Material Forge is a web-based AI tool for creating PBR materials for Unreal Engine 5. Users can guide map generation with a surface photo, concept frame, or sample image, then select base color, normal, roughness, metallic, or emissive maps. The interface shows a cost of 20 credits for each selected map. Material controls cover tint, brightness, desaturation, metallic, roughness, normal intensity, clearcoat, and opacity, alongside UV scale, rotation, offset, and panner settings. Emissive and edge-glow settings are also available, and the tool includes a 3D material preview. A ZIP export contains a JSON configuration, generated texture maps, a preview PNG, and a reference image when one was provided. The UE5 plugin connects through a local listener and places assets in the project's MaterialForge folder; setup requires enabling the Python Editor Script Plugin and adding two downloaded files to Content/Python. The page also describes a UEFN listener workflow. The free plan includes 100 monthly credits and one concurrent generation.
Who it is for
Material Forge suits creators, indie teams, and developers making stylized characters, creatures, prototypes, or game assets. It is aimed at Unreal Engine 5 material workflows, with a separate UEFN listener workflow described.
What is good
- Accepts reference images to guide map generation
- Provides several adjustable material and UV controls
- Exports maps and configuration in a ZIP
- Includes a 3D material preview
- Free plan has 100 monthly credits
What to know first
- Each selected map costs 20 credits
- Free plan allows one concurrent generation
- Seamless tiling is not available
- AI workflows may send inputs to configured model providers
Verdict
Material Forge offers image-guided PBR map generation, material controls, preview, and ZIP export for Unreal Engine workflows. Review the credit use and UE5 setup requirements before starting.
Material Forge plans and pricing
All plansCompared on AI texture generators
- Free plan
- Yes
- Seamless tiling
- No
- Text-to-texture
- Yes
- Image-to-texture
- Yes
- PBR map generation
- Yes
- 3D material preview
- Yes
- Export formats
- ZIP, JSON, PNG
