after importing a head obj.into z.b. and painting it can you export the new texture to fit the poser model templates
Hi EMK, and Welcome to ZBrush Central!
When exporting a mesh from ZBrush it will automatically export the associated texture in BMP format.
Example… If you export a 3D mesh as mesh01.obj, ZBrush will export the texture as mesh01.bmp
You can also export the texture separately from the TEXTURE palette.
Try downloading the demo, if you haven’t already. It’s available from the download page at Pixologic. Also - take a look through QuickLinks, which can be found at the top of every ZBrush Central page.
We hope to see some of your images posted here soon!
-ZuZu 
Adding to ZuZu’s excellent response:
The approach above is for doing your texturing completely in ZBrush and then importing the object back into Poser. If you want to modify an existing Poser texture, or to create the texture alone for application directly to the Poser model without having to import the geometry, it get’s only slightly more complicated.
When you import a model into ZBrush, it is flipped in a few different ways. For one thing, it appears facing away from you. For another thing, it is mirrored horizontally. Finally, the UV coordinates are flipped vertically. All of these are easy to deal with.
My suggestion when you want to texture an existing Poser anything is to import only the part that uses the texture that you want to modify. For example, let’s say you wish to modify a head texture for Michael. Since he uses one texture for his head and another for his body, only export the head from Poser. Next, convert whatever existing Michael head texture that you wish to work with into a bmp or psd. Now in ZBrush, import the head as a polymesh, and import the texture in the texture palette. You’ll see right away that the head is facing away from you. No problem, because you can draw it and rotate it back around with Transform>Rotate. Right away, you’ll think that ZBrush messed up the UV mapping, because nothing is in the right place. While still in edit mode (you’ll never leave it while you do your texturing), go to your Texture palette and click the button to flip it vertically. Presto! The texture will be wrapped correctly onto the head.
Now you can have fun painting!
As you paint, your changes will appear directly on the texture. They cannot be undone! So I suggest that before you start painting, you first create a duplicate of the texture in the Texture palette. Just to be on the safe side. Any time you reach a point where you aren’t sure if you’ll like the results, just create another clone. If you decide to back up, it’s a simple matter to click on the older texture and then delete the one that you hate.
One other thing to bear in mind is that you can also unwrap the texture to paint directly on it, and then re-wrap it back onto the model. You do this by exiting edit mode and clearing your screen. In the Texture palette, make sure that you have the texture selected. In the Material palette, temporarily change to Flat Color. You’ll want your document size (if you’re running the full version of ZBrush) to match the texture size. In Layer>Modifiers palette, click the Fill button. Your canvas will be filled with the texture. (Although, if you are running the demo and can’t change the document size, it will be squished or stretched.) You can now use any materials and brushes to paint on the unwrapped texture. When you’ve got it looking the way that you want, give it a render. If it looks good, use the MRGBZGrabber tool with Autocrop turned off. You’ll get an instant texture with all of your changes applied. Now change your Alpha Palette back to a standard brush, clear the layer, select one of the Fast Shader materials, and redraw the head with the new texture. You can now even go back in via edit mode to make some more color adjustments, painted directly onto the model.
When all is said and done, save your texture, go back to Poser, and apply it. You should see everything just as you had it in ZBrush!
Gee – does this sound a lot like Deep Paint with Texture Weapons? Not a bad value, comparatively, is it?!
Anyway, hope that helps you out. ZBrush is a truly awesome tool for both modeling and texturing for Poser. And signs are that it will only get better at it with time.
Cheers!
PS: When you export the texture back to Poser, save it as a bitmap and leave it that way. When Poser uses other image formats (like .jpg), it actually has to run an internal process to turn it into a bitmap so that Poser can use it. This eats up more system resources than you save by using the smaller file-size .jpg format.
Thank you…
Just recieved my copy of ZB2…
And these explanations will help alot…
First post, and a great review of texturing for Poser. Question i have since i’ve been using Project manager to paint with materials. Is there any way to transfer the materials i used into the texture, or would it be best to uses the steps as listed above.