Top Community Renders from May 18

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Every month we collect all the images post to ArtStation with the words "Textures from Poliigon.com" in the description, select our favourites and share them here.

Here's what we loved from May...

Created by Giorgi Abramia

Created by Magnus Skogsfjord

Created by Marc Tarrés

Created by Mark Creaghan

Created by Martin Kovacik

Created by Pablo Dobarro

Our Favourite:

Created by Antonis Tzortzis

Congrats Antonis! For this beautiful archiviz render, you've been awarded 12 months of Poliigon (Freelancer). 

How to win a year of Poliigon

Every month we roundup our favourite images and award the best image a free 12 months of Poliigon (Freelancer plan).

  1. Make something cool that uses at least 60% Poliigon textures
  2. Post it to ArtStation with the words "Textures from Poliigon.com" somewhere in the description
  3. Wait till the end of the month to see if you were one of our favourites

Big Texture Release!

Over the last 2 years we've been collecting your texture requests and quietly building them. Today we're pleased to release a big batch them.

So as per your request, here's what's now available in the library:

#1: Bamboo

We've had exactly 20 user requests for bamboo! Which makes sense, since it's extremely popular for asian inspired architecture, AND very hard to find online since so thin and difficult to capture.

So we created the last batch of bamboo textures you'll need: individual stalks and a pre-assembled wall. All seamless!

 

#2: Roofing

Another hotly requested texture has been roofing! Specifically, european styled slates. So we've built exactly that:

 

#3: Chainmail

This was a surprise to me, but evidently a LOT of artists have been wanting a chainmail texture for their medieval characters. So we've created 11 different chainmail types for bronze, steel and gold chainmail:

 

#4: Drywall

It's not the most exciting texture, but it's still in need! These 6 drywall textures are perfect for your next game level, environment art, or architecture:

 

#5: Packaging Materials

While most of our users make architecture and environments, there's been a growing amount of industrial/product designers joining the site. So we listened to their requests, and released 13 new materials: packing foam, styrofoam, cork and paper:

Styrofoam.jpg
Packing Foam.jpg

#6: More Photoscans

Photoscans are here to stay. For bumpy surfaces like trees and grounds, photoscans are your ticket to realism.

So we've just added 9 large surface scans for your next outdoor scene:

#7: Solar Panels

As the world moves to renewable energy sources, more architects are being asked to include solar panels in their visualizations. So we're happy to say we've got you covered!

Solar Panels.jpg

All seamless, and perfect for your next rooftop:

...and more.

These don't really fit into a specific category, but here they are:

  1. Rubber Mulch (for playgrounds and outdoor settings)
  2. Ice (for hockey and iced ponds)
  3. Beach wave foam
  4. Straw flooring (for barns)
Hockey Ice Scratched.jpg

The massive update is now live! Enjoy all the assets right now in the Poliigon Library.

Top Community Renders from April 18

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Every month we collect all the images post to ArtStation with the words "Textures from Poliigon.com" in the description, select our favourites and share them here.

Here's what we loved from April...

Created by Juan Pablo Orrego Contador

Created by David Baylis

Created by Javier Salcedo

Created by Joshua Nwambe

Created by Calvin Ng

Created by Lee Souder

Created by Pawel Pecherzewski

Created by James Benson

Created by Lewis Marks

Created by Mike Swanston

Our Favourite... 

Created by Ninjason Chan

Phenomenal! Love that pose. We don't get many characters made with our textures, but they're always welcome! For his hard work Ninjason has one himself 12-months of Poliigon!

How to Win a Year of Poliigon

Every month we roundup our favourite images and award the best image a free 12 months of Poliigon (Freelancer plan).

  1. Make something cool that uses at least 60% Poliigon textures
  2. Post it to ArtStation with the words "Textures from Poliigon.com" somewhere in the description
  3. Wait till the end of the month to see if you were one of our favourites

 

Top Community Renders From March 2018

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Every month we do a roundup of the best renders from the community, so here's March 2018! They were all found on ArtStation with "Textures from Poliigon.com" in the description.

Let's dive in...

Created by Bohdan Kryvetskyy, using the Grunge and Nature textures.

Created by Martin Wahlberg, using the Wood and Concrete textures.

Created by George Turmanidze, using the Wood and Fabric textures.

Created by Martin Kovacik, using the Concrete and Grunge textures.

Created by Helmy Ardiansyah, using the Rock and Wood textures.

Created by Vic Nguyen, using the Wood and Concrete textures.

And the Render of the Month is...

Created by Daniel Diaz Del Castillo, using the Wood and Fabric textures.

Gooooorgeous scene! Absolutely flawless. As Render of the Month, Daniel has received a free 12-months of Poliigon Freelancer! 

How to win next month:

We award a year of Poliigon to the best render every month. Here's how to enter:

  1. Make an awesome image that uses at least 60% Poliigon textures
  2. Post it to ArtStation with the words "Textures from Poliigon.com" somewhere in the description
  3. Wait till the end of the month to see if you were featured here. Best render wins the prize!

Anyone can win, (yes even trial users)!

Top Community Renders From January 2018

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We love seeing what the Poliigon community makes. Which is why every month we do a roundup of the best renders made using our textures.

Here's our favourite renders from January, posted to ArtStation with the words "Textures from Poliigon.com" somewhere in the description.

Created by Roman Kolyada, using the Concrete and Sky HDR textures.

Created by George Turmanidze, using the Marble and Metal textures.

Created by Serge Rodionov, using the Bricks and Fabric textures.

Created by Mateusz Wielgus, using the Metal and Surface Imperfection textures.

Created by .nul ., using the Grunge and Concrete textures.

Small note: If this was a photorealism competition, you would definitely win! Really well done :)

Created by Janus Larsen, using the Manmade and Concrete textures.

Created by Adam Radziszewski, using the Tiles and Grunge textures.

And the Render of the Month is...

Created by Daniel Diaz Del Castillo, using the Wood and Fabric textures.

Gorgeous interior! I love the choice of using natural materials like wood and marble to make the interior feel inviting. Really great job.

As Render of the Month, Daniel, you've been awarded 12-month plan of Poliigon Freelancer!

A chance to win every month:

We award a year of Poliigon to the best render of every month. Here's how to enter:

  1. Make an awesome image that uses at least 60% Poliigon textures
  2. Post it to ArtStation with the words "Textures from Poliigon.com" somewhere in the description
  3. Wait till the end of the month to see if you were featured here. Best render wins the prize!

Anyone can win, (yes even trial users)!

Welcome to the new Poliigon!

We've been teasing a "new website" for months. And while it took way longer than expected, we're happy to say it's finally here! Visit Poliigon to check it out.

Here's some of the highlights...

Faster speeds!

The most notable change is a site-wide speed improvement. While the previous site was sluggish, the new Poliigon has a completely rewritten backend optimized for faster loadtimes!

At times you can expect loadtime improvements of up to 92%!

Try it out in the gallery.

On-Demand Credits

By far the biggest feature request from users of Poliigon is On-Demand credits, and we're pleased to say that it's here!

For casual artists that only need a handful of textures every once in a while, you can now choose from a selection of credits packs.

And best of all, they never expire!

Credit Rollover

Another heavily requested feature: not losing the credits you don't use.

We're pleased to present credit rollovers for every plan:

  • Hobby: 1-month rollover
  • Freelance and Production: 3-month rollover

To hang on to your unused rollover credits, all you need is an active subscription.

Download Cart

When you're building a 3d scene, you often need to look through hundreds of possible materials. Which is why many users requested a way to save the materials they're interested in, in a cart system.

Now when viewing a texture, you'll see two buttons: Add to Download Cart or Download Immediately.

Clicking the Add-to-Download-Cart button will save your download to your cart (which you can view by clicking the cart icon in the top right corner of your screen). There you can see every texture selected and remove them if needed.

We're hoping this will make your texture browsing experience better :)

Select your maps to Download

Previously on Poliigon if you only wanted to download only three of seven maps, you had to download them separately.

But its much easier now thanks to a system that lets you choose the maps you want, at the resolution you want, downloaded in one zip:

Own them forever

This one is more of a UI improvement, because you could actually re-download your textures for free on the old site, but it wasn't stated anywhere.

So we want to make it crystal clear: when you download it, you own it and can re-download it anytime for free!

There's now a section in the sidebar called "Already Purchased" which takes you to the previously downloaded textures.

my downloads.jpg

Note: In future clicking the sidebar link will display the items in the search results to make it easier.

Paypal support

paypal-logo.png

When we launched Poliigon, we wrongly assumed that credit card support would be enough. But we quickly discovered that Paypal was the only option for many countries and age groups. That and some people just prefer it! 

So we're happy to say that we finally support Paypal! :D If you want to change your billing details to Paypal, you can do so in your Billing Info settings.

Category sidebar

Browsing the old site was surprisingly frustrating, so we've added a permanent sidebar that shows you where you are in the library:

sidebar.jpg

A future update will add sub-categories, an asset counter, and a library homepage (similar to the old site).

From everyone here at Poliigon, we hope you find the new site easier and faster to use! If you have any questions, feel free to email us at support@poliigon.com.

What's your favorite new feature? Do you have a request that wasn't included here? Let us know in the comments!

Looking back on 2017 - What went well, and what we want to improve

Reflection is a crucial part of growth and improvement. Because without it, you can carry on making the same mistakes, or missing the triumphs that helped you the most.

So I'm doing a public recap of Poliigon's first full year in business: 2017! There were some things that went well, and others that did not. So let's take a look...

The user base grew by nearly 500%!

User Growth 2017.png

This was a pleasant surprise!

At the start of the year we had just 800 users, and our ambitious goal for 2017 was to reach 2,500 users. But with 2017 now over, we have nearly 1,000 more users than anticipated: 3,415!

These numbers matter, because it means we can afford to hire more artists and photographers to increase the amount of assets in 2018! Woo!

 

The new site took waaaaaay longer to finish than expected. Whoops.

A sneak peak of the new site layout. Looks similar to the current, but has a lot more functionality.

A sneak peak of the new site layout. Looks similar to the current, but has a lot more functionality.

We realized at the start of the year, that these 4 features were heavily requested by users:

  • On-demand credits
  • Credit Rollover
  • Paypal support
  • Bulk downloading

And while these might sound easy to build, we discovered that the site wasn't built properly from the start to support them. So we needed to do a complete rewrite of the backend to support it.

We originally estimated this would take only a few months to complete. But we vastily underestimated it's complexity. Our web developers ran into more and more problems as they went, and as of the time of writing this, it's still not live - thanks to one last problem: Braintree not yet setup correctly.

Another contributor for the delay was that the scope gradually increased as it went. Because as it was being built we thought of extra functionality we needed, which prolonged the release date and sometimes required a re-do of existing work.

We don't expect to undertake web development of this size again, but if we do require any more big site developments updates, we want to release it in smaller increments on a more frequent basis.

 

The high quality of community artwork!

Every month we feature the best community artworks. And one thing we've noticed steadily increasing is the quality of community artworks!

Here are some of our favourite renders from the Poliigon community in 2017:

Seeing these artworks is a serious motivational boost for our team. So thank you to everyone who posted their artwork on Artstation! We hope we can see more of your wonderful renders in 2018 :)

 

Our documentation needs improving

We spent most of the year trying to improve the library, that we didn't stop to consider how many users don't know how to use them!

This was a lesson we learned late: while some artists already know how to use GLOSS or DISP maps in their software, many don't! While we have documentation pages for each software, after a close inspection we realised it should be a lot easier to follow.

Since the mission of Poliigon is to help you make better artwork, in 2018 we're working to improve the how-to videos and documentation, so that anyone from any software, can create great results in minutes. 

 

The monthly releases were a big hit!

Instead of releasing random assets silently in the background, in 2017 we decided to try "monthly releases" which are a group of assets related to a single theme.

And they were a big hit! We successfully pushed out 12 releases for each month of 2017:

And for most releases we included a youtube video, and some of them went viral!

The Street Release video got 188,000 views:

But the most popular of all was the metal release video, which got 695,000 views!

 

No scene breakdowns... yet

We initially thought that artists would come to Poliigon when they already had a scene in mind. Like 'I'm making a city scene, so I'll come to Poliigon for roads'.

And while that's common, we've also discovered that oftentimes you need a boost of inspiration to show what is possible.

So something you'll see more in 2018 are Scene Breakdown videos. We don't have any to show you yet, but we hope to show the first in January. Stay tuned!

 

What's in store for 2018...

Now that you know the highs and lows of last year, I want to show you something we've been working on in the background for many months: models.

Here's a sneak peek at the first release: interior models.

A soft ETA for the model platform is Q2 of 2018.

There's a few more surprises we hope to deliver this year, but for now that's all. Thanks for a great 2017 Poliigon users!

What can we improve on in 2018? Let us know in the comments!

Christmas Competition 2017 Results

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Since announcing the competition a month ago, 24 artists entered into this holiday themed competition. Here's who won!

3rd Place - Morgan Grandjean

Cute model! Love the turntable you included too. A very traditional old timey take on Christmas! For your hard efforts you've been awarded 6-months of Poliigon Lite!

 

2nd Place - Thomas Berard

Gorgeous! The amount of work that went into this scene is evident in your included progression gif. I also like that you went beyond the usual Christmas themes of lights and snow (not that there's anything wrong with that!) and tried to make something new.

For your hard work you've been awarded 6-months of Poliigon Gold!

 

1st Place - Tomas Madr

Congratulations Tomas! Everything from the aesthetics, story and technical skills are  spot on. All throughout the scene you can spot signs of attention to detail: from the frills on the girl's dress, to the accurate folds on the paper. A well earned first place!

For your hard effort you've been awarded the Grand Prize of 12-months of Poliigon Gold.

Thank you to everyone who entered into any of the competitions this year! Seeing the community renders has actually been a big source of inspiration for our asset team, as it's encouraging to see artists using them. So thank you!

Look forward to seeing what you make in 2018! :)

New HDRs

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It was the 2009 short, The Third and the Seventh that made me sit up and pay attention to photorealism. While I'd always known it was a "thing", I never knew it could be used so artistically.

So in an attempt to learn Alex Roman's wizardry, I purchased his book From Bits to Lens, which had a tip that I've never forgotten: "90% of the work of photorealism is the materials and lighting." (paraphrasing).

This put it into terms I could understand. If you forget all the rest of the complexity of 3D, and just focus on the materials and lighting, you're almost there.

While materials are hard to get right, lighting is easy in comparison. You just need to use HDRs.

HDRs are a godsend for rendering as they're a full 360 degree capture of real lighting and reflections, instantly transported to your scene.

Very little setup and perfect results. What's not to love?

While Poliigon has had HDRs for a while, we've just expanded it to include 32 skies and 18 environments (50 new in total).

32 New Sky HDRs

Forget ever needing to download a cloud image for a backdrop, fiddle with sky settings or and sun lamps. Just drop one of these HDRs into your scene and you've got accurate lighting and reflections in an instant.

Not only that, but when you've got a library of HDRs they become a fast way to test out different lighting setups.

Here's an example of how 9 different HDRs affect the mood and lighting of your scene:

18 New Environment HDRs

Environment HDRs are a new sub-category for Poliigon.

While Sky HDRs are useful for scene rendering, Environment HDRs are great for standalone model renders. It gives you photorealistic lighting, backgrounds and reflections with almost zero effort.

Environment HDRs are also great for testing out materials. Because part of creating good materials is accurate lighting and reflections, which usually requires you to put it in a scene. But with an environment HDR, you just load it in and it's done.

No added rendertime, but perfect lighting and reflections:

Hope you use them to create some rad renders!

Merry Christmas from the team at Poliigon! Can't wait to show what's in store for the new year ;)

Top Community Renders From November 2017

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Another month down, another month to look back on the community artworks of the past month!

Here's the monthly roundup of our favourite artworks posted to ArtStation, citing Poliigon for it's textures:

Created by Łukasz Gąska, using Fabric and Grunge textures.

Created by Daniel Diaz Del Castillo, using Tile and Concrete textures.

Created by Martin Edlund, using Wood and Fabric textures.

Created by Mateusz Feliks, using the Wood and Metal textures.

Created by Helmy Ardiansyah, using the Bricks and Tiles texture.

And the Render of the Month is...

Created by Armando Tello, using the Wood and Grunge textures.

Not only an original concept for a render, but also colorful and eye grabbing. Love that attention to detail too! You can even see paint brush strokes on the egg :)

For being the Render of the Month, Armando has been awarded 12-months of Poliigon Gold!

We pick a new winner at the end of every month. Here's how to win:

  1. Make an awesome image that uses at least 60% Poliigon textures
  2. Post it to ArtStation with the words "Textures from Poliigon.com" somewhere in the description
  3. Wait till the end of the month to see the results

The best image of the month will win a year of Poliigon Gold subscription!

Anyone can win, (yes even trial users)!

2017 Christmas Competition

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It’s the end of the year and the holidays are almost here. Which means (besides hanging out and eating way too much with friends and family) we're having a Christmas Themed Contest!

Created by Daniel Garza

Created by Daniel Garza

Theme: Christmas

Create any render related to the theme of Christmas. That could be a stuffed stocking, a snowy cabin covered in lights, Santa Claus flying through the night sky, whatever it means to you show us!

Inspiration

Criteria for Judging

Entries will be judged by me on the following criteria:

  1. Aesthetics
  2. Storytelling
  3. Technical

To increase your chances of winning, aim for all three!

Created by Guilherme Henrique

Prizes

First Prize

Second Prize

Third Prize

 

     

    Guidelines

    • You can use any 3D software or renderer
    • This is an image only contest (no animations sorry)
    • Only one entry per person
    • Minor post processing in Photoshop or other 2D editor is allowed
    • Minimum size is 1920px wide but the bigger the better (any aspect ratio is fine)
    • Your entry must be a new creation, not an existing project
    • It must be mostly your work. Bought or third-party models are allowed but mustn't make up more than 20% of the screen space.
    • Photographic elements are allowed, but it should be mostly 3D (sky backgrounds are okay)
    • Your entry must in some way relate to the theme
    Created by Daniel Vesterbæk Jensen

    Created by Daniel Vesterbæk Jensen

    4 Reasons to Enter:

    1. There's a clear deadline so you know you won't be working on this forever!
    2. Working around constraints of a theme can help you to think creatively
    3. Competing alongside other artists is a great way to stay motivated and do your best
    4. Your entry will be seen by thousands of daily visitors, increasing your online exposure!

    How to Enter

    Just post your finished artwork to ArtStation with the tag #PoliigonChristmas2017, before 20th December 2017 11:59pm GMT.

    May the best artist win :)

    New Environment Textures

    Making 3D environments is fun. But there's one part that isn't fun: hunting for the right material!

    So we've updated our library with some new materials to make rendering environments easier.

    First up, let's talk about something that's been missing from every material library...

    New Lava Materials!

    Don't tell me you've never wanted to make a scene like this:

    As cliche as that scene looks, unless you're good at Substance, matte painting or helicoptering over volcanoes, you previously couldn't make it! Coz up until now, there weren't any realistic lava materials online (that we know of).

    So we created a collection of lava materials that were desperately needed in the 3D industry:

    More Sand Materials

    Yes, it's coarse and it does get everywhere, but it's a staple for environment building! Whether it's a beach, an island, or a desert - you need high quality, tileable sand. And while we already have a sand collection, we've added some sand types that were previously missing from our library.

    We've captured sand types that are necessary for 3D environments, but difficult to find online, like desert rippled sand (an internet first afaik!), plain clean sand, footprints, basic beach ruffage and shoreline sand.

    Get yer sand on!

    ^created with the new Sand Ripple texture.

    New Large-Scale Grass Captures

    This is one I'm super excited about!

    When you're making a wide-open scene with grass that stretches for kilometres, a 1x1 meter grass texture just doesn't cut it (pun intended). Because when you tile something 2000 times, even the worlds best seamless textures will look horribly tiled.

    So we created something that we've wanted for years, but we couldn't find anywhere... LARGE-SCALE GRASS CAPTURES

    We've provided them in three common grass types, green, patchy and brown, so that you can easily painted over each other (like the image above) to make some gorgeous landscapes.

    Minor note: but we've also added a new astroturf grass type for those needing that authentic "I-don't-like-mowing-my-lawn" homeowner look ;)

    New Photoscanned Snow

    While we had a snow section already, we wanted that sweet, sweet height detail that comes with photoscanning.

    So we're pleased to announce 12 new photoscanned snow materials:

    And on more minor note, we've had dozens of requests for trunk and wood ends, so we've updated the library with those too.

    Hope you enjoy the new library additions!

    What texture set would you like to see added to Poliigon in the future? Let us know in the comments below!

    Results of the Halloween 2017 Contest

    Our first ever themed competition was aptly set to Halloween, and what a treat it was!

    First up let's look at the honorable mentions, then the winners...

    Honorable Mentions

    by John Mattson using Blender

    Seriously creepy! I had to read the comments to discover the girl was a photo, but it was blended perfectly with the CG background. Great work!

     

    by William Paré-Jobin using Zbrush

    Look at that detail! There's no story to this render, but as a standalone character render it's great. Really fantastic sculpting work!

     

    By Chelsea Vera using 3dsmax and Vray

    Now that's a complex scene! I love how much effort you put into texturing everything and building out the scene. The composition is a little conflicted, but other than it's fantastic. Well done Chelsea!

     

    3rd Prize

    By Eric Tualle using 3dsmax and Octane

    Whoa! Getting some serious Stranger Things vibes from this, and that's a good thing! Detail wise it's simple, but the composition and lighting makes it super effective. Really well done Eric!

     

    2nd Prize

    By Rachel Frick using Blender

    At first glance this render looks quite simple, but at full-size you can appreciate the details in both the foreground and that "surprising" background! Really great scene and well deserving of 2nd place!

     

    1st Prize

    by Ramon Scortanu using Blender

    What a stunning environment! It's easily readable, detailed and well textured. I love that you combined two IPs to create something new as well (The Shining with HP Lovecraft). This is well deserving of first prize. Well done!

    To everyone else that entered, thank you for your hard work! It was a pleasure - and a little unsettling - to see all of your images. Hope to see you in future competitions!

    October Poliigon Community Contest

    For the month of October, we're having our first ever spooky themed competition!

    by Nicolas Pichon

    by Nicolas Pichon

    Theme: Halloween

    Create any image related to the theme of Halloween.

    Maybe it's a dark forest where a terrifying creature prepares to hunt you down. Or an abandoned cemetery home to a ghost. Or a creepy laboratory that hosted an experiment gone wrong! Whatever "halloween" means to you, do it!

     

    Inspiration

    Tips for winning

    1. Avoid the pumpkin cliche! It's overused and not very scary :P
    2. Create an image with a story. Even something simple is better than nothing!
    3. Study horror films to see how they used lighting to create suspense.

     

    Prizes

    First Prize (worth $545)

    1. 12-month subscription to Poliigon Gold
    2. Apple Watch 3

    Second Prize (worth $216)

    1. 12-month subscription to Poliigon Gold

    Third Prize ($144)

    1. 12-month subscription to Poliigon Lite

     

    Guidelines

    • You can use any 3D software you like
    • This is an image only contest (no animations sorry)
    • 60% of the textures must come from Poliigon
    • Only one entry per person
    • Painting programs like Substance Designer/Painter are allowed.
    • Minimum image size is 1920px wide but the bigger the better (any aspect ratio is fine)
    • Your entry must be a new creation, not an existing project
    • Bought or third-party models are allowed so long as they don't take up more than 20% of the image
    • Photographic elements are allowed, but it should be mostly 3D (eg. sky backgrounds are okay)
    • Your entry must in some way relate to the theme

     

    Criteria for Judging

    Entries will be judged by me on the following criteria:

    1. Aesthetics
    2. Storytelling
    3. Impact

    To increase your chances of winning, aim for all three!

    by Dmitry Kremiansky

    by Dmitry Kremiansky

    4 Reasons to Enter:

    1. There's a clear deadline so you know you won't be working on this forever!
    2. Working around constraints of a theme can help you to think creatively
    3. Competing alongside other artists is a great way to stay motivated and do your best
    4. Your entry will be seen by thousands of daily visitors, increasing your online exposure!

     

    How to Enter

    Post your finished artwork to ArtStation with the tag #PoliigonHalloween, before 27th October 2017 11:59pm GMT.

    May the best artist win!

    New Industrial Materials Collection

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    Whether you realize it or not, your architectural renders are telling a story. A story about the people who live in the building, what they use it for and the history of the space. 

    Experienced architects know that an effective way to tell their story is through the choice of materials. As a concrete facade sends a totally different message than wood or steel.

    This is why we've worked diligently to create a new set of 67 industrial material. Brick, metal panels, steel, quartz, concrete, rust and more.

    We look forward to seeing what you make with them!

    Be sure to tag #Poliigon when you post it to ArtStation so we can find it! :)