How do I apply a MatCap to a uv group that is in a single bace mesh (Single subTool) without it being applied to the whole character.
You can turn each UV island into it’s own polygroup (Tools: Polygroup: Autogroup with UVs). Then just isolate (ctrl+shift+click) the polygroup and fill it with the material of your choice.
When I paint a texture over the MatCap and create the texture map the MatCap does not show. How do I combine the two so they show in the texture map that I can then export to max.
First off, you’ll have to keep in mind that matcap information is based on the matcap image, along with the normals of the mesh/ camera coordinates. There are no physical lights occupying a space in relation to the mesh. If there is a specular highlight in the top right corner of the matcap, it’s going to appear in the top-right corner no matter how you rotate or orient the model. It can be a cool effect, but it’s a curse if you want to try and capture it to a texture for several reasons.
You can still do it mind you, but just know that 99 times out of a hundred, it’s going to look like complete garbage because it’s no longer going to appear dynamic as you rotate around the mesh, and sacrifices will need to be made because you can’t have the same light direction regardless of how you rotate. You have two options for baking:
1- Bake a displacement map from the model, and apply the displacement to a plane. Set the document to the size of the texture you want, slap the material onto the displaced plane, and export it for your texture. Orientation of the UV islands will matter here.
2- Position the model on your screen, export the document, zapplink it to photoshop, and project the exported document back onto the mesh. Rotate and repeat. This method is only going to work on materials that have very, very faint changes in lighting. If you have a shadow on the left side of the face and you rotate to do the back, the shadow is still going to be on the left, which is going to cause it to look very weird.
A third option, if the matcap is the absolute effect you want, is to look into finding a shader/material that does the same thing. Litspheres, environment probe / greyballs / chromeballs / etc.