Mari

Mari is a specialist 3D painting application for high-resolution texturing and look development in VFX, animation and games. It is best suited to texture artists and production teams working with complex assets and established pipelines. Choose it for its scale and pipeline tools; look elsewhere if you need unrestricted free production use or cannot accommodate periodic online license checks.

Overview

Mari is built for texture work that spans many maps and channels, rather than serving as an all-purpose 3D creation suite. Its support for thousands of UDIM textures per model, at up to 32K × 32K pixels per texture, gives demanding assets room to carry fine detail. That capacity matters most when projects genuinely need it; for smaller or simpler jobs, Mari’s production focus may be more than necessary.

Projection painting lets artists preview edits in context before committing them across texture maps. That makes it easier to assess a change against the asset before applying it. The free Non-commercial edition is useful for personal exploration, but its 4K, 16-bit-per-channel export cap and five-object limit rule it out for unrestricted production work.

Key features

Painting and baking

Multi-Channel Paint can paint up to eight streams at once, a useful way to handle coordinated channel work. Mari’s Bakery bakes geometry maps such as curvature and occlusion across multiple objects and UDIMs, keeping those tasks within the texturing workflow. Procedural materials, node-based authoring and a PBR workflow add flexibility for building and managing material work.

Pipeline and rendering

OpenColorIO, OpenSubdiv, FBX and Alembic support, alongside APIs and Python scripting, make Mari a plausible fit for custom production pipelines. Render shaders are provided for 3Delight, VRay, Unreal and Arnold. The pipeline reach is a strength for studios already using compatible tools, though the Non-commercial edition disables Python scripting and therefore gives up an important route to pipeline development.

Pricing

Mari offers a free Non-commercial plan, a 30-day trial with unrestricted access, individual subscriptions, quarterly rentals and annual team subscriptions. The trial is a meaningful way to evaluate the full toolset before paying; the free plan is a more limited option for non-commercial use.

The annual individual subscription costs less than paying the monthly rate for a full year, while keeping the same one-user licensing. Mari Rent offers a quarterly commitment and license types that can suit different team setups; the team subscription is annual and also offers node-locked or floating licenses. Foundry describes individual subscriptions as a fit for freelancers and small companies where one person needs access, and studio subscriptions as an option for teams. Individual subscription licensing requires an internet connection at first login on a machine and at least once every 30 days afterward. Subscribers can contact support by email while the subscription is valid; users can also seek help through Foundry’s Support Portal or Community.

Platforms

Mari supports Windows and Linux. The current supported systems are Windows 11 64-bit and Linux 64-bit (Rocky/RHEL 9), so teams should confirm their machines meet those requirements before committing.

Who it's for

Mari is a strong candidate for professional texture artists, freelancers, small companies and studios handling high-resolution assets across many UDIMs. Its painting scale, baking tools and pipeline support are most valuable when those needs are part of regular production. The free edition can serve non-commercial learning or experimentation, but the export, scripting and object limits make it a poor fit for paid work. Teams should weigh the annual or quarterly license options against their need for named-user access or node-locked and floating licenses.

Pros and cons

• Pros: Thousands of UDIM textures per model, with textures up to 32K × 32K, support high-detail asset work.
• Pros: Projection previews, painting across up to eight streams and multi-object, multi-UDIM baking cover key texture-production tasks.
• Pros: Pipeline formats, APIs and shaders for several renderers give studios useful integration options.
• Cons: Non-commercial exports stop at 4K and 16-bit per channel, Python scripting is disabled, and sessions are limited to five objects.
• Cons: Individual subscriptions require periodic online validation, which may not suit machines that stay offline.
• Cons: Individual licensing is limited to one named user per license, so teams need a studio-oriented option for shared or multiple-seat use.

Alternatives

For a broader comparison of options, browse Game Texture Software and 3D Texturing Software.

• InstaMAT is worth considering if you want a free tier or a lower-cost annual Pro option; its free Pioneer license has revenue or funding eligibility and requires attribution.
• Surface Labs is a free early-access alternative with support across desktop, mobile and API platforms.
• Material Maker is a free option across Windows, macOS and Linux, with a name-your-own-price Itch.io download and a paid Steam plan.
• ArmorPaint may suit buyers who prefer a one-time purchase; its listed ArmorPaint 1.0 price is $19, paid once, and its download page describes it as open source.
• PBRize is a web-based alternative with a free tier capped at 12 usage units per month, 1K maximum resolution and 1 GB storage.
• PBRgen offers a free Starter tier with 100 credits for personal use, making it an option for limited, personal-use generation.
• Blender is the choice to consider if you want a free, open-source 3D creation suite that can be downloaded without registration and used without an internet connection.
• Houdini is another option to compare for broader 3D work, with freemium licensing and workstation-perpetual and annual options.

Verdict

Choose Mari if high-resolution, multi-UDIM painting and pipeline integration are central to your texturing work; those are the reasons to accept its specialist focus and paid production licensing. Look elsewhere if the Non-commercial caps are too restrictive, if you need an offline individual license, or if your work does not call for Mari’s scale.