Not yet painting with Scuptris

[Ocumaro]

Hello,

I received two answers for my first request for help
under my first thread titled "Painting with Sculptris".

Both answers came with attached videos. I am so
sorry, but my problem is regrettably not solved yet.

Even though I try to stay awake with open eyes,
I must admit that I have semantic deficits too.

In the manuals help for painting in Sculptris I read:
"Upon starting Paint Mode Sculptris will automatically
start by apply UV mapping to your model".

As you probably recognized: English is not my mother
language, I learn it since 20 years. Is it not better
to say ""Upon starting Paint Mode Sculptris will
automatically start by APPLYING UV mapping ...?""

Now: What is mapping? I know a map to use to find
a street in town. But what is it meant to be here?
And what is UV?

"Texture Map" Hmmm ... is the painting on my statuette
organized like a map? Because the position of the paint
on the statuette has to be defined in 3D other than in 2D?

The manual writes under "Paint Brushes and Tools":
"While in Paint Mode, the layout of the interface remains
the same as when in Sculpt Mode. However, different
tool buttons will now be available etc. etc.".

That is NOT TRUE! There is no GRAB Button, even
not in those videos I just watched 10 minutes ago.

Yes, I can zoom into the model, I can turn it around
two axes. But I cannot reach every point of my statuette,
because I miss the GRAB function which is so
useful under Sculpt Mode. If it is not existing, as I
presume, I CANNOT PAINT my statuette, I tried it
for hours again and again, it is impossible to paint my
statuette without having access to all sides and aspects
of the figure. For that: GRAB is an MUST - or not?

Certainly I do not understand other aspects of the paint
mode, especially the various techniques around masking.
But if this GRAB problem remains unsolved I need not
even to think about the next hurdles.

I wonder so much: Under SCULPT MODE I did not
even need to read the manual, it came so intuitive, at
one point I really thought: "God, this program thinks like
I think, it behaves like the BEST servant, it is an extension
of my brain which reaches into the computer."

Well, sometimes the servant has unpredictable eruptions
which can ruin the work including the Windows OS.
But therefore it is an Alpha-Version.- I can live with this.

I was and am still amazed by the excellent results one can
achieve with it - with a little talent, wonderful. First class.
It is no exaggeration: WORLD CLASS Number ONE!

Under PAINT MODE I read and read the manual again
and again and I cannot come to any conclusion with it.

I already had bad dreams about it. I would be SO
HAPPY to overcome this, I was SO HAPPY the last
week in the SCULPT MODE. My misery started with
this bloody unintuitive paint mode. It is SOO HARD.

With kind regards

Ocumaro (Portugal)

[justadeletedguy]

I believe you need to look into the Hide and Mask functions that work well in Paint Mode ...... Watch the Second Quick starter video again ....

In any 3D modeling program there are Vertices, which is just an address in space. The line the connects two vertices is considered an Edge. When 3 or more edges are connected this forms a Polygon, a virtual surface, on which we can project an image ....


For UV-mapping we Cut our model along some Edges, and flatten it out to make a Map ......
In Sculptris, this is automatically done for you when you enter Paint Mode .... But you Cannot go back to Sculpting once in Paint Mode, therefor there is no Grab Brush in Paint Mode ..... You can Hide Parts, You can paint to the Bump/Normal Map channel, but you cannot Move them or Sculpt them anymore ...

Consider this ......

This is what the Cube above looks like to the computer, a (.obj) opened with Notepad ....
Sculptris does its (Sculpting) by adding and moving Vertices. However if you move or add Vertices, then the UV-map coordianates change drasticly, ruining any Painting ..... so Sculptris just dumps this information when you import an object to Sculpt Mode ....
If you need to further Sculpt after painting, might I suggest Wings3d or Blender .......

ZBrush has the ability to Sculpt after Painting, because it uses "Vertex Painting", assigning the color to the individual Vertices. The drawback is that you must subdivide into the millions to get any real detail.

[SporkFuMaster]

justadeletedguy explained that pretty well. My only question now is why you would need the grab brush during painting? It might help to see this model to understand why you are wanting to use that tool. One possible workaround would be to use the "hide" option to temporarily remove a part of the model while painting on the surface behind it. If you use the "H" key and drag a box around what you want to hide, you can make what's inside that box invisible. If you are using multiple objects, you can hide them seperately by holding the "H" key and clicking on that object. To bring them back hit "Ctrl + Alt + H".

[Ocumaro]

Thank you for your combined effort explaining me the
mapping concept. Though my math-capabilities are
limited, indeed, I am thankful for it. I now understand
what mapping is.

And the "H" for Hide - of course I will try it out.
But I fear that my problem is not solved. I do not
want to sculpt after painting. That is clear:
Painting is the LAST step in the production-circle.

I need the GRAB for moving the object (used with
the GENERAL parameter). As I said so often:
I cannot reach every position of the statuette without it.
And MASK - I will try it out for sure - probably will
not help with it.

If I open - the statuette appears in one position,
always the same position, no matter in which position
it was saved before.

Now I can zoom in, turn it around the axes, but if I cannot
move it, yes, SIDEWAYS, I cannot reach every aspect of it.
So, as I presumed, the GRAB-FUNCTION for the moving of
it is not existing - I see no way to paint the figure.

Can I paint an exported OBJ of the Sculptris-Statuette
with any other program? This is my most important question.

Thank you again for your engagement and the two answers.
Other Forum-members evoke more interest with their stuff
than I do, I am happy to have your help.

Should I paint it with Z-Brush?

With kind regards

Ocumaro

[veehoy]

Sounds to me like you are confusing the grab tool which moves part of or the whole model, with PAN which is moving your camera/viewport, two totally different things and probably why you haven´t found an answer. In addition I don`t know if you are you using a tablet (as probably most are) or a mouse. On a tablet the mapping on your pen buttons by default should be right click and middle click? (Please correct me if I´m wrong, anyone ).....alt-right click should give you the pan function you´re looking for. On a mouse it is shift-MMB if I´m not mistaken. Basically, the navigation is the same in both sculpt and paint mode. Hope that was the answer you were looking for

[Ocumaro]

Thank you Veehoy,

maybe. No, I use an Laptop with build in Touch-Pad.
I have not yet gone to get me a drawing-pad from
Staples here in Portugal. I will very carefully read your
answer and try every step you described, especially
the ALT-key sound new to me.

However, I did not confuse GRAB with the camera-view.
I only ask why GRAB is not existing in Paint-Mode,
a question which remains unanswered. Someone else
asked "why in the world do you need (general) GRAB
at all. Well, I could ask back then why, if it is not
necessary, is it implemented in the SCULPT-Mode?
It makes no sense to complain. I have to "ship around"
this deficencies anyhow, therefore, my last question:

Should your help not work, CAN I PAINT my 3D-Model
in another program, for example in Z-Brush?

Kind regards

Ocumaro

[Richard Marklew]

I could ask back then why, if it is not
necessary, is it implemented in the SCULPT-Mode?

You can use Grab to push/pull parts of the mesh (a basic sculpting tool) and if you have multiple objects in your scene you can use grab to position those individual objects in your scene. None of this is needed for painting hence no grab brush. It may help if you can show why you need grab for painting as I cannot understand why you are having difficulties painting some parts of your object without grab. Maybe show some screenshots.

Should your help not work, CAN I PAINT my 3D-Model
in another program, for example in Z-Brush?

Yes you can paint your object in zbrush, 3dcoat and other programs

[Ocumaro]

Thank you Richard,

I think that is the path I am going. My quixotic fight
in the painting mode will then find an end. Sorry. But
the SCULP-MODE is still a dream that became reality.

Good bye then so far. I am so grateful to ZBrushCentral.

Ciao

Ocumaro

[Richard Marklew]

There is a free 30 day trial of zbrush and it can import any models you have already made in sculptris so you can try out its polypainting tools.

[Ocumaro]

Thank you for the hint with the 30 day free trial.
I am sure I will try it. But as I experienced so far:

As a painter with Acryl-colours and regular canvas
I can easily paint for 6 or 8 hours and keep smiling.

On Sculptris after 2 hours I feel kind of wrought
out and need a coffee-break. It is somehow more
exhausting to me than conventional painting.

I will try Z-Brush, but later and only when I have
a real option to buy it afterwards with all manuals,
since - maybe 30 days is a bit tight for me (see above).

Thank you really very much

Ocumaro

[michalis]

As a painter with Acryl-colours and regular canvas
I can easily paint for 6 or 8 hours and keep smiling.

You have to spend some time, months, in 3d digital sculpting first.
How much time did you spend on acrylic-colors?
BTW I don't like acrylic colors. After two hours I get boring. I prefer real oil colors or simply watercolors, temperas or whatever else.

[Ocumaro]

Hola Michalis,

yes. Yes, I agree completely. Painting can become boring after a time.
And yes, they say 10.000 hours make you someone who is capable of
his job, his art, whatever. That is true. I personally lack the patience
for oil colours, the wait seems unbearable, since I even do not like to
paint on 3 or 4 paintings parallel. Beside of that oil colours smell have
an almost allergic effect on me. BUT I changed my mind.

I will download the trial-version now and not transform my habit in
conventional painting into the world of digital sculpting. I have to test
everything and it is true: I have to learn a lot for a long time.

We will see how far - if at all - I can get with ZBrush in 30 days.

My honest thank you for your interest in me newbee. Thank you.

Ocumaro

[SporkFuMaster]

I have a quick question on that whole ZBrush trial thing. If I were to get the trial now, would I be able to get another 30 day trial when R3 comes out? That's part of why I haven't downloaded the trial yet either, 30 days just doesn't seem to be near enough time.

[Richard Marklew]

I have a quick question on that whole ZBrush trial thing. If I were to get the trial now, would I be able to get another 30 day trial when R3 comes out? That's part of why I haven't downloaded the trial yet either, 30 days just doesn't seem to be near enough time.

As far as I am aware, the trial version does not get neccesarily get updated with a new release (I think it is still just the original zbrush 4) so I'd think you would only get 30 days total.

[SporkFuMaster]

Thanks Richard. That kind of defeats the purpose of downloading it for me then if FiberMesh is not even possible to mess around with. It would still be nice to have all of the additional detail that ZBrush can put into the sculpt as well as the paint.