bake question

[ed_the_atom]

I haven't got the time to look through info.

I had this image perfect with materials and some texture....it is all changed now....as I tried to resurrect my lighting and material settings, which I had BAKED into their respective layers..........THE BAKING DID NOT HOLD.............
Is this because I had the contrast set in the adjustments menu?

If this is the norm for baking.....that's me finished with materials in layers.

the ruined pic......I gave up on it after the destruction caused when I tried to fix the b thing. It was nothing great but I had the materials where I wanted them.


http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/uploaded_from_zbc/200303/user_image-1046870034vaw.jpg

[Frenchy Pilou]

Hi Ed
<I think that "bake" don't authorize the take back :(>
Maybe I am wrong i Shall go verify !
So the solution is before any baking to save the document !
<Alas it's to late for you !>
Pilou After verification you Can make an Undo :) :)
I was wrong ! Cameyo say the same :)
I have confuse with the delete layer !

[cameyo]

Sorry Frenchy,
with my version of Z i can Undo the Bake operation... ;)
To see this:
1) Draw something with different materials
2) Bake Layer
3) Now click on "current material" icon and drag over image...you see (select) only one material: Flat Material (this is what happen when you bake layer).
4) Press Ctrl-Z (Undo Bake)
5) Now click on "current material" icon and drag over image...you see (select) the materials used in step 1)

cameyo

p.s. i can't solve the Ed's problem :(

[boozy floozie]

Did you make sure you turned off layers you didn't want baked? i.e baking one layer at a time with the others switched to off.

Pilou has a good point suggesting to save or save a copy before baking. Baking and or merging layers can be a tricky business.

[aurick]

Render adjustments are not baked. Everything else, however, should be.

You can tell that the layer has been baked by looking at the layer thumbnail. It only shows unshaded color. So in an unbaked layer, it will be rather bland while in a baked layer it will show all of the color variation.

The only way to undo baking is with Edit>Document Undo. You can also paint all-new materials onto the layer with Draw>M active -- this has the effect of letting you blend materials in some interesting ways.

[ed_the_atom]

Thanks for the advice people.

yup forgot about saving Frenchy....

The flooze......good advice, never thought of that.

Cameyo....thanks

Aurick....thanks....good info.

However after about 3hours more playing
about with materials.......I will never be trying them again on layers...or anywhere else much for that matter.
Nothing wants to work properly.......and a time waster.

witness this mess below....sorry about gamma darkness but it hides the mess...

I should say that the model doesn't help matters..it was a practice pic for materials.....

http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/uploaded_from_zbc/200303/user_image-1046951581gfu.jpg

[Mentat7]

Mess or not Ed it still looks cool and the ability of the artist is clearly evident! :tu:

[aurick]

Hi Ed,

I think that part of your difficulties and disappointment with materials could come from a fundamental misconception of just what materials do.

In the simplest terms, materials take a basic color (called Unshaded RGB) and then use the rendering engine to influence it in a variety of unique ways and create the colors that you actually see on the screen. These colors are called Shaded RGB. However, even though you see all the color variation, the truth is that you still have just the original color lurking beneath. You can see this in the layer thumbnail, or be dragging the color selection box out onto the canvas to create a picker. As the picker moves across the shaded colors, you'll see that the color box stays at one single color -- the base color.

Now, this is awesome when you're looking at the image, but not exactly what you want when you start using the 2D editing brushes. Those brushes ignore the shaded RGB values and instead work on the unshaded colors.

Here's an example:

Choose a red color, one of the Noise Pattern materials, and draw a sphere on the canvas. Now use the Smudge brush with ZADD turned off. Smudge around the center of the sphere. Nothing happens. This is because the Smudge brush is smudging the unshaded color -- the sphere's base color of red. Red smudged together with red is still red, and you don't see any effect. Now press Ctrl+B to bake the layer. This converts the unshaded colors to shaded colors. Now the Smudge brush will see a lot of different colors on the sphere and when you smudge it around you'll get the results that you'd logically expect.

The down side is that if you use the default Bake Blend setting of 100, the new colors become impervious to shadows. So it's wise to set up your lighting before you bake the layer.

Materials are a very, very powerful part of ZBrush. Understanding the difference between shaded and unshaded RBG -- and how to get one out of the other -- is key to tapping into the full power of materials (and ZBrush's rendering engine along with them)!

Hope that helps!

[Frenchy Pilou]

A new Aurick's post to check !
Pilou

[ed_the_atom]

Thanks Aurick.......
I was probably a tad hasty, and frustrated with it all.......as time at present is rather limited for zbrush and me.

Had a look at it all again....and am a lot happier...

here is a couple of quick experiments.......while not overly endowed with materials......they do show a use for them....

PRACTICE PICS>>>>>>>as such rough......

http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/uploaded_from_zbc/200303/user_image-1046997549ngz.jpg http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/uploaded_from_zbc/200303/user_image-1046997762mii.jpg


http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/uploaded_from_zbc/200303/user_image-1047001338kss.jpg

[rhom]

rough or not the two bottom ones are excellent.
edit:three

[Rafael Hernandez]

Very Expressive Ed. You should definately explore more in this direction. Very good.

[ed_the_atom]

thanks fellas.....I'm havin' fun now..

I have hair all worked out now using materials........and I know I can achieve photorealism with my portaits. Plus I have found all the joys of layers, alpha brushes, rendering.....never used them much before.

Below is the hair epiphany.......never finished the hair cos there was no need to.....what you see there took all of five minutes....ahhh lovin' it!
edit,,,,,,,jpeg destroyed a lot of it.
http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/uploaded_from_zbc/200303/user_image-1047017791tzj.jpg