If you're having trouble getting the ball rolling, we recommend troubleshooting with this walkthrough.

If you're just getting started, the lingo is all laid out for you here. One other awesome resource that it provides Blender beginners are these concise and helpful AmbientCG Asset Creation Tutorials documenting the best way to bring these textures to life on your own turf. Many also offer environmental or atmospheric variations, as well-different color choices, varying levels of foliage coverage and health, and even asset suggestions for a more realistic final render all help you make each texture download your own. If you didn't already know, you can also use Sketchfab as an artistic reference. You can examine each selection in excruciating detail, all contained within this in-browser 3D viewport. Something unique that you'll find on every texture's description page is a handy little widget, sponsored by none other than Sketchfab. The same goes for any of the other texture downloads on this list.

These photorealistic textures can be used in any 3D software, too, not just Blender itself. Price is a Blender prodigy in his own right, so nothing that you find on his site will be second-rate by any stretch of the imagination. To make it even easier, there now exists a Blender addon for Poliigon which allows you to browse and download textures straight from Blender without ever having to leave the software.

While much of what Poliigon offers is unfortunately not free, there are still plenty of textures, models, HDRIs, and brushes that you can try in your own work without handing over a dime. The Poliigon site acts as an asset resource for 3D artists, and everything that you'll find on it comes directly from Andrew and his team.

If you're a fan, you've likely heard him mention his own pet brand, Poliigon. Only a very special type of curmudgeon can claim to hate Andrew Price, the energetic personality behind the hugely-popular Blender Guru YouTube channel.

Free blender file