ZBrushCentral

Saving different materials on your model using PM ?

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

Hi! ( I am using zbrush 3.1 ) I read somewhere that materials painted with a texture using projection master are embedded within the texture’s alpha channel and that when i save the model ZBrush will ask if I’d like to save the texture and the material. So i created a texture , slapped a few materials ( materials not in the startup standard or matcap material libraries, but in user materials ) in Pm ( with color, shaded,material on ) , picked up the model and all looks fine. but when i save the model i am prompted to save just the texture:
would you like to include the currently selected texture with the saved model?

I am not asked to save the materials. So when i load the model again the materials are not applied to the model.Now how do i go about saving materials with my model after painting them in PM or alternatively how do i reassign the materials to the texture’s alpha channel without too much fuss. Some help will be greatly appreciated.:smiley:

#2

Save a document with views of the model snapshot to the canvas so that all used materials are visible somewhere in the document. When you load the document again, all the materials will be loaded into their original slots so that the model will look correct when you load it. (You can then clear the canvas.)

Alternatively, you need to select each material slot where you used a non-standard material and load the same material into that slot again.

#3

Thanks a lot for replying. what you had suggested worked. But I have another question. What i am trying to do is assign three or four different materials to one mesh ( not to subtools )and load those materials each time I load my model. Somehow I can’t paint more than one material on my model. I did it earlier but now i can’t:confused:. I guess the material indexing system is not allowing me to do it.

here are my steps:

  1. Create a polymesh sphere.

  2. Color fill ( MRGB ), Basic material.

  3. Get inside PM ( with colors, material, deformation), load a non standard material

  4. paint with the loaded material

  5. pick my model and the new material is there in the area where it was painted. So i have two materials on the same mesh.

  6. i get in PM again and load another material. But it replaces the previous painted material.

So my question is, how do i load new materials in PM without replacing existing ones? How do I get aroun the indexing system.? i just want to be able to load different materials and paint with them. Thanks in anticipation.

#4

Remember to think of materials as occupying ‘slots’. If you load a material thru the ‘Load’ button it will occupy the slot of the currently selected material, effectively replacing it. So simply choose a material you haven’t used, so that you can use its slot to load in the material you want.

HTH,

#5

Marcus, thanks for replying. So basically i choose any other existing material slot in either the startup matcap or startup standard material sections before I load a new non-standard material. It works ! But it does remove the other material from the library for the rest of the session.

It just occured to me that i can add new slots by making say a dozen copies of a matcap material in the Zstartup materials folder. Hope that doesn’t cause any trouble. any other way slots can be added?

#6

That would work though don’t have more than 25 materials in there otherwise you’ll experience problems. There’s no other way to add slots.