Tom Arah shows you the best way to bring some texture into your design work.

Long-term readers will know that I am a big fan and keen advocate of the use of seamless bitmap textures. Such textures play an essential role in the production of 3D work, as we saw again last month, but they can also prove just as useful within 2D bitmap and vector environments...

VERDICT: Piranesi gets the major overhaul of interface and tools that its extraordinary creative power deserves.

Piranesi stands out from all other bitmap editors because it is able to handle material and depth information as well as colour; it might sound a relatively small difference but it unleashes a massive amount of 3D painting power...

RECOMMENDED

VERDICT: Improved interface and drawing capabilities, new photo matching and hand-drawn effects - and it’s still free.

Over the years @Last Software’s SketchUp managed to win itself a small fanbase, particularly among architects, for its valiant attempt to make 3D modelling as simple as 2D drawing...

RECOMMENDED

VERDICT: Major enhancements to atmospheric and lighting models, import support, rendering options and material and EcoSystem handling.

Creating naturalistic real world scenes is one of the most difficult tasks for a 3D modeller which is where Vue Infinite comes in with its dedicated state-of-the-art capabilities.

RECOMMENDED

VERDICT: Improved interface, object and layer handling and amazing integrated 3D painting add greatly to CINEMA 4D’s existing power, usability and value.

CINEMA 4D 10 is a heavyweight professional 3D package, but surprisingly simple...