ZBrushCentral

Exporting w/ transparent background

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

Hi aurick, (or anyone else who may know):

In ZB4, can I

  1. Export a tool or document to an image format like PNG with a transparent background?

  2. Export an animation with a transparent background to a MOV format or series of PNGs?

If not, how would you suggest getting a character animation in ZBrush onto a transparent background so I can place it over different backgrounds in my final application? I don’t like the idea of generating a masking / alpha map for each of hundreds of frames, then manually using those alpha maps in Photoshop frame by frame to mask out the grey gradient in the back,

Really hoping there is a better way…

#2

me too. I really want to find this out.
hope u get an reply soon.
googled it, read the render manual, searched the forum.
nothing yet.

#3

1) Yes. You can use Alpha>Grab Doc to capture an alpha that you can then use in Photoshop to remove the background. Or you can set the background to an oddball color, render and export, then use Photoshop to remove the background. Or you can turn on Render>Create Maps, do a BPR, then click Render>Mask to export a mask of the image. Again, use Photoshop to remove the background.

  1. Render>Create Maps can be turned on, a BPR done, then Ctrl+Shift+Click on your timeline to render the movie.
#4

Aurick, I’m puzzled by your response. I wasn’t aware timeline can generate maps, in fact I was told it couldn’t. when I turn on generate maps, run a bpr, then record the movie, the only maps are that of the last frame, a psd with only one layer.

Are you saying you can render out a movie in passes with timeline without having to create them manually like I have been doing?

I currently change the background to black with no ramp, and fill the subtools with white with a flat shader and render out, then use that exported movie as a mask channel in photoshop/after effects

#5

thanks!