Please show me a tutorial that teaches how to paint on a model.

[Zanden]

ok, ive spent most of the day trying to figure out my brand new zbrush and ive come pretty far but theres something i cant seem to be able to find. After browsing the tutorials i couldnt find exactly what im looking for. Allow me to explain, heres why i bought zbrush.

Im making a game, with 3d models. Now a friend swore up and down that zbrush would allow me to literally paint on the model’s surface, forgoing the need for a uv map and having to keep reloading my bmp onto the model to see what it looks like. I liked the idea so much that I foolishly bought it without actually trying it out that long. I tried it but since i couldnt import I went ahead and bought it. Now, I have spent most of the day working hard and trying to figure out how to paint on the model. I can alter the model itself but i cant seem to be able to paint on it.

I dont know if I’m not doing it right or what but what I need is a tutorial that will teach me how to paint on the models and make my work much easier and probably allow the game to have more detail. Not the type that comes with the program, which is rather movie like, but one i can refer to, being able to study a step as long as needed to understand it, in other words a text one.

Can somone possibly point me in the right direction? Thanks.

–Insanity

[aurick]

There are two ways to paint on your model. The approach that avoids the need for UV mapping is what’s called Vertex shading. Basically, you set a base color and then press Tool>Color>Fill Object. This allows you to select new colors and start painting on the polygons. More polygons means a better quality paint job. At very high polygon counts the number of points can equal the number of pixels in your texture, providing a perfect translation between vertex shading and texture mapping. (ZBrush 2.5 is going to make this much easier to achieve.) After you have finished painting you can transfer the colors to your texture by pressing ToolTextureCol>Txr. This will create a new texture based on the painted polygons.

The other way is to use Projection Master. This allows you to drop your model to the canvas and then paint on it with all of ZBrush’s other tools and features. (Using ZAppLink you can even send your canvas temporarily to Photoshop, Painter, or another PSD-capable image editor). When you’ve finished painting everything at that angle, you use Projection Master to pick the model up again. ZBrush will then translate what you painted so that it conforms to your model’s UV mapping, automatically compensating for seams and distortions.

To learn more about both of these options, please draw a model on the canvas and press the Projection Master button. In the lower right corner of the panel you’ll see a “?” button. Click that to launch the tutorials.

[Zanden]

thank you, it seems the projection master is the technique that i will need, because if i forgo uv mapping all together and paint on the polys themseles then I might have problems down the road when it comes to reskinning my models, I plan on reusing a few with different skins for example.

By sheer dumb luck I can paint on the model but cannot pick it up and change the angle. A true video, that I can pause would really help me i think, im already doing the beginner series in the tut section, learning how to make models and stuff. It's much easier than in milkshape I might wind up using zbrush instead to make the models, since I can do it symetrically instead of having to copy, flip, snap and weld. So in that respect it is very very time saving, I already decided it wasn't a waste of money. But where is the projection master? I just looked at the menus and I can't seem to find it. Soon as im done with this tutorial I will see if i cant find some topic on it. Thanks for the point in the right direction. :D --Insanity PS why does it take a while for posts to show up? do you have to aprove noobie posts or what? Edit: Maybe i should change my name to ditz, i figured it out, i think, the projection manager toggles on and on. Woops. :o ah well, im just learning. Thanks for reading about this noob's woes :P Edit2: Now i wonder if theres a way to mirror the paints, like you can on the models. I really dont fancy painting 2 sides of the lab coat when one will work for both. hmm I'll try double sided.

[aurick]

In addition to Double Sided, check out ZAppLink (which is available from here at ZBC). This plugin will let you temporarily send the canvas to Photoshop and bring it back again. So you can drop the model in the middle of the canvas, paint one side, ZAppLink it to Photoshop, mirror and merge the layer, then bring it back to ZBrush again for pick up.

[Zanden]

I did decide to take a look at zapplink, but my photoshop thinks its invalid so i had to locate my disk for it and reinstall. So far, I’m officially thrilled with my purchase. Ive taken my low poly mesh, imported and have been painting a rough lab coat on him, its been great ^^ and no more having to guess about what goes where when you can paint on the mesh itself. Oo I think I like zapplink, tho I’m unfamiliar photoshop, paint shop pro for the win, I’ll suffer it out on learning how to use ps if it will help me publish my game

Thank you for all your help, I ran across some of your tutorials while I was searching for projection manager, perhaps you might wanna consider placing the links in your sig, so people like me can easily find them

–Insanity

oh! im so in love! best 400 some odd bucks i ever spent. The zapplink, makes zbrush and psp (i changed the default to psp) a happily married couple. [img]http://img167.imageshack.us/img167/5404/heartsmilyny2.png[/img] I'm going to post a preview of my scientist's low poly body once I get the mesh done. but i noticed that the mesh is painted upside-down. any way to fix that?

[markkens]

Insanity,
PM’s under Zplugins, its smart enough to know when a 3d model’s present…it won’t work if it doesn’t see a model/polys. One activation to pick up your model to work on, one to drop it back “into” the working layer. (Edit: As I think you see…“on and on”)

I found that PM was one of the easiest parts of Zbrush to learn once you get a pointer to it and how it goes.

Happy Zbrushing.