Texel

Free plan APIWeb

What Texel is

Texel is a browser-based collaborative 3D texturing studio for VFX and games. Artists can paint together in real time, branch scene states, review and merge changes, and set permissions down to nodes, channels, or UDIMs. Its PBR workflow covers albedo, roughness, metallic, normal, height, ambient occlusion, and emission, with channel-packed exports. Authoring tools include projection painting, non-destructive node graphs, baked maps, tile-based virtual texturing, and custom HLSL or WGSL nodes. Model uploads support USD, FBX, glTF, and OBJ up to 4 million triangles, including multi-UDIM work. Texel describes live links to Blender, Maya, Houdini, and ZBrush, along with API workflows for Houdini, Maya, Nuke, and Blender. AI graph nodes include mask-aware upscaling, normal extraction, semantic fill across UDIMs, and smart edge wear. Texel says project work is not used to train AI models and heavier AI processing runs in a region selected by the user. Early Access is invite-only and costs nothing while available; service-level agreements do not apply during this period.

Who it suits

It suits VFX and game artists who need browser-based texturing, collaborative review, and PBR authoring. The invite-only Early Access may fit teams able to join in small batches.

What it does well

Real-time painting and scene change review.
Permissions can be set by node, channel, or UDIM.
Supports multi-UDIM model uploads.
Live links include Blender, Maya, Houdini, and ZBrush.
Texel says project work is not used for AI training.

What to know first

Early Access is invite-only.
Service-level agreements do not apply during Early Access.
Uploads are limited to 4 million triangles.

Limits

The Early Access plan is free while in Early Access, but access is invite-only and released in small batches. Service-level agreements do not apply during this period.

Plans

Plan	Billed and limits	Price
Early Access	Free while in Early Access · Invite only · Access released in small batches	Free
Free Early Access	Costs nothing during Early Access · Invite-only · available in small batches	Free

As texel.art lists them, read 5 Oct 2026. The maker's own page has the final word.

Getting started

Visit https://texel.art/ to learn about the studio.
Request access to the invite-only Early Access program.
Use the browser-based studio when access is available.
Upload a USD, FBX, glTF, or OBJ model within the listed 4 million-triangle limit.
Connect through the listed live links or API workflows, as needed.

Verdict

Texel brings collaborative texturing, node-based authoring, and PBR exports into a browser studio. Access is currently invite-only, and service-level agreements do not apply during Early Access.

Questions

How much does Texel cost?

The Early Access plan is free while in Early Access. It is invite-only, with access released in small batches.

Is there a free trial?

No free trial is listed. The Early Access plan is free while the program runs.

Which platforms does Texel support?

The supported platform is web. The listing also identifies API access and workflows.

Which model formats can artists upload?

USD, FBX, glTF, and OBJ uploads are listed, up to 4 million triangles, with multi-UDIM support.

Which software integrations are listed?

Texel describes live links to Blender, Maya, Houdini, and ZBrush. API workflows are listed for Houdini, Maya, Nuke, and Blender.

Does Texel use project work to train AI models?

Texel says it does not use project work to train AI models. It says heavier AI processing runs in a region selected by the user.

Facts from Texel's own pages

AI data use: Texel says it does not use project work to train AI models and that heavier AI processing runs in a region the user selects. · texel.art, 5 Oct 2026
AI features: AI graph nodes include mask-aware upscale, normal extraction, semantic fill across UDIMs, and smart edge wear; nodes preserve inputs, parameters, and seeds. · texel.art, 5 Oct 2026
AI nodes: AI operators include mask-aware upscaling, normal extraction, semantic UDIM fill and edge-wear generation. · texel.art, 15 Oct 2026
AI processing location: Light AI nodes run in the browser GPU, while heavier processing runs in a region selected by the user. · texel.art, 15 Oct 2026
AI training policy: Texel says project work is not used to train its models or third-party models. · texel.art, 15 Oct 2026
API use: The site says assets can be pulled into Houdini, Maya, Nuke or Blender through an API. · texel.art, 15 Oct 2026
Collaboration: Artists can paint together in real time, branch scene states, review and merge changes, and set permissions down to nodes, channels, or UDIMs. · texel.art, 5 Oct 2026
Company identity caveat: A Crunchbase profile named Texel, Inc. describes a separate Dubai-based body-scanning and virtual-try-on company with founders Andrey Poskonin, Maxim Fedyukov and Sergey Klimentyev. · crunchbase.com, 15 Oct 2026
Data residency: Project state is pinned near the team and enterprise customers can discuss strict regional or on-premises requirements. · texel.art, 15 Oct 2026
DCC integrations: The site lists live links to Blender, Maya, Houdini and ZBrush. · texel.art, 15 Oct 2026
Deterministic AI: AI nodes retain their inputs, parameters and seeds so results can be reproduced. · texel.art, 15 Oct 2026
Early Access limitation: Early Access has no service-level agreement and Texel may rate-limit usage or restrict regions while it ramps up. · texel.art, 15 Oct 2026
Early Access limits: Early Access is invite-only, and the terms say service-level agreements do not apply during this period. · texel.art, 5 Oct 2026
Export formats: Channel-packed exports are provided for Unreal, Unity, USD and glTF. · texel.art, 15 Oct 2026
Infrastructure integrations: Operational vendors named in the terms are Cloudflare, WorkOS, Loops and Stripe. · texel.art, 15 Oct 2026
Input limits: The site lists USD, FBX, glTF, and OBJ model uploads up to 4 million triangles, with multi-UDIM support. · texel.art, 5 Oct 2026
Integrations: The site describes live links to Blender, Maya, Houdini, and ZBrush, and API workflows for Houdini, Maya, Nuke, and Blender. · texel.art, 5 Oct 2026
Legal registration: The Texel site identifies the maker as Texel Labs Ltd, registered in the United Kingdom under company number 16256594. · texel.art, 15 Oct 2026
Limit: baking depth: Wifitalents says Texel's baking and projection tools are less deep than full texture suites. · wifitalents.com, 15 Oct 2026
Limit: channel packing: Wifitalents reports that advanced texture channel packing is limited. · wifitalents.com, 15 Oct 2026
Limit: large scenes: Wifitalents advises careful resolution management because large scenes may require responsiveness tradeoffs. · wifitalents.com, 15 Oct 2026
Limit: UDIM scale: Wifitalents says managing many UDIM tiles can feel slow. · wifitalents.com, 15 Oct 2026
Material graph: The graph engine supports masks, blends, generators and custom HLSL or WGSL nodes. · texel.art, 15 Oct 2026
Materials: It supports PBR channels including albedo, roughness, metallic, normal, height, ambient occlusion, and emission, with channel-packed exports. · texel.art, 5 Oct 2026

Where Texel stands on Freedom251

3D Texturing Software#18 of 29