Originally posted by IAN_:

paintNET

[] Adobe Substance 3D Painter: Tbh, this is the GOAT. Like, legit the industry standard now. It's insane for making textures look real—think wear and tear, scratches, all that good stuff—'cause it uses PBR, which is the same system CS2 runs on. If you want your skins to look like they actually belong in the game and react to light properly, this is the one.[] Photoshop: The OG. Still a total beast, especially if you're doing more graphic-design type skins, like cool drawings or 2D patterns. A ton of people sketch out their ideas in PS and then just yeet 'em into Substance Painter to add all the realistic material deets.

• Blender: It's the best free tool out there and it's crazy powerful. You're not gonna model the gun from scratch or anything (Valve gives you the model, lol), but you'll use Blender to check out the gun, look at the UV map (basically the 2D layout you paint on), and see how your texture is looking on the 3D model as you go.

[] Grab the gun model files from Valve.[] Use a 3D program like Blender to see the model and its UV map.[] Make your texture in Substance Painter or Photoshop, using the UV map as your guide.[] Slap the texture onto the 3D model to see how it looks.
• Use the CS2 Workshop Tools in-game to compile your skin and see how it actually looks with the game's lighting and everything. It's the final vibe check.

[] If you're sticking with Photoshop, there are some 3D plugins that can help, but honestly, the modern way is just bouncing between your 2D and 3D programs.[] The Workshop community is your best friend, fr. There are so many tutorials on YouTube and guides on Steam that walk you through this stuff. Just searching for "CS2 Skin Tutorial Substance Painter" will get you started.