[Post updated June 2020]

Photoshop Textures

Photoshop Textures are a key part of turning your simple black and white elevations or visuals into something really eye-catching and engaging. You can use textures and cut-outs for so many aspects of your work, it is worth bookmarking some of your favourite sites. The problem with textures and cutouts is that there are so many different sites offering free and paid for textures, that you can find yourself wasting hours searching for that perfect texture.

I have put together some of my favourite sites, that I tend to use often. They contain a mixture of textures, cutouts, and tillable textures which can also be really useful. Don’t forget you can add textures to your SketchUp model, and even programs such as ArchiCAD, so it is well worth collecting some of your favourite textures and putting together a library of the things that are most useful to you.

Depending on your level, and how often you use photoshop textures, sometimes it is worth purchasing a decent library. You will also find that many sites ask you to set up a free account in order to access their downloads.

Check out these sites, and download some of the textures they offer, generally for free.

1. Textures.com

Formerly CG Textures, Textures.com has a massive selection of textures, over 100,000 images! You must register for an account, then you can download 15 images per day. For more than this, or improved resolution you can set up a paid premium account.

2. TextureHub

Texture Hub is our sister website! We are curating a great variety of photoshop textures to use in your architectural graphics. The stock is growing, and you can even contribute your own images. All downloads are completely free, and you don’t even need to sign up to download any images.

3. Architextures

Architecture.es has a good range of photoshop textures and people. Good cut outs, easy to download. Architectures has now launched the web app Create which runs within the Architextures website. Create lets users create materials for download as seamless textures and CAD hatches.

 4. SketchUp Texture Club

SketchUp Texture Club has a vast selection of textures,  you have to register and get 15 downloads per day for free access.

Everything from backgrounds, to nature textures, building materials and more. They also have 3D models too.

5. Tony Textures

This site has a range of arch viz graphic items. It has a library of over 4000 free textures for use on personal and commercial projects. There are also loads of cut outs, some paid and some free. The site also has some really useful tutorials and tips.

6. Skal Gubbar

 

Skal Gubbar has a vast collection of free people cut outs for both student and commercial use.

7. SW Texture

Good selection of tile-able textures ranging from brick, to stone, wood and some other miscellaneous ones in there too. No registration required, license of Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

8. Flying Architecture 

Flying architecture has a cool collection of materials, skies and much more. Some items are paid and some free.

The image below was put together really quickly from a SketchUp export of a white 3D model. By using just a few textures, you can quickly give an impression of an idea. This could obviously be taken a lot further, but as a quick photoshop render, it can be quite effective.