ZBrushCentral

Painting Bump Maps

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

I’m trying to setup a work-flow for easy bump map creation. I want to paint fine scratches and erosion with out sub-dividing my meshes into the millions.

I want to be able to paint a colour map, directly on to the model with alpha textures with out using Projection Master; essentially using the bumpViewer material which will display my changes to the 4k image map.

Sculpting or painting actual polygons and converting it to an image map is not giving me a crisp enough bump map, and is overkill. Also ZB3’s lack of displacement tools or support for HD, makes me want to steer clear for now. Either way, I just need bumps…

Any help would be much appreciated :slight_smile:

#2

I just noticed my post may be a bit long winded.

So in a nutshell: Can you paint a colour map on a model, direct to the file texture, with out PM?

There. :smiley:

#3

Have ya seen this wiki yet?

#4

I have read that, but it is not going to help my cause, well… at least not the poly painting tutorial.


  • I cannot sub-divide my model enough to get a crisp enough sculpt.


  • Poly Painting requires me to sub-divide my model just the same.


  • Projection Master is great, but everyone would rather work in 3D.


  • HD wont export yet.
I’ve only really used ZB to sculpt, so my texturing knowledge inside of ZB is limited. But I cannot seem to get it to do the simple task of painting on a model to a texture map, with out PM.

#5

Alright, seems I’m a slave to PM for another 3 years. :mad:

:smiley:

#6

Painting on the model outside of PM with only rgb turned on, and then pressing the col>txr button under Tool:Texture isn’t doing what you need?

#7

yeah, I was having the same issue but then i read the tutorial and was on my way…
make sure you DISABLE UV’s in the texture tool and also make TEXTURE off. in the left menu. (default menu setup)

but i AM having a major problem…

if you ctrl-hover over the col>texture button… it says that the Texture generated is dependent upon the level of detail of the mesh…

so… if you want a texture that’s generated at 2048x2048, then you would want to be using a subdiv level that gives you about 4 mil polys…

i DO that… but STILL get all my textures generated at 1024x1024

WHAT IS THE DEAL!!!

i can’t use 1024x1024 textures in lightwave… especially for closeups… they look pixolated, not from a distance… but for med to close up shots… nuh-uh.

any help with this???

thanks

#8

before you hit col>texture make sure you load a clean blank 2048x2048 texture otherwise zbrush uses the default 1024x1024 size.

#9

praise beeee aminuts!

thought i had tried that and had it not work… .doing it now…

muahaha splendid!

grassy-azz! seen yor!

#10

It seems you can’t paint in 3d on a texture map :frowning:
The only hope is that pixologic might add an option to their future hd displacement plugin to transfer hd painting to texture.

So there seems to be no other solution than projection master which doesn’t seem to have a lazy mouse option. (it is greyed out)

Steve

#11

Yeah, it’s a shame… this is a fundamental flaw, in my opinion. ZB3 has some neat stuff, but… direct painting to file texture UV space should have been there from the start.

#12

Inertia please take a look in the : http://www.zbrush.info/wiki/index.php/Learn_to_Paint

"PolyPainting

When painting on your 3D model you can:


  • Paint directly on the surface of your model
  • Paint on a texture map that is ‘wrapped’ onto your model through its UVs. "
Andreseloy

#13

Sorry for the delay, was away from the computer for a week. I’m going to need pictures, because some people are getting a bit confused.

That is just a plane, bump-viewer material, and a solid grey colour in the texture.

Now I want to paint different gray strokes, with alpha, on to the surface, and have it appear on the texture, while also getting feedback with the bumpViewer material.

Now, I added that using Projection Master, but I’m just wondering if it can be done with out it? like a real-time bump painting workflow so I don’t have to smooth my meshes to sculpt on, and get less defined texture maps.

#14

This is a flaw. Zbrush 2 supports painting color directly onto your texture in the viewport realtime and Zbrush 3 does not.

This sucks pretty bad in my opinion. and a HUGE draw back to zbrush 3. especially for game artists.

polypainting does not cut it for painting bump maps. doesn’t even come close.

If you load the bump viewer material and try to polypaint with it everything you do comes out jagged and totally off of what it should look like. No matter how many millions of polys your mesh is.

#15

Also I am not able to rotate my alphas when using the drag rect brush in PM in ZB3 like you could in ZB2. very odd. Anyone else have this problem?

#16

Oh good, someone else out there agrees. I thought my work-flow was wrong if no one else was wanting to do things this way.

And yes, ZB2 you could paint straight to the texture in the 3D view, but you couldn’t use alphas or use the other draw modes.

Pixologic have some priority problems I think.

#17

E: If I remember correctly, in Z2 you had to use the directional brush to rotate as you drag it out (unlike the drag rect, where you just draw from point to point)

#18

Ah right you are, don’t know how I forgot that one. I have been working too many 16 hour days and not using z brush enough :slight_smile: thanks eldee.s.

However not being able to paint bump maps in the viewport realtime is still a bumer :wink: