--- title: "Changelog — PBR Texture Generator Updates | PBR Forge" description: "Track every update to PBR Forge — new map types, 3D preview features, export improvements, and performance fixes for the browser-based PBR texture generator." url: https://www.pbrforge.com/changelog --- # PBR Forge Changelog Every new feature, improvement, and fix shipped to PBR Forge. [Subscribe via RSS](https://www.pbrforge.com/rss.xml) MAR 22, 2026 MAR 22, 2026 v0.5.2 ## Feedback Board & Bug Fixes Hey! It’s been a little while — I had to step away and focus on some other things for a bit. But I’m back, and I’ve got some updates for you. ### New - **Feedback board** — You can now suggest ideas and vote on what I should work on next. Head over to the [feedback page](https://www.pbrforge.com/feedback) to share your thoughts — I’m genuinely looking at every submission to decide what to prioritize - **Support & feedback modal** — There’s now a quick way to reach out with questions or report issues directly from the app ### Fixed - **Empty map exports** — Roughness, metallic, and emissive maps were sometimes exporting as blank images. That’s been fixed — all maps now export correctly every time - **Trackpad navigation hijack** — If you’re on a Mac, swiping on the trackpad was accidentally triggering browser back/forward navigation instead of interacting with the canvas. No more of that - **Canvas cursor** — The grab cursor now only shows up when you actually have an image loaded, and switches to a grabbing cursor while you’re panning around. Small thing, but it feels better :) FEB 17, 2026 FEB 17, 2026 v0.5.1 ## Wireframe Overlay & Stability Fixes The 3D wireframe toggle now overlays mesh edges on top of the textured surface instead of replacing it, plus stability improvements for resource cleanup and WebGL context recovery. ### Improved - **Wireframe overlay** — Wireframe renders as semi-transparent white lines over the fully textured mesh, so you can see how topology affects your texture (e.g. UV pinching at sphere poles) - **Displacement-aware wireframe** — The wireframe overlay follows displacement mapping at any scale, staying perfectly aligned with the displaced surface ### Fixed - **Memory management** — Images, textures, and background processes are now properly cleaned up when switching files or closing the app, reducing memory usage over long sessions - **Large texture exports** — Temporary resources used during chunked exports are now freed between tiles, preventing memory spikes when exporting high-resolution texture packs - **3D viewer recovery** — If your browser reclaims GPU resources (common on mobile or when switching tabs), the 3D preview now recovers automatically instead of going blank FEB 10, 2026 FEB 10, 2026 v0.5.0 ## Resizable Workspace & Quality Improvements Customize your workspace layout with drag-to-resize panels and improved rendering quality. ### New - **Drag-to-resize sidebars** — Resize the parameter sidebar and preview panel by dragging their edges to fit your workflow - **Preview sidebar** — Dedicated collapsible panel for 2D and 3D preview controls, separate from the main parameter sidebar - **Collapsible panels** — Sidebars collapse with smooth clip-path animations and can be toggled with a single click - **Auto-transparency** — Transparency in the 3D viewer toggles automatically based on whether your source image has alpha ### Improved - **Aspect ratio preservation** — 3D plane geometry now matches your source image’s aspect ratio for accurate material previews - **Deferred renderer activation** — UI transitions complete before the renderer activates, preventing visible layout jank on load - **Main thread yielding** — Long-running file operations yield to the browser between chunks, keeping the UI responsive during exports - **Export pipeline testing** — End-to-end and golden regression tests verify that exported PBR texture packs match expected output - **Control ordering** — Sidebar controls reordered by relevance: primary parameters first, shared dependencies last - **Tooltip placement** — Asset type tooltips moved onto the buttons themselves for a cleaner, more discoverable layout FEB 5, 2026 FEB 5, 2026 v0.4.0 ## 3D Lighting Controls & Mobile Redesign Full control over 3D preview lighting and a ground-up mobile interface redesign. ### New - **Procedural environment map** — Built-in environment map for physically accurate PBR reflections and specular highlights in the 3D viewer - **Light intensity slider** — Control the strength of the directional light in the 3D preview - **Ambient & environment intensity** — Separate sliders for ambient fill and environment map contribution - **Fill light** — Secondary light source to reduce harsh shadows in the 3D preview - **Normal preview intensity** — Adjust how strongly the normal map affects the lit 2D preview - **AO preview intensity** — Control ambient occlusion darkening strength in the preview - **Resolution toggle** — Switch between preview and full-resolution rendering with a single click ### Mobile - **4-tier bottom navigation** — Dedicated mobile layout with view tabs, parameter controls, and preview drawer accessible from the bottom of the screen - **Touch-optimized controls** — Larger tap targets, smooth-scrolling tabs, and swipe-friendly parameter panels - **Mobile preview drawer** — Toggle the 2D/3D preview from a persistent bottom button without losing your place in the controls ### Improved - **Selective map tracking** — The renderer now tracks which maps changed and only updates the 3D material textures that need refreshing - **3D light rotation** — Lights are attached to the camera so they rotate naturally as you orbit the 3D model JAN 29, 2026 JAN 29, 2026 v0.3.0 ## Smart Mode Detection & Stability Automatic sprite vs. texture detection and major WebGL stability improvements across browsers. ### New - **Smart mode detection** — PBR Forge analyzes your source image and automatically selects the optimal processing pipeline for sprites or photographic textures - **Inline error banners** — File and WebGL errors now display as contextual inline banners instead of transient toast notifications - **Light cursor feedback** — The canvas light cursor dynamically updates its size and color as you adjust light parameters ### Improved - **WebGL context recovery** — Automatic detection and graceful restoration after GPU context loss, with full re-render of all active maps - **Async GPU reads** — Pixel readback from the GPU uses fence-based asynchronous polling instead of blocking the main thread - **Safari compatibility** — Adjusted WebGL setup with `preserveDrawingBuffer` for correct rendering on Safari - **Color contrast** — Updated text colors across the interface for improved readability and WCAG compliance - **Critical CSS inlining** — Above-the-fold styles are inlined for faster first paint, with non-critical styles deferred JAN 22, 2026 JAN 22, 2026 v0.2.0 ## Tint Color & Workspace Redesign New tint color controls for diffuse map customization and a redesigned workspace layout. ### New - **Tint color adjustment** — Apply color tints to your source image for diffuse/albedo map customization, with a one-click reset button - **Collapsible right sidebar** — All surface, material, and lighting controls consolidated into a collapsible sidebar panel - **2D/3D preview toggle** — Switch between 2D map views and the 3D material preview directly from the canvas controls - **View tab scrolling** — Horizontal scroll support with mouse wheel and chevron buttons for navigating map view tabs ### Improved - **File validation** — Browser-native image format detection with clear error messages for unsupported file types - **Sidebar accessibility** — Keyboard navigation and focus-visible styles for sidebar buttons - **Viewport accessibility** — Removed `maximum-scale` restriction so users can zoom the page freely JAN 15, 2026 JAN 15, 2026 v0.1.0 ## Public Beta Launch PBR Forge is now available in public beta — a browser-based PBR texture generator powered by WebGL2. ### PBR Map Generation - **Normal map generation** — Convert any source image into accurate normal maps using GPU-accelerated Jump Flood Algorithm distance fields - **Ambient occlusion** — Generate AO maps with configurable intensity and smoothing to add depth to your materials - **Roughness & metallic maps** — Create roughness and metallic textures with blur, invert, and per-channel controls - **Emissive maps** — Define glow regions with threshold and intensity sliders - **Height maps** — Automatic height extraction from source images for displacement workflows - **Alpha-weighted smoothing** — Normal map smoothing clips to the original sprite alpha, preventing ghostly rims on transparent edges ### Real-Time 3D Preview - **Three.js integration** — Preview your PBR materials on plane, sphere, and cylinder meshes directly in the browser - **Lit 2D preview** — Interactive light positioning for quick normal map validation without switching to 3D ### Export & Workflow - **PBR texture pack export** — Download all generated maps as a single ZIP or export individual map channels - **Multi-file support** — Load and switch between multiple source images in one session - **Worker thread exports** — Large texture exports run off the main thread to keep the UI responsive - **Banding detection** — Automatic analysis of gradient-prone maps with user notifications when banding artifacts are detected ### Performance & Compatibility - **GPU-accelerated pipeline** — All map generation runs on WebGL2 compute shaders for instant feedback - **Incremental rendering** — Dirty flag system recomputes only the maps affected by parameter changes - **Mobile & tablet support** — Touch interactions for light positioning, zoom, and canvas navigation - **Android Chrome compatibility** — Offscreen canvas rendering and explicit attribute bindings for mobile WebGL edge cases - **Keyboard shortcuts** — Hotkeys for switching views, toggling help, and common actions --- _Markdown representation of [https://www.pbrforge.com/changelog](https://www.pbrforge.com/changelog). 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