Ever been deep in a texturing workflow and hit this loop?
- Edit your texture in Substance Painter (or Photoshop, or whatever)
- Export
- Switch back to Blender
- Open the Shader Editor
- Click the image node
- Hunt for the "Reload" button in the properties
- "Huh, it didn't update... oh right, there's another node"
- Repeat
Blender doesn't put a reload button directly in the Shader Editor or 3D Viewport — you have to go through the Image Editor. That one extra detour adds up fast when you're iterating on textures.
So I made an add-on that puts it in the right-click menu.
Easy Texture Reload
A Blender add-on that adds texture reload commands to the right-click menu in the Shader Editor and 3D Viewport.
What it does
In the Shader Editor:
- Right-click a texture node → reload just that texture (multi-select works)
- Right-click empty space → reload all textures in the active material
- Right-click empty space → reload all textures in the entire scene
In the 3D Viewport:
- Right-click an object → reload all its textures (multi-select works)
- Right-click empty space → reload all textures in the entire scene
Material-wide and scene-wide reloads show a confirmation prompt to prevent accidental refreshes.
When it comes in handy
Substance Painter → Blender iteration
The classic back-and-forth. Right-click and reload without leaving your current context.
Photoshop or other external editors
Same idea — make a change, flip to Blender, right-click, done.
Game asset work
High-frequency texture updates are exactly what this is built for.
Install
Same as any Blender add-on:
- Open Blender → Edit → Preferences → Add-ons
- Click "Install..." in the top right
- Select
easy_texture_reload.py - Enable it with the checkbox
Works with Blender 5.0+. Supports Japanese and English (follows Blender's language setting).
Download (Free)
Available for free on Booth:
👉 https://epartworks.booth.pm/items/8332907
Wrapping up
I'm planning to keep building small add-ons for things that feel like they should be in Blender by default but aren't.
If this was useful, a follow would make my day 😊