How to Add a Texture in Blender (Step by Step)

To add a texture in Blender, select your object, create a material in the Material tab, add an Image Texture node in the Shader Editor, open your image in that node, and connect its Color output to Base Color on the Principled BSDF. Then switch the viewport to Material Preview so you can see it.

That covers a simple image. The steps below also cover the parts that usually go wrong next: UVs, texture size, missing files, and adding a full set of PBR maps. We wrote this against the Blender 5.2 LTS manual. Blender 5.3 is due soon, so menu names may shift a little.

How to add a texture in Blender

You need a mesh object and an image file. If you do not have an image yet, our list of free PBR texture sites is a good place to start.

1. Select the object. Click it in the 3D Viewport.
2. Open the Shading workspace. It is one of the default workspaces, in the tabs at the top of the window. It gives you a viewport and a Shader Editor together.
3. Create a material. In the Material tab or the Shader Editor header, click New. If the object already has a material, skip this step. You should see a Principled BSDF node connected to Material Output.
4. Add an Image Texture node. Hover over the Shader Editor and press Shift + A, or use the Add menu. Find Image Texture and place it to the left of the Principled BSDF.
5. Load your image. Click Open on the node and choose the file.
6. Connect it. Drag from the node's Color output to Base Color on the Principled BSDF.
7. Preview it. Hover over the 3D Viewport, press Z, and choose Material Preview.

If the image looks right on the object, you are done. If it looks stretched, tiny, or missing, the cause is usually one of the next three sections.

Why is my texture not showing in Blender?

The most common reason is the viewport mode. Solid mode uses simplified shading without shader nodes, so your material will not appear there. Use Material Preview or Rendered instead. If you want to stay in Solid mode, set its Color option to Texture.

If you are already in Material Preview, check these:

• The Color output is not connected. An unconnected Image Texture node does nothing, even if the image is loaded.
• The node has no image. The Blender manual notes that a material with no image loaded renders black.
• The material is on a different slot. If the object has several material slots, the faces may still use another one. In Edit Mode, select the faces, choose the slot, and click Assign.
• The image is pink. Blender usually cannot find the file. See how to stop textures going missing.

Do you need to UV unwrap before adding a texture?

Usually, yes, unless your mesh already has good UVs. UVs tell Blender which part of the image belongs on which part of the surface. With nothing plugged into its Vector input, an Image Texture node uses the object's active UV map.

Blender's mesh primitives have a Generate UVs option that creates a default unwrap, so a fresh primitive may look fine right away. A mesh you have modeled or edited usually needs its own unwrap.

Here is a basic unwrap:

1. Open the UV Editing workspace, or press Tab to enter Edit Mode. All unwrapping happens in Edit Mode.
2. Select the edges where the surface should be cut, then choose Edge > Mark Seam. Seams work like cuts in an orange peel, so the surface can lie flat.
3. Press A to select everything.
4. Press U and choose an unwrap method. Blender 5.2 lists Unwrap Angle Based, Unwrap Conformal, and Unwrap Minimum Stretch.
5. Check the object. If the image is distorted, adjust the seams and unwrap again.

For a hard-surface object where you do not want to place seams by hand, try Smart UV Project or Cube Projection from the same menu. They are quicker, but they usually leave more cuts in the surface.

If an object looks stretched after an unwrap, we also check its scale. Press Ctrl + A and apply Scale, then unwrap again.

How to change the texture size in Blender

To make a texture repeat or change size, control its coordinates rather than editing the image.

1. Add a Texture Coordinate node and a Mapping node.
2. Connect UV on Texture Coordinate to Vector on Mapping.
3. Connect the Mapping Vector output to the Vector input on the Image Texture node.
4. Keep the Image Texture Extension set to Repeat.
5. Raise Scale X and Scale Y together.

Higher values make the texture smaller and repeat it more often. That can feel backwards at first. If you enable Node Wrangler, its Add Texture Setup shortcut, Ctrl + T, adds the Texture Coordinate and Mapping nodes for you.

Repeating only looks clean if the image is seamless. Our guides to tiling PBR textures in Blender and making a texture seamless cover what to do when you can see the repeat.

How to add a full PBR texture set in Blender

A single image only gives the object its color. A PBR material uses extra maps to control how the surface reacts to light.

Add one Image Texture node per map and connect them like this:

Wrong color space settings are easy to miss because the material can still look almost right. Our PBR texture color space guide explains why it matters. The Normal Map node is required because a normal map cannot go straight into the Normal input.

Doing this by hand once is worth it. After that, Node Wrangler's Principled Texture Setup can load and connect most of a set with Ctrl + Shift + T. It reads filenames to work out each map, so check the result. If you are unsure what to do with the height map, see normal map vs height map in Blender.

If you need a set to practice with, twirl's public wood, brick, and concrete materials download for free without an account. They come as separate albedo, normal, roughness, metallic, and height maps, so they work with the table above. twirl Connect for Blender can also import a material straight from the browser. It needs a twirl account and imports onto a sphere, so you would still apply the material to your own object.

How to stop textures going missing

Blender normally links to your image file instead of storing it in the .blend file. If you move or delete that image, Blender loses it. That is the usual cause of pink textures.

• To find moved files: choose File > External Data > Find Missing Files and pick the folder that holds them. Blender searches it recursively.
• To check for missing files: choose File > External Data > Report Missing Files.
• To keep images inside the .blend file: choose File > External Data > Pack Resources, then save. Packing takes effect on the next save, and the file will get larger.

We pack a file before sending it to someone else. For work in progress, we prefer a tidy project folder with textures beside the .blend file.

Common texture problems in Blender

FAQ: adding textures in Blender

How do I apply a texture to an object in Blender?

Create a material, add an Image Texture node, open your image, and connect Color to Base Color on the Principled BSDF. The object also needs usable UVs.

How do I add a texture to one face in Blender?

Add a second material slot and give it the textured material. In Edit Mode, select the face, choose that slot, and click Assign. The face still needs a sensible UV layout.

Why does my texture look wrong on one side of the object?

Usually the UVs. Look at that area in the UV Editor. If its UV island is squashed or overlapping, fix the seams and unwrap again. For a quick result on boxy shapes, the Image Texture node also has a Box projection, which the manual describes as common for architecture. Use it with Object or Generated coordinates from a Texture Coordinate node.

Does Blender support JPG and PNG textures?

Yes. Both work with the Image Texture node. PNG avoids JPG compression artifacts, which can matter on normal and height maps.

Do I need Node Wrangler to add a texture?

No. Every step above works with Blender's standard nodes. Node Wrangler ships with Blender but is off by default until you enable it in Preferences. It saves time once you are adding full PBR sets.

Sources

• Blender Manual: Image Texture Node
• Blender Manual: Using UV Maps
• Blender Manual: UV Operators
• Blender Manual: Seams
• Blender Manual: Viewport Shading
• Blender Manual: Packed Data
• Blender Manual: Node Wrangler