Hello ,it’s just" something" maybe useful… MOdel an object, paint the texture on a very broad manner,choose the angle of view and lights, after of course don’t move the object.Render withe as many materials as needed,each time expoort the pict. Each layer match perfectly 'for ex. in psp)then choose in each one what you want, making by selection the texture neat and “straight”…fast, easy, and yyou can try a lot of materials…
nice work, this little tut can come in handy 
That’s an interesting way of doing it.
Since materials in ZBrush are not set in stone, I use the Pixologic List ZScript to quickly switch between materials.
Just one of many ways, I suppose! 
Very ingenious and simple technique for registering the texturing Marcel…
Thanks for the useful tip!
you are a regular fountain of great looking art and useful information.Thanks.
Cool idea. Thanks.
way cool technique - and a veryvery interesting looking book! thanks for sharing!
Neat idea - thanks for the info. 
Hi ,
marcel: Cool image and tip, thanks
There are many uses for alphas in ZBrush. Some are unique to ZBrush and some are similar to other applications (examples available in the QuickLinks ).
Here is one more ‘expert’ method of creating alpha from a ZBrush document…
The material designation (index number) of each Pixol can be exported in PSD format and used for exact area-selection and masking in other 2D applications.
Here are the basic steps…
Start ZBrush and draw several 3D object in the canvas. Draw each of the objects with a different material.
Select the MRGBZGrabber tool and turn off its Auto Crop modifier. IMPORTANT: By default, the MRGBZGrabber will only grab the RGB colors of the canvas but we can instruct the MRGBZGrabber tool to include the material index of each Pixol. We do so by switching the draw mode from DRAW 
RGB to DRAW MRGB.
Grab the full size image. A new texture will be added to the TEXTURE palette. This texture will now contain the RGB colors as well as the material index.
Export the texture in PSD format and you’ll be asked to include the material index as a separate channel. Click YES.
When you open the exported file in another PSD+channels compatible application you’ll see that the image contains an extra gray scale channel (mask channel).
This channel may look completly black but it actually contains gray scale pixels with intensity value corresponding to the index of the material used. If you increase the contrast of this channel you’ll clearly see each of the painted regions.
Now, you’ll be able to use this channel to easily select the regions of each of the utilized materials.
Hope this helps
-Pixolator
P.S. If you are not already familiar with ZBrush’s auto-depth-maskings you may want to read the following thread…Auto Depth Masking.
Neato!
Marcel, Did you model the book in ZBrush? I need to do a book for a job. Can you share your technique?
hello Pixolator!..Thank you for your answer; it’s of course a much neat way doing change of materials! I’m afraid to have a thoiusand things to learn in Zbrush!..Let me add that Zbrush is an amazing gift for artist(direct translation from french, )and thank you much much for that too…
hi Jaycephus! No, the book is first modeled in Amapi, very simple and a free version available, but I,m sure it’s possible, for ex. withe alpha make 3d.’('in 3 parts)I import; then skin very big resolution, then model all the “things” engraved…Of course if u wish, I can mail you the tool(well, I don’t know how to send ztool, but have seen it possible…)
:qu: You import the model from Amapi, skin it, then add the additional parts?
Thanks for your help!
whaaa, thats a mucho cool feature, Pixolator! you (or someone else, mayhaps even the manual) probably said so a few times already, but its the first time i notice/really get it - muchas gracias!!! would there be a way to make use of that inhouse zbrush? as for instance creating stencils? i know that all relevant pixols react to material modifications, but once they are neighbouring each other inside one layer, its pretty difficult to replace them by different ones.
Thanks for clearing the fog Pixolator! I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why it kept asking me if I would like to save the material index as a seperate channel…didn’t really know what I would use it for. Now I do!!! Thanks!
very cool book. I once made a book such as this, but mine was in a 3DS Max style.
But Id have to say yours is far beyond mine. Nice style, textures and colors.
