www.artist-reference.com

Today the main intentions of business communities are focused on minimizing the cost effects of whatsoever they are doing. Same is the case with media industry, which most commonly includes film making, gaming, TV commercials, presentations, simulations and interactive websites. To simulate real life scenarios there are two options – either hire real people on real places and capture it using cameras or make everything using computer graphics. Later one proved to be more useful because of less limitations and practical problems of real world, as well as currently being more economical. Flat Pyramid is a company addressing the above mentioned issue. In following lines we will analyze Flat Pyramid from every possible angle with the aim to provide complete details to artists and all others concerned with computer graphics industry.

This was all about the industry and the concept, now I will deliberate in detail on Flat Pyramid as a company. The official name of company is “FLAT PYRAMID” and was founded in 2005 in Los Angeles, CA. It is one of the biggest provider and online distributor of 3D content and interactive graphics which includes 3D models, photo renders, 3D tutorials, textures and 3D software along with various plugins. It is an online marketplace stuffed with non-exclusive and royalty-free digital graphics. Flat Pyramid is brought into existence with primary aim to reduce production costs in computer graphics industry. Hiring specialized graphic designers and experts for a single project is very expensive and can raise the financial costs. Even if specialized people are not hired still getting custom 3D models and graphics prepared from a provider is an expensive job. Flat Pyramid has provided a way out of these problems by making available lots of 3D models, textures, rendered photos and many other interactive graphics.

Flat Pyramid is mainly divided into 5 categories which are 3D models, photo renders, textures, 3D tutorials and 3D software and programs. 3D models, photo renders and textures, all are further divided into 15-25 different categories, which are very well tailored. Few examples of these sub categories are architecture, food, animals, computers and technology, business and communication, sports, weapon and many others. 3D tutorials section is divided with respect to the program to which it relates (e.g. cinema4D, maya, 3Dmax) or with respect to the technique/process used (3D modeling, 3D rendering and animations etc.). Though everything is listed in its respective category, filtering the list with different filters is also possible.

There is also section called “Custom 3D Graphics” which does not contain any stuff but is there to meet your requirements. At Flat Pyramid, it is possible to let customize 3D models or photo renders accordingly to your wishes. They even offer 3D animation service that includes whole set of works concerning with pre-production, production and post-production. These kinds of services are quite unique among this type of websites. Also, Flat Pyramid is not just a seller of interactive graphics and related products, it provides the opportunity for designers to place their stuff and sell it, too. In short, customers can do both buy and sell products. To sell products, one just needs to sign up for a free account with the option to become seller. Flat Pyramid pays 55% of the proceeds from sales to the artist. In this way, the company provides an excellent platform to expose your talent by making it public. Plus it is good opportunity to earn some money, too.

Let’s have a look on technical aspects, like file format and sizes. All types of models or textures are already searchable as per their format, however, if you buy anything from Flat Pyramid, you are likely to get many formats. For example in case of 3D models you get about 4 to 10 different formats depending upon the availability. The most famous formats are .3ds, .fbx, .max, .obj, .dxf, .psd etc. for 3D models, JPEG, PNG for photo renders and JPEG only for textures. File formats of 3D models give designers the independence of using these models in any program of their choice. Each purchased photo render or texture comes in various sizes (from low resolution to high resolution images), too.

Speaking about pricing, Flat Pyramid possesses a simple and straightforward payment system. You simply pay for what you buy. The price of 3D models varies from 40 to 650 USD per item (according to complexity and details), whereas photo renders are available for 10 to 70 USD per photo. No matter how many items you buy, the price would remain the same. The concept of membership is not introduced on Flat Pyramid. The price of custom 3D work also depends on the detail included in the model and the deadline before which it is required. It usually cost more than a regular item but for this price they adjust it according to your wishes and needs. The time which it takes to deliver the custom order is around 6 weeks, but it is possible to agree to shorter delivery time. Flat Pyramid even helps its clients in using the purchased stuff in their projects. You need not to pay any extra fees for obtaining pictures in different sizes or formats.

There is no doubt that Flat Pyramid is made with a very good concept and clear principles. Initially taken a slow and steady pace, the database is now growing quite rapidly. The most common advantages of being a customer of Flat Pyramid includes reduction in production costs, ease in buying items, ease in navigating through different categories, the availability of various file formats and sizes and opportunity to sell one´s works. Other than this, the custom modeling and design facility is really a unique feature. It helps designers in fulfilling those needs of their clients which they are not capable of. It is like a machine full of expertise and ready to output anything. In addition to above mentioned features, Flat Pyramid is made in a very decent and professional look.

Graphics designing is a field full of complexities, new challenges and changing technologies, hence being perfect in this industry is almost impossible. In accordance with this fact, Flat Pyramid also has some disadvantages or weak areas. The main problem is the lack of content. Though it’s increasing with a good pace but right now Flat Pyramid is not a place where you can find everything. In photo renders section, many categories do not contain any file at all. That can leave a very bad impression in visitor’s mind. The prices are also quite high if considering buying in bulk. Reasonable solution would be to offer some discounts or membership plans in these cases. Also, only one file format is available for textures and hardly two are available for photo renders section. Till now the 3D modeling has been the main focus which left textures and photo renders section in dark.

In my concluding remarks I would appreciate the efforts of designers and complete team of Flat Pyramid. They have managed to build a good platform which is likely to grow very fast in days to come. Even the stuff which is being offered by the company today – there is no doubt it is of very good quality and can be very handy to all professionals in the field of graphic designing. With efficiency and better skills, Flat Pyramid has started its journey towards earning a good repute.

Summary:

+ 3D models are of very good quality and designed with perfection. They are compatible with all leading software of the graphic designing industry. In addition, opportunities to let customize 3D models or photo renders for you or even earn money by selling your own, make this website unique.

-    The website lacks the volume of stuff. There´s no content in some categories so complete reliance on Flat Pyramid is somehow not possible. Also, it is needed to mention, that I haven´t got any reply on my e-mail I sent them in order to ask for some samples.

Popularity: 28% [?]

After focusing on textures, props and scenes in our first review on PoserWorld, now it is time to also depict the core section of the website formed by human models and clothing. PoserWorld is one website of its kinds, which offers such wide range of human designs and clothing.

At this point it is needless to repeat the fact that the site boasts of its collection of almost 2000 downloadable products and that the company has been operating since 1999. Although the basic information like membership details, downloading charges, licensing details and information about general image resolution have been discussed in detail in our previous review, in order to provide you better overview and for those of you, who haven´t read the first part of PoserWorld review yet, let´s summarize in short some of the most relevant information you should know about this site.

PoserWorld updates and keeps adding new designs on a regular weekly basis. The site offers 3 types of membership, namely 3 month membership for 20 USD, 12 month membership for 50 USD and lifetime membership for 500 USD. If you choose to become a lifetime member, you also get a set of 5 DVDs offered by PoserWorld free along with lifetime access to website’s whole collection of designs. If you choose to not becoming a member of the site, you can download the images of your choice at an average rate of 3 USD per image. The image sizes range from 512×3000 pixels to 3000×3000 pixels. All the images and textures offered by the website are royalty free for personal and commercial use (if derivated), but for more info be sure to check its Terms of Use or rather contact somebody from PoserWorld if you’re expecting specific usage.

One interesting thing that would grab a viewer’s attention is the fact that they have developed different categories of clothing and designs as per human models. Different models like Aiko, Laura, Luke, Michael, etc. display eye-catching themed clothing. Especially certain characters such as Koshini, Manchu Emperor and Milbaby are quite peculiar and unique. For example the set of Manchu Emperor showing his rich cultural heritage contains images of its traditional clothing (casual and formal), slippers and hair, while set of Giselle, an interesting Alien character, shows off interesting vector designs of hair and body texture. These types of figures are quite unique and can be used for different purposes. I personally downloaded some for my presentation – David and Royal Canadian Mountain Police outfit for him consisting of hat, red jacket and black pants. As remarkable I found also Digital Seamless Royal Period Fabric 1 & 2, each having up to 15 rough woven textures that could be used as robes, tapestry, garments, floor coverings etc. Though the seamless fabric textures are of 512×512 pixel sizes, they could be very useful. There are some real fabric textures with finished seams and edges as well. PoserWorld also offers several DVDs containing huge collection of designs and other items provided by the website with single page menu to navigate easily through the DVD content. The DVD’s prices range from 15 USD to 45 USD for the content of 160 – 1000 items in one DVD. There is also ´3D clothes texturing tutorial video DVD´ for 19.95 USD. It is a 31 minute tutorial video which helps you to create a detailed clothing texture using Photoshop or any other image editing program.

The thing I really liked about the site is that it maintains the high quality of the designs. They are quite versatile and one can use them in almost any work. Though, one thing which could be improved is the website’s search engine. Of course, a smart search engine in a website with this heavy load of designs and textures is a must! As the website contains huge collection of images, despite of using a good search query, you might end up with a long list of images to search through. The search engine also displays the list of DVDs which contains the searched images. One more thing that I did not like much about this site is that even if you wish to download the whole set of textures, you get to see only one sample texture and based on that you have to rely and pray that the whole lot of designs are as good as the sample.

Although I wouldn’t say that I found all the collection I needed, I would like to mention that the quality of images I found here was truly worth appreciating. The site provides a great variety of human attire from casual to business. I must admit that I have never come across such a huge collection of men’s and women’s clothing in any website before, except the times when I had been visiting a mall .

Summary:

+     Good range of unique collection full of models in various themed clothing. Good resolution and flexibility of using the images anywhere as they are developed in vector style to suit all resolutions and sizes.

-     Sometimes it seems clumsy to find the right image from such a heavy load of human designs and clothing textures. Pages are unnecessarily overloaded by lot of same information in headers and footers, which is a little bit distracting.

Popularity: 39% [?]

My dream to be in complete knowledge of my field that is architecture and designing keeps forcing me to search for more and more quality stuff. While I was searching for some pictures of particular trees, Google brought me to imagecels.com whose variety of content convinced me to share a few words about it. Before I take your eyes towards the review of this excellent imagery website, I must make it clear that this review is written after carrying out a depth analysis which was stretched over a week. I have tried to bring all aspects of the under discussion site in limelight.

The company name is Realworld Imagery Inc and it is the leading producer of high quality photorealistic imagery for architectural and design visualization professionals worldwide, since 1988. In more simple words, Realworld Imagery hosts thousands of high resolution photos of trees, shrubs, people, vehicles, seamless textures of different building materials and landscaping, rendering backgrounds and lot more. Photos of people and vehicles are available in aerial and elevation views. Unlike a normal wallpaper or photo website, this one offers alpha channel mask with every photo. These soft edge masks make imageries very practical and easy to use with most 3D and 2D software programs. Architectural and design professionals can use Realworld Imagery content in their routine work to create richness and a sense of reality. Just by having a look around a few pages of this wonderful website one can estimate the quality and authenticity of content.

All imageries are placed with respect to their category and are grouped in sets of about 50-100 images each. There is no option of ordering individual images. The smallest unit which can be bought is a complete set which price ranges between 99 USD and 299 USD. In order to give clients the desired details, there is attached a list of additional details to every set, providing complete nomenclature, detailed description and information about image size. Also, one can find particular plant species by going through Master Plant list, which gives information about botanical name, common name, filename, size and name of set containing the desired plant. All stuff hosted by Realworld Imagery is available for direct download from the site, whereas one may ask for a CD as well, which will be shipped within one business day without any extra charges besides shipping costs.

Images are 2D and in “.TIF” (LZW compressed) file format with embedded alpha channel masks. They are placed against a black background. Textures are also in “.TIF” file format, seamless and tileable. Resolution varies from 900×1400 to 4000×4800 pixels but mostly the images are in resolution around 1200×1600 pixels. Even the photos are not in a very high resolution they provide notable results when used with most 2D/3D software. The reason for this excellent compatibility is their internal alpha channel mask.

No annual/monthly/weekly or any other kind of membership is offered by this site. Customers can simply purchase the required stuff on direct payment, however, up to 40% discount is offered on buying more sets/CDs. About 15 images are available to download for free as samples. In terms of license policy, they distinguish carefully between single user and multiple users, so customer should think of his intentions before buying.

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When I try to count the good areas of this website, first comes its simple design with easy navigation. No animations or flash slides and still having a decent look and feel. Variety and quality of all stuff regarding “people” and “trees” is exceptional and seems to be very authentic. Almost every species and category has been covered in ample detail, so it seems that many professional opinions have been incorporated in this website. Lots of extra information is provided about type of trees and their hardiness zones which makes it very easy for an architectural expert to find appropriate vegetation. A good FAQ section which provides depth and easy to understand information on all aspects like image specifications, compatibility issues, payment options and about browsing site. Excellent compatibility with all external 2D and 3D platforms. Moreover, all legal documents like privacy policy and terms of use are very well defined.

As nothing is perfect in the world so the website under discussion also has some grey areas. For example no membership plan is offered which makes it very expensive for long term usage. Photos are not in the best resolution and very little categories are offered as compared to other similar sites. Although site’s name appears on Google’s first page, while searching for images one can hardly find any stuff from this site which means the content is not fully optimized for search engines.

In short it’s a very good and resourceful place for all professionals to get useful stuff. Before relying on other content one must visit this site. It is ideal for those professionals in field of architecture, who work around designing of landscapes and places with vegetation like parks and even for the professionals who have some link with film making and gaming.

Summary:

+ Variety and quality of all content regarding people and trees plus detailed information provided to every set make this website exceptional.

- The only prominent problem is the absence of membership plan option, what hinders the way to long term relationship.

Popularity: 13% [?]

With more and more websites showing off their vibrant collection of textures and 3D images, it becomes increasingly important for artist to read over genuine reviews of these websites in order to find if a particular one is perfect for him. Here we shall talk about PoserWorld, a website which boosts of excellent quality, large variety and ready to use content.

The first thing you’ll notice after loading the homepage of PoserWorld is the website claiming to have a large variety of over 1900 items with excellent quality 3D content. Though the website shows off more content on human models and clothing, it also includes seamless textures of varied categories. Due to the diversity of website´s content, we thought it would be better to publish 2 separate reviews – one on textures and one on human models. Here we shall discuss all it has to offer in terms of textures.

The one thing about searching for good textures online is that you see the same kinds of textures as you move from one site to the other over the web. This does not happen here, though. Uniqueness is one of the main qualities you’ll find here. I would like to put light upon the fact that this site has a huge number of seamless and digital textures, props and scenes to offer. The texture collection ranges from

seamless Jet and Sky Photo Background added in July 2007 to the latest seamless metal photo texture set added on April 2011. They offer a huge variety of textures, having different sets of seamless fabric photo textures like gold embroidered fabric and variety of plaid and stripped fabric textures, which are quite unique. The Scenes section has a lot to offer to the user, too. For example beautiful textures like Pool Scene that shows off breathtaking pool view with the lawn by the side. Also there are textures like Cityblock which offers beautiful architectural views of the city blocks, generally not to find elsewhere. With ready to use exterior scenes like Bob’s Dinner, Park center and interior scenes like Kitchen, Sauna etc., one can easily and quickly incorporate it in his project. Moreover, different parts of scenes can be moved so the basic scene can be modified accordingly to your needs.  This section is worth taking a look and the site itself is surely a must-visit for an artist who is in search for some unique well finished scenes and textures with good resolution.

The sizes of these textures range from 512 to 3000 pixels but majority of them is 3000×3000 pixels. The site updates and keeps adding various new textures on a regular weekly basis. One thing that is not so satisfactory is that at times it displays only one picture of the textures collection. The viewer has to rely on one sample picture before downloading the whole section of images. For example ‘By the River’ set shows off one beautiful picture of bridge over river to sell off whole collection of 19 photographs of Newcastle Keyside section. Also, at times the viewer has to rely on lower pixel size samples of textures before he buys the textures in higher resolution. Speaking about website´s weaknesses, it seems a little clumsy with the heavy header, footer and right panel being repeated on each page.

Though PoserWorld has huge number of designs and textures, unlike sites like environment-texture.com, the viewers have to do a laborious searching through lots of data and lists to find the perfect texture to suit their needs. This is due to the fact that there is no division into categories on the site. Tough it has search engine which works fine, but again whereas there is a huge number of images loaded in it, even the search results might show up in huge number. One thing that could be improved is the way how the search engine works. By typing ´red brick´ the search engine lists all the textures and images with ´red´, ´brick´ as well as ´red brick´ so one will get more results than wanted, which means another tedious searching for the right image among the others. Very disappointing I find the fact that although there is a free sample section, there is just one free item, which changes “from time to time” (as they write). This is surprising because free samples are already the must-have of this kind of websites.

The downloading charges of the site are fair and reasonable. One can download a texture or any other design at a price of about 3 USD. This is the average price of the designs. Also the site offers memberships which when paid for, it grants full access to all the textures of the site. The memberships offered by the site are 20 USD for a three month membership, 50 USD for a 12 month membership and for a full lifetime membership one has to pay 500 USD. The lifetime membership grants the user full access to all of the features of the site for lifetime, plus 5 DVDs full of textures, 3D models and several tutorial videos. A good thing over here is that by providing option of single item purchase as well as subscriptions option, they have covered all the possible demands of individual as well as corporate users. All the images and textures offered are royalty free for personal and commercial use (if derivated), but for more information I would contact website´s owners. For all those who would like to learn how to create clothing textures on their own, there are also 3D clothes texturing tutorial video DVD for 19.95 USD and 3D photo texture DVD with over 1362 textures for 19.95 USD.

With all these information we can easily conclude the following summary for texture section of PoserWorld:

+     A commendable collection of 3D textures, with unique categories makes it stand apart from the rest.  Reasonable prices of membership – for example at 50 USD per year, one gets access to all of content for a full year, for the price of about 16 individual item purchases.

- At times it becomes clumsy to move through all the heavy panels of headers, footers and right hand panels. Search engine should be made more intelligent with added features to enhance the user’s experience over searching varied textures and designs. Disappointing Free Samples section with just one free item.

We couldn´t show you any sample textures, because as we already mentioned there aren´t free samples for download on the website. Although we sent PoserWorld a couple of e-mails asking for some samples, no reply received.

Popularity: 19% [?]

This review is for all CG artists dealing with everyday seeking for the right material, whether for their work or just for use in leisure time. If you belong to such kind of people, please feel free to read.

I ran into this site while browsing the internet in order to find some interesting textures and designs which I started to collect for my further works. The one thing about this site, that I need to mention right at the beginning, is diversity of its content in terms of products provided. Assist CG offers not only textures but also designs, backgrounds, video transitions and also software for video composition and texture modification. This site is a great place for getting ideas and good stuff.

It has to be admitted that in spite of its modest collection in terms of the number of textures in each category, Assist CG is pretty impressive and has lots to give. The website’s collection boasts of many interesting, quality photos, a few of them are hard to find anywhere else. Some of the eye catchy textures that caught my attention were for example Wood, Lawns and Paving sets. Most photos in Wood section may seem common, but some of them are very rare in its genre. Among the ordinary textures from Paving Sets, one can find intriguing photos of the Roman roadways, too. Above all, I would highlight remarkable designs offered in Tiles and Mosaic section, which are very rare and impressive. These great sets are one of the reasons, why artists definitely should visit this website. Since most of the textures represent different surfaces of the terrain and various kinds of walls and roofing, this site could be helpful for game developers in process of creating surroundings in games or for architects while presenting their architectural projects.

Textures are offered in the resolution ranging from 512×512 to 2048×2048 pixels, some even higher. Those in resolution of 512×512 pixels can be downloaded for free without having a membership. All you need to do is get registered and you can enjoy free downloads. Although free photos are in quite small resolution, still it’s a nice gesture from the website like this, which can also persuade artists to subscribe. Nevertheless, to get the original resolution of the images, you have to become a member.

Except textures, you can find a lot of more. The site provides Blender 2.49 which is software for creating video composition with different visual effects. Such video composition can be used in the presentation of your project. One can also find various transitions and animated video backgrounds ready for use in this video. Moreover, the site has a tutorial section in which a user gets information of how to use the provided software with some examples and tips. A new user, just like me, who is interested in making creative videos, can really get some help out of this. The basic version of the software is available for free download once you registered, but the full version which enables to use sources from the library is open only to members exclusively. There is also workstation section on the site, which provides software that helps you modify and make textures.

Assist CG offers a membership in length of three months for which one needs to pay only 10 USD. For such a small price one gets access to download all the textures and videos on the site in full resolution. The software is available in its full version, too. Although there is part of the website’s content which can be downloaded for free, for a price this low, I would better become a member and enjoy the full capacity of the site.

The license agreement of the site has very simple policies. The first being that one cannot put the textures and other material from the site directly on his/her own web for sale. If you want to do so, significant modification would be needed. Otherwise, all content is royalty free and can be used anywhere one wish to use.

The only defect of the site I noticed is its small collection. Assist CG holds very few categories with low number of textures in each category, when compared with sites like www.environment-textures.com, which has three times more categories and subcategories and which with the total number of more than 99,000 photos is one of the largest resources of high resolution textures.

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On the other hand, the site has a good search engine which helps to find any video, texture or software one needs quickly and easily. The site is also very well designed, too. I found it very intuitive and uncomplicated to use. Also, all the textures are very clearly divided into categories. That makes browsing simple compared to other bulky websites where it becomes difficult to get to a desired texture.

This review should provide the relevant information about Assist CG and I hope it has helped you get the idea of the site and its content. Please, note the summary below.

Summary

+ Intriguing and rare textures in good resolution and high-definition videos. Software is really helpful plus tutorials make it easier to use.

- Quite few categories of textures as compared to similar websites. It holds a small collection of textures in each category as well.

Popularity: 9% [?]

I came upon the site of Marlin Studios while I was searching for good designs I needed to build into my presentation. I won’t say I found all the textures that I needed but I certainly got the most of them. Actually, I was pleasantly surprised by finding more, other than needed right at that moment. In addition to different variety of textures, they offer great animations in terms of videos which are very helpful, e. g. in game development. Marlin Studios claims to have been in the texture business longer than any texture publisher and with the number of over 70,000 images, this site definitely deserves at least a glance from the game developers, architects and artists who are engaged in daily designing.

On opening, the site doesn’t really look too tech-savvy to be honest. It is actually very moderate and simple in view. At first glance, I didn’t find it to be impressive. The website might seem little perplexing and incomprehensible. There is also no search engine available on this site which makes it a bit of task to search for the texture desired. Although the designs are divided into many galleries and categories, it does take a while to get to the exact image we have in mind. Lots of confusion plus no search engine rendered the website tough to surf and the searching time-consuming. This could discourage potential customers.

However, the Marlin Studio’s strength lies in variety and voluminousness of the provided content. This site consists of lots of 2D and 3D images included in 25 libraries. These are divided into sub galleries such as seamless textures, specialty gallery, 3D gallery and money saver gallery. Textures given on the site include various basic ones like tiles, wood, stone, skies and such patterns. Apart from these, one will also find animated people and different 3D models of buildings or vehicles. Surely, it is worth noting the specialty gallery and its special libraries like the People N Motion with animated people in both business and casual attire, Panoramas, Tree palms, Traffic etc. The 3D section gives a number of images which can be used to make 3 dimensional structures or models in game development. The samples shown here are full built modern houses with yards and also various other images which might be of use for corporate presentations. There is also a section for free samples to download available on the site as well. One can see through the list and get a look at some of them.

All libraries are filled with numerous images and textures to work with, yet it displays only a few best textures which represent the other samples in the category. This could be little disheartening as the user might want to see all the textures he is buying. One option given by the website is to try free samples before buying, which nevertheless are in half of the actual size. The full size images can only be seen after the user has bought it. The resolutions of the images that I happened to look at were mostly 1024 X 1024 pixels, but it varies according to type of image. This is good resolution but in contrast with environment-textures.com, where most photos are 4992×3360 pixels, it´s quite a difference.  Free samples are provided in half of actual size, as already mentioned.

Textures and models available on this site are offered at a low cost as compared to the other sites I have visited in the past. The charges given are on the basis of the resolution and type of the file. Some images are available for prices as low as 35 cents. Good quality images or most 3D models can be as much as 2 USD each. In addition there is a separate section in the galleries which offers special saver packs that include 2D and 3D images depending on the pack. This gives the buyer an opportunity to save some money. It is worth to mention the amount of money one can save – it ranges from 89 USD to about 1000 USD.

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In comparison to the other sites, which usually offer membership subscriptions, this one provides only pay and download option and does not put forward any membership plans. While buying textures and 3D models, one has to buy the whole package even if he wants to use only a few textures from the package. It means single image download is not possible over here. On the other hand, possibility of availing the whole package at discounts can be considered as an advantage.

Ordering the designs is really simple. There are some options for ordering. You can either download the design online or order a CD/DVD of the same. There are also different ways of paying for the same – you can use your online PayPal account for the transfer as well as pay by using your debit/credit card (debit in case if it is a US card).

However, it was quite difficult to get to the license policy information, whereas there is no section dedicated to this. I managed to find out that all the model & texture libraries offered by website should be royalty free and one could use them in their commercial artworks. But the content of the libraries cannot be distributed in any way, shape or form. The user would receive one license per order, with the option to make a backup copy. Nevertheless, I would recommend you to contact the provider and inquire before using bought images.

Overall, the website obviously has its pros and cons and it is up to the artist to reconsider expectations he is having from this type of site and decide.

Summary

+    great amount of textures and animations; money saver packages

-     no search engine available; perplexing and difficult to browse the website

Popularity: 22% [?]

Apart from being an artist, I am a tech-savvy person and picking out outstanding websites offering attractive textures remains an integral part of my work schedule. This hobby of mine led me to the homepage of iSourcetextures. And one of the several things that caught my attention was its varied inimitable designs. Artists who are in the field of game development can avail great textures from this site. I am a collector of good textures myself so I logged onto this site in order to find out as much information as possible so I can share it with you and give you some vision. I am not here to say you that it is the best in the business but I can say it is surely a great place to get creative. Game developers and 3D software engineers should consider visiting this place on the web at least once.

The site boasts of about 11,000 designs in its store with more then 200 textures made available free. In my opinion it is a very impressive and a rather massive collection. Designs are all divided into various sections as per category. Each of these sections contains about 10 to 40 textures in them. With such a massive collection, one cannot miss getting great textures for his work over here. Each design that is put onto the site is available with its properties, resolution and price information stated beside it. The zoom option is given for a better view of the picture, too.

The quality of the images that I used was very good. The resolutions offered by them are in the range from 2000 to 3500×3000 pixels. Some images are also available in 5000+ pixel size. Different resolutions are available on the site from which the artist can choose his pick. The user gets the option to download each texture in two different sizes of L and XL. The free textures are specially put into a different section in which free textures are available exclusively in the resloution size of 600 pixels.

Downloading images is chargeable except the free ones. The site offers no membership fee. The charges are levied on per download basis only, ranging from 1 USD to 2 USD depending on the chosen image size. I would rather prefer this over monthly or 6 monthly memberships for people who do not download a large amount of textures every day. But if you are someone who use up photos in bulk, it´s more convenient for you to pay some flat membership fee on a website like environment-textures.com e.g. and you will pay several times less for one photo. On the other hand, there is no restriction on the number of downloads at the iSourceTextures! Unlimited downloading of textures is one of the things I found remarkable.

The search engine integrated into the site is a really great one, enabling artists to easily find the textures required. Another great feature which can be used to make the user’s search for the perfect texture quick is ‘Find Similar Images’. This feature enables the user to quickly browse through the entire collection of the website in just a few seconds and get back with some similar textures to the one that the user is looking for.

The website has a license which allows free distribution and commercial use of the designs. This is one of the few texture resources which allow such liberty like selling modified textures, keeping in mind the minimum modification policy as mentioned in the website license. The company has also provided free textures which are still available for some commercial usage (except of selling as textures). The use and distribution is allowed in lots of other cases, just make sure you read the usage conditions.

One of the greatest aspects of the site is that one can sell one’s own textures too. They have provided a tool for uploading your own designs and ideas on their site, and they might put them up for sale on their site. What’s more – they pay you for your designs in form of compensation when someone buys the design. The company offers 50% royalty, which I would say is good enough for it provides free hosting of your design.

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One thing I marked about the site is that it is a little slow in opening up its designs and loading all the 3D textures. The large collection of the site might hamper its loading speed to certain extent. We all know that this can be overcome with a simple fast internet connection. But, when I’m writing a genuine review I could not miss on this one.

On the whole, the website offers a good resource of new and unique themes and textures. Looking at the pros and cons, well there are more pros than cons and in my opinion it is a great place on the web to get great designs for your work and also to make some money out of your own creativity. This website is surely a good one to visit.

Summary:

+    massive collection of designs in good resolution, offering unlimited downloads and possibility of selling your own textures

-    slower loading of textures compared to other sites

Popularity: 5% [?]

Being an artist for long time in my career, browsing for new texture websites has always been my necessity as well as hobby. I happened to open this site once during my usual ventures as I was looking for good textures and 3D images. And I would like to say, that artists looking for some great material can definitely find a good collection on this particular website. While still under construction, this site promises to give the best of its collection of quality designs and images. TRU Textures stand by on the talk of unlimited downloads with no limits whatsoever. An artist looking for good and unique designs can surely go on to this. It is definitely worth giving a look at least once before deciding on the final textures.

This site shows off a collection of approximately 2000 sets of designs and textures. Each of these sets contains at least 10 textures. Most of them consist of more than 20 in them. Such a vast collection of textures gives the artist a wide variety of choices to choose from. Offered designs include metal, wood, nature, topography, etc. These are included in the basic section of the site. One can find interesting also 16 different 3D categories having Victorian, European and Middle Eastern themes as well as sets of seasonal themes including Halloween, Christmas and Easter. New textures are being added continuously on the site on a daily basis.

Having a fine search engine, like TRU Textures has, is one of the most important qualities of this kind of websites. To give the exact list of the designs and textures needed, one can type any name or design and the website lists out all those falling into that particular category. This eliminates the tough procedure of browsing through every list of designs for the required texture. Viewing through the numerous designs, it’s easy to look closely to each of them as the image zooms when clicked on it.

Different textures are available in PNG, TGA 24 or 32-bit file format. Depending on the posting time of the texture, its resolution may vary with initial textures having lower resolutions of 128 – 256 pixels. However, greater numbers of the textures are 512 pixels and even 1024 pixels, which are the most frequent sizes on the website. The older images with lower resolutions are however priced much lower than the routine price range.  Majority textures (up to 90 %) are seamless, designed to tiles. This site also offers 3D images, which are really helpful in building model designs for various construction purposes, so game designers, abstract artists and even architects can avail great designs from the collection.

One great feature about this site is that it does not have any flat membership fees. It offers unlimited downloads whenever you want and at a nominal price depending on the size and type of the texture as well as on type of license you choose. The prices are set per design and there are no restrictions whatsoever on the download limit. Payments are realizing via PayPal system and the website offers also credits, which can be purchased to avail discounts. One can purchase for example 1000 credits for 8 USD and avail 11% discount. If one purchases 5000 credits, he can get the same for 35 USD with 22% discount. There are varied such discount schemes on purchase of credits till 56% discount limits. Users of Second Life can buy some textures for Linden dollars.

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There are several license options to choose from according to customer’s usage intentions. The basic Second Life license is offered for using within Second Life environment only. With any world license, one will get the rights to use textures and images within any virtual world, Second Life included. Professional license and game developer license allow customer wider usage rights – for private or commercial use out of virtual environment. I would recommend you to read conditions of use carefully.

Overall, I would say this is a good source to get the latest and good designs. It is surely worth giving a look and ascertain.

Summary:

+       wide collection of themes, great 3D images, no download limits and nominal rates

-          the site usage limitation for non-second-life members – almost 35% of the images of the website are made available only for use in virtual Second Life environment

Popularity: 13% [?]

Most web designers, 3D and computer graphic artists, whose  job demands extensive use of photos, acknowledge that sourcing for the photos needed for their design works or projects can be quite challenging. If you are a graphic artist who wants to get instant access to extensive and reliable source of photos, you should consider www.environment-textures.com.

This website represents a great online photo database that provides pictures of high quality and free of all copyright issues. These photos cover all needs and demands of an artist, who is looking for environment textures references. Website focuses on photos needed for modeling surroundings. It provides photos of textures (water, paper, fields etc.) and both exteriors and interiors with its details (buildings, furniture, vehicles etc.). You can also find 3D models and wide choice of background photos of exotic countries.

Let´s mention some interesting features of environment-textures.com. One of its strongpoints lies in simple and intuitive use. Searching by categories or keywords allows you to find what you need in very short time (as far as it is part of website´s offer). If you miss something among photos or if you have just some idea how to improve services, there is possibility to write your suggestions which will be taken to consideration in the future. Quite nice way how to show that customers and their needs are important.

The website offers also wide collection of free samples in high resolution, so customers can check the quality before buying. There are 20 free samples you can download. As advantage definitely should be considered fact that there are also free samples of premium content. Good opportunity to check and decide if it is worth to subscribe more expensive membership for lots of additional photos.

In terms of cost, subscriptions are not expensive. Regardless if you are an individual or company, there are membership plans that would definitely match your budget. The subscription fee depends on the sort of subscription that you intend buying. It is possible to get pictures for free just by subscribing a free membership, but you should keep in mind you might be limited or restricted from having access to certain pictures and that there is a download limit of 3 photos per day. Besides free membership plan, there are two other kinds that you can choose from – hobby and commercial membership plan. Both come in one, three, six months and one year recurring membership plans and special one year premium membership plan. Hobby membership starts at 13,85 EUR per month and allows usage of downloaded photos only for non-commercial purposes. With daily download limit of 250 photos per day you will pay 1 EUR for 541 photos, that´s about 0,002 EUR for 1 photo . On contrary if you want to use the pictures for commercial projects and repeatedly without any additional fee, you can subscribe commercial membership plan, which costs from 27,85 EUR per month. Daily download limit ranges between 250 and 3000 photos per day according to lenght of subscribed membership. Buying a premium commercial membership ensures you unrestricted access to all pictures, including special content (panoramas, seamless textures, HDRs etc.) that you might come across on the website. Premium membership is available at both, hobby and commercial plans, for the price 199 EUR and 325 EUR and download is limited by 12 000 photos per day.

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Speaking about quality, most photos are 4992×3360 pixels. This resolution ensures enough detailed photos, which means they are really good for texture paniters or other artists working with environment textures and references.

Summary:

+ more than 100 500 photos of hi-res textures, backgrounds, exotic locations or detailed objects

- relatively a lot of references compared with textures

Popularity: 20% [?]