Retexturing

Retexturing refers to the process of altering the surface appearance of a 3D model by editing its texture maps while leaving the geometry unchanged. The goal is to change color, pattern, material properties, wear, or weathering to achieve a new look or to improve realism without re-modeling.

Techniques include painting textures in 2D image editors or directly on the 3D model, projection painting to transfer details across UVs, and using procedural textures and texture baking to generate normal, ambient occlusion, metallic, and roughness maps. A common workflow involves creating or updating a base color texture, then producing accompanying maps to drive shading in a physically based rendering (PBR) pipeline. UV mapping quality, tiling, and seam management influence final results.

Applications include video games, animated films, architectural visualization, product previews, and asset customization. Retexturing is used to simulate aging, weathering, new skins, or alternate materials, and can support optimization by using texture atlases and appropriate resolution budgets. Challenges include maintaining color consistency across assets, avoiding visible seams, and ensuring performance remains acceptable for real-time rendering.

Popular tools range from texture painting and 3D art packages such as Substance Painter, Substance Designer, Blender, Mari, Photoshop, to game engines that preview textures in real time. The practice intersects with UV unwrapping, shader setup, and material authoring, forming a core part of asset creation and iteration workflows.