ZBrushCentral

baking materials to texture map?

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

There is a ZClassroom tutorial called Baking a Material to a Texture Map.
http://www.pixologic.com/zclassroom/homeroom
This is a really basic question, but what is the significance of this feature/ability? I understand painting on micro-detail with an alpha brush and I understand spraying on colors… so, how does the procedure in the tutorial stand in relation to this? And, why is it good to know this procedure over and above just knowing how to use an alpha brush, and spraying color on?

Thanks.

#2

Texture works with the shader to create the color that you see on the canvas. For example, if you’ve used the Sculpy matcap on your model while polypainting and then were to switch to the White Cavity matcap, what you’ve painted will look VERY different.

Baking the material into the texture allows you to retain the color contribution of the underlying material. That way, when you export the model and texture to another app you won’t have to do as much work in the material editor to get a render that looks like the ZBrush render.

#3

Whoa, great explanation. I followed it completely. Thanks.