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Name of Alpha not showing in Alpha Panel

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

I have placed some Alphas to the ZStartup folder so that they load permanently whilst I am making this project…
… C:\Program Files\Pixologic\ZBrush 4R8\ZStartup\Alphas

The problem is no matter what I name them they load intitled “Image”. (See attached image).
Is there a way to make their titles show.

If I put them in the ZAlphas folder their names appear…

… C:\Program Files\Pixologic\ZBrush 4R8\ZAlphas

Any thoughts?

,AlphaName.jpg

.

Attachments

AlphaName.jpg

#2

I’m having this same issue. I’m wondering how do we fix this?

I’m not seeing a pattern. I have looked at names, greyscale settings, layers etc… And I am not seeing a pattern of why many of my alphas say “Image”.

#3

I think it’s because the images are 8 bits per channel. I don’t know whether it’s intentional but it’s best to use alphas that are 16 bit grayscale. 8 bit images only have 256 levels of gray which can lead to a stair stepping effect on the sculpt.

#4

marcus_civis. I think it’s because the images are 8 bits per channel. I don’t know whether it’s intentional but it’s best to use alphas that are 16 bit grayscale. 8 bit images only have 256 levels of gray which can lead to a stair stepping effect on the sculpt.

Hey, Thanks.
You are correct. The files need to be 16bit then the name appears…

#5

Interesting. This isn’t making sense to me though. I converted and touched up some of my alphas and they are loading in broken at 16bit Greyscale. They look jacked up in thumbnail and in sculpt. But if i go back to 8bit they are fine. I tried collapsing all layers and doing 16bit Greyscale and still didn’t work right.

I went through and converted a lot of the “image” labeled alphas and the activity is chaotic.

  • Not all 8 bit are called “image”. Some 8bit are called image and most 8bit have names
  • Converting them to 16bit seems to fix name. But not all are working fine. Many are scrambled looking and messed up.

I’m not sure what to do.

#6

Ok I fixed it. I found that it (they) had something in the Alpha slot in the PSD. Those would be accidents from the beginning I think.

So that fixes that part. I’m still not sure why some 8bit are showing names and some are not. But perhaps it is the same thing. The ones as “image” had info stuffed in to the alpha? I’m not sure.