Spiral Graphics Inc. has released Genetica 2.5, a major new update to its flagship seamless texture editor. A freely downloadable demo version has also been made available.


With Genetica 2.5 digital artists can create grayscale effect maps that match their textures faster than ever. These effect maps can be used in any of the channels supported by popular 3D environments, such as bump, specular, reflection, luminance, and others. Rather than forcing artists to paint these channels by hand, Genetica 2.5 offers a time-saving procedural approach that guarantees all effect maps will be automatically updated as edits are made to the original texture. The professional edition of Genetica 2.5 allows artists to create normal maps with similar ease.


A number of noise patterns, such as the new circuitry generator, have been added to enable artists to quickly create many new patterns that would otherwise be hard to produce by hand. Significantly improved transparency support makes it much easier to create images that can be layered within the final environment, such as weathering maps and decals. At the touch of a button textures can now be rendered with or without baked highlights and shadows, depending on the level of optimization desired for each scene.

Genetica 2.5 is a free upgrade to all licensed users of Genetica 2, while new users are invited to try the program for 30 days. Genetica 2.5 can be downloaded here.


An illustrated guide to Genetica and its latest features can be found here.


Spiral Graphics Inc. is a software development firm based in Fort Collins, CO that creates innovative software tools for the computer graphics community. In addition to Genetica, Spiral Graphics is known for the Wood Workshop, a free texture editor that specializes in the creation of tiling wood textures. Additional information may be obtained by visiting www.spiralgraphics.biz.