I’m trying to use an image with transparency as a stencil to in spotlight. However, it keeps projecting the black or white from the texture on the model - its not really behaving like a stencil. My stencil images appear to be correct, since I can see through it to the geometry behind.
Is there a setting I’ve overlooked to make this work?
Black has to be full black to be transparent. Play with the contrast button on the spotlight wheel (drag clockwise) until the black areas become transparent.
Thanks for the reply.
I think I’ve done that - even when the black areas are completely see-thru, it doesn’t paint through those spaces.
Sorry, I’m guilty of not reading carefully. :o
Spotlight appears to only act on color information and seems to block both geometry and color changes in these transparent areas. Transparency is a mask. It also behaves the same way in ZB4. It sure does LOOK like it should behave like a stencil, but as you’ve discovered it doesn’t seem to. converting your image to an alpha/stencil may be your best bet.
No prob… Maybe a pic will help show the problem:
Here is a screen shot. The color is red in the color palette, but black is what shows on the model (I’ve adjusted the fade stencil in the image while testing - it would normally show white in the negative space area instead of black, with no color for the pattern).
So stamping the color of the texture to the model works fine, it just won’t act like a stencil for the color selected in the palette.
You shouldn’t be seeing any red. Only the area that is visible as a color should be painted to the surface if you have RGB on. Any area that is “clear” should mask off any color or geometry changes.<BR><BR>I can’t figure out why you are getting black and not white, however. Thats odd. here’s a picture of what I get:<BR><BR><IMG id=vbattach_276123 class=previewthumb alt="" src=“http://www.zbrushcentral.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=276123&stc=1” attachmentid=“276123”>
My best guess from your picture is you altered your image tweaking it in Spotlight and are painting white spots with a black backround (the opposite of your image). Try resetting it in spotlight with the restore button and retest the painting. You won’t be able to affect your results via the paint pallette. You need to change the color of your texture with the spotlight hue dial and paint that color down.
Hey - Thanks for your help.
I’ll just stick to using stencil tool for this - converting an alpha to a stencil works, its just doesn’t have the snazzy edit/transform features that Spotlight has… like using fade, nudge, etc…
Have a good one!
I keep a 2048 x 2048 document with a high res plane as a “project” in lightbox. If I’ve worked and manipulated a spotlight image that I want to re-purpose, I paint it down on the plane, “grab-doc” and save it as a texture.