Texture Nodes like Substance Designer
There is Geometry Nodes and Simulation Nodes... Could we imagine Texture Nodes ? Literally like an open source Substance Designer, in a new panel of Blender. This could complete and extend the texturing process like the geometry nodes are for modifiers.
Each procedural texturing node having an embedded visual preview.
With the possibility of exporting the texture (or texture set) so we could use the tool only for preparing and saving the textures then import them into the classic Shading panel (or external software) as regular Texture objects, or plug the texture graph node directly (could be a choice).
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The texture node editor can do this, but you have to access them as textures rather than image datablocks. You can use them for sculpting though in the form of masks etc, and also in the compositor. I don't know how well the texture node editor works currently. It used to work well.
Perhaps textures can be brought into the shader editor too? I've never tried that, but if so you could bring the image texture into the texture editor, modify it with nodes, then bring it into the shader node editor with a 'texture node' set to use your texture.
Texture node can be use in Geometry Node, by use special texture grid data socket which contains float or color in 2d array. Old Texture node editor will be removed.
The texture grid can be sample Field data from geometry attributes or noise generator nodes. Each texture node have own baked processed data Automatically, embedded visual preview like Shader node preview.
The texture grid nodes output need to have "Set Shader Data" have set of bundle of shader layers to send texture data to Shader Node editor.
The texture grid nodes can be transfer to Geometry by setting displacement by projection of texture height map etc.
I really want to learn GN lately because I have seen people do amazing things with it for texturing, like a 2d mesh projection to another 3d object using UV that allows to 'paint' the 2d object in 3d view and the result is mapped to the 3d object - but it uses the 3d flat objects as masks in the UV space. GN groups on each object, amazing stuff. youtu.be/BVQfBpiUTMg
"Texture node can be use in Geometry Node, by use special texture grid data socket which contains float or color in 2d array."
I'm quite familiar with geometry nodes, but I heave no idea what you are refering to.
There is a "Grid" node which is a mesh primitive node. There are multiple different Texture nodes which can be used in many applications for manipulation of geometry, it's attributes and such.
Unless you are talking about some add-on, afaik there is no such thing as "texture grid data socket" in Blender's geometry nodes editor.
What is the source for this info: "Old Texture node editor will be removed." Texture node editor in Blender seems quite neglected but I haven't heard of plans for it being removed so I'd like to read up more about it if you can point me at your source of information.