Umm help with materials

[Reyd]

ok, this is just pissing me off, but I had worked for 2 hours on a picture, making a textured/coloured wall that was made of two layers including a transparent one. then I baked both layers, switched into a third layer and made a floor and so on. I switched back to the second layer and it changed the material!!!!!!!!!!and then i (being dumb) clicked the first layer, so it switched too. but I cannot get them to switch back, even by going to the third layer, choosing new mat, then switching back, any idea why?
and how i can fix it?
or prevent it

[Zoid]

When you bake layers like that, try unchecking the 'flatten layers' button in the render panel first so that you can bake the layers individually.

I remember something about baking and transparency being a problem in older versions of ZBrush, but I thought that went away. I'm going to check that out again.

[Reyd]

transperancy is not the problem, and i have flatten layers off, but randomly it seems, it applies the material to whatever layer I click, not always, which makes it even more frustrating.

[ed_the_atom]

I have encountered similar.......my work around....

If indeed it is a work around

Select layer select material select simple brush select M, rgb intensity 0, z intensity 0 then paint over the entire layer.

[Reyd]

that sorta works, but it seems to mess up my texture, any idea why it does that? like why doesnt it keep changing materials, or not change em at all? also if I have the same material set, nothing happens, but when i change it, then it changes, and only once[/LIST]

[Frenchy Pilou]

Hi reyd
For prevent any malfunction save your work before any complicated manipulation !
It's rustic but efficient :)
Pilou

[aurick]

I would need to see your document or some examples to have a better idea of what is happening. In cases like this, saving a ZScript of your session would be a big help.

[vincentducos]

I would say you selected another material for the floor, that was applied to your object in first layer when you switched beck to it. I often forget that material slots are like assigned to the painting. Replace (load) a material in a slot that contains a material used in your scene will replace every occurence of this material in your scene. So, I keep in mind to select a new unused material slot whenever I want to load a new one, and to deactivate any layer I want to see unchanged when I apply materials to other objects.
Anyway, I take the occasion to tell the crew that layers in Z are very confusing to me. I think the whole deal could be greatly improved by adding a "lock layer" function (no bake) and a few more things. It can gain a lot in useability, me believe.