Mari

Mari is a 3D painting and look-development application for artists building detailed textures for VFX, animation and games. It suits texture artists handling complex assets and production pipelines; smaller projects may not need its scale or subscription costs.

Its standout advantage is the ability to work across thousands of UDIM textures per model. The main trade-offs are a tightly limited free edition and paid licenses that require periodic online validation for individual subscribers.

Overview

Mari focuses on painting and developing high-resolution textures rather than covering every stage of 3D production. Each texture can reach 32K × 32K pixels, with thousands of UDIMs supported per model. That capacity gives complex assets room for fine detail, but can be excessive for work that needs only a few texture maps.

Projection painting lets artists preview an edit on the model before committing it across texture maps. This context helps assess a change before applying it broadly. Mari also supports procedural materials, PBR workflows and node-based authoring, making it a more specialized production tool than a basic paint application.

Key features

Painting and baking

Multi-Channel Paint handles up to eight streams at once, which helps when an asset needs coordinated channel work. Mari’s Bakery can bake geometry maps such as curvature and occlusion for multiple objects across multiple UDIMs. These tools are most useful when texture work involves many maps and assets; they offer less advantage on a simple, single-object job.

Pipeline and rendering

OpenColorIO, OpenSubdiv, FBX and Alembic support, together with APIs and Python scripting, give studios options for connecting Mari to production pipelines. Shaders for 3Delight, VRay, Unreal and Arnold extend that fit across several rendering workflows. The value of these capabilities depends on whether a studio uses those formats, tools or renderers.

Pricing

The free Mari Non-commercial plan is available for as long as you like, but its limits are substantial: exports are capped at 4K and 16-bit per channel, Python scripting is disabled, and no more than five objects can be open at once. It is suited to non-commercial learning and exploration, not unrestricted production work.

• Mari Individual Subscription (monthly): $86 a month, subject to applicable taxes. It provides one license for one named user, with one license per user. This is the more flexible paid option for a single freelancer or small-company user who does not want an annual term.
• Mari Individual Subscription (annual): $689 a year, subject to applicable taxes, for one named user and one license per user. It costs less than paying the monthly rate for a full year, in exchange for an annual commitment.
• Mari Rent: $949, paid once, billed $949/qtr, subject to applicable taxes. This quarterly rental license is available node-locked or floating, making it an option for teams seeking rental access rather than an individual subscription.
• Mari Subscribe (teams): $1,289 a year, billed annually and subject to applicable taxes. Node-locked or floating licenses are available for teams.

Foundry offers a free 30-day trial with unrestricted access, giving prospective users a way to evaluate Mari before paying. Individual Subscription licensing is login-based: it requires an internet connection at first login on a machine and at least once every 30 days afterward. Individual subscribers receive email support while their subscription is valid; users can also seek help through Foundry’s Support Portal or Community.

Platforms

Mari supports Windows 11 64-bit and Linux 64-bit on Rocky/RHEL 9. That makes it a fit for Windows and Linux-based workstations, but not for macOS users seeking a native version.

Who it's for

Mari is strongest for texture artists and studios working with high-resolution, multi-UDIM assets, especially when they need its painting, baking and pipeline tools in a VFX, animation or games workflow. The Individual Subscription is aimed at freelancers and small companies when only one person needs access; studio subscriptions offer node-locked or floating licenses for teams. The Non-commercial edition makes sense for personal learning, provided its export, scripting and object caps are acceptable.

It is a weaker fit for occasional, low-complexity texturing, or for users who need a free license without production restrictions. Individual subscribers who cannot meet the recurring online-check requirement should also consider another licensing arrangement.

Pros and cons

• Pros: Support for thousands of UDIMs per model and textures up to 32K × 32K suits demanding assets.
• Pros: Projection previews, painting across up to eight streams and multi-UDIM baking cover several parts of a complex texturing workflow.
• Pros: Pipeline formats, Python scripting and shaders for several named renderers suit established production environments.
• Cons: The free edition’s 4K export ceiling, disabled Python and five-object maximum prevent it from serving as unrestricted production software.
• Cons: Individual Subscription requires internet access at first login and at least once every 30 days, which may not suit isolated workstations.
• Cons: The listed paid individual plans are for one named user, so they do not cover a team’s seats under a single individual license.

Alternatives

For storyboarding rather than high-resolution 3D texturing, StoryTribe has a free plan with unlimited projects and 10 shots per project, but watermarks downloads and exports. Shot Designer is another option for scene planning: its free plan saves the current scene but does not include file management, export or sync and team sharing; Pro is a one-time $19.99 USD upgrade.

Krock.io may suit review workflows better, with a free plan for one user, two projects and 2 GB of storage, plus unlimited reviewers. For animatics, Previs Pro offers a free plan limited to one animatic per project with watermarked exports. Storyboarder is a free, open-source alternative for storyboard creation.

AIM Previz offers a free tier with 50 monthly credits and a seven-day Pro trial. Boords has a free single-user plan with 250 AI images per month and unlimited storyboards and scripts. Cineboard has a free web plan limited to one project and 20 Shot Cards. For more options, see 3D Texturing Software, Game Texture Software and Visual Effects Software.

Verdict

Choose Mari if you are a texture artist or production team whose assets justify its high-resolution UDIM capacity, baking tools and pipeline integration. Its non-commercial edition is useful for exploration, but not a production substitute; look elsewhere if you need unrestricted free work, macOS support or an individual license without periodic online checks.