows and Personal Productivity, like InstaMAT. Free (InstaMAT: Freemium). Rated 4.8 (InstaMAT: 4.4).

Desktop AppFreeLinux, macOS
4.8Visit

Atuin

Focus: shell history, terminal and command line. Also in Workflows and Personal Productivity, like InstaMAT. Free (InstaMAT: Freemium). Rated 4.7 (InstaMAT: 4.4).

Desktop AppFreemacOS, Linux
4.7Visit

AutoHotkey

Focus: hotkeys, macros and scripting. Also in Personal Productivity and Workflows, like InstaMAT. Free (InstaMAT: Freemium). Adds Offline. Rated 4.7 (InstaMAT: 4.4).

Desktop AppFreeWindows, Offline
4.7Visit

bat

Focus: file viewer, command line and developer tool. Also in Workflows and Personal Productivity, like InstaMAT. Free (InstaMAT: Freemium). Adds Offline. Rated 4.7 (InstaMAT: 4.4).

Desktop AppFreemacOS, Windows
4.7Visit

btop

Focus: system monitor, terminal and processes. Also in Personal Productivity and Workflows, like InstaMAT. Free (InstaMAT: Freemium). Adds Offline. Rated 4.7 (InstaMAT: 4.4).

Desktop AppFreemacOS, Linux
4.7Visit

htop

Focus: process viewer, system monitor and terminal. Also in Personal Productivity and Workflows, like InstaMAT. Free (InstaMAT: Freemium). Rated 4.7 (InstaMAT: 4.4).

Desktop AppFreemacOS, Linux
4.7Visit
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