Hello i have started using zbrush to apply textures to my created models.
i select the material & colour then use the projection master to apply the material and shading to the texture, the texture comes out all pixely, when i go to photoshop to edit the texture its a mess and i cant make head and tail to whats what=(
please if you have any suggestions , i would appreactiate it alot=)
Thanks in advance=)
i have included an image to show you ^^
What you’re looking at is AUVTiles mapping. This mapping method is distortion free, but it can only be viewed while applied to a model.
Why are you wanting to paint it in Photoshop? When you do that, you have to manually compensate for seams and distortions. It’s much easier to paint on the model itself, so that you can paint what you want to see. Then you let the computer handle the process of compensating for those seams and distortions as it transfers what you’ve painted back to the texture.
PolyPaint is a great way to do this. And you can still use Photoshop for the things it does really well, like filters, text, etc. ZAppLink will send your model to Photoshop where you can do what you want there while still looking at the model itself rather than an unwrapped texture.
Of course, if you absolutely must paint on the unwrapped texture for some reason, you’re going to need to remap your model. For that you’ll need a UV mapping program.
hehe im lost just a little, so i can paint my model using polypaint and then this will save the paint directly on my texture then when loaded in ps the texture will be ok or?
im sorry im new to all this mapping,
i want to be able to paint on details, like a stitching or button, is this possible in zbrush i have only used it for about 4 months and its a little overwhelmming to say the least,
i have tried to use polypaint on this texture the black bit you see is painted on but the texture still appeared all pixely.
so if i drop the tool and add a colour and materiel to my tool then apply details using polypaint, then pick up the texture will it pick these changes up or will i need to do these out of zbrush, sorry to sound like a complete idiot=)
hi i tried using the zaplink and i still get the same here, when i paint,
the lines are fine , when i pick it up the texture goes jumbled again, pic added again to show after using zaplink
If you go to www.pixologic.com/docs you’ll find a whole section on PolyPaint. You do NOT PolyPaint with a texture applied. You PolyPaint, then apply a texture, then transfer the paint to the texture. 
ooppss sorry
i never realised you would reply so quick hehe, thank you 
ok when i go to paint my tool and drop it, it automaticaly creates a texture for me and when the polypaint i applied is added to the automatically created texture the textures appears like the 2 images shown above, were the black is black in the image, i painted this on using polypaint then picked it up, which applied it to the texture, but!
its still a mess, when i tried the zapplink, it would not let me paint on anything i had selected paint tool and tried to paint but nothing came out, sorry to bang on ^^
** just to add, i just got the zaplink to work, sort of, but when i paint using white or dodge tool it looks like its taking the color out of the image
hello again, sorry to put another reply up but, this is really holding me up and im not sure were else to go for support!
my problem is that i am using zbrush to make my models, when i come to colour them i want to use polypaint to acheive the color and then swap between zbrush and ps to do the final touches but, the images above is what i keep getting, so i cant see were certain parts of the texture for my model start.
to be honest im more confused now after zapplink was mentioned. i was just making the tool, creating a new texture (1024x1024) selecting the color and material, adding lights, pressing g for projection master, dropping it, painting the colors (polypaint) then picking up, then the colours i created would appear on the new texture i made(1024x1024). then i was importing it into ps and editing but this is were i get stuck. how can i edit this in this state? am i mapping it wrong? or selecting the wrong UV option? the picture is clearly messed up with the pixels all over, its not the smooth image i created on my model=( all of the above was done with rgb on only.
so im really stuck when i load the texture and the tool in other programs the texture on it is how you see above, i cant get the texture to show how i want it, and im running out of things to say, so please please help
i know how to polypaint and model etc, its just getting the texture to map out correctly i need help with =))):qu:
even after trying zapplink which i agree is very useful, i still get this type of texture when i come to export it to use somewere else, and when applied to my model its a mess, it applies just how it looks above=) so its got to be something to do with how the texture is distrubted to each point or pixel within zbrush. so im getting the same outcome of ugly pixels above using zrush, zrush and ps and zbrush ,ps and zapplink.
thanks again in advance
When you export a texture from ZBrush you need to flip it vertically. Otherwise it won’t wrap right.
aurickWhen you export a texture from ZBrush you need to flip it vertically. Otherwise it won’t wrap right.
hi thanks again, i tried to edit the image above to see if i could make it look better which i did, i dont have a problem with the way the texture is positioned just how it looks, when i flipped it, it was back to front so i know its not a problem, the thing is the way the texture is shown after i polypaint, look above and this is what i get, say as a template, to add my finer details on, but how do i know where to add my effects and final touches? its a huge mess,
the point is, when i pick it up to add the colours and guides to which i can follow in ps, to touch it up, i get a pile of squares, not what i painted in polypaint, just the explosion of pixels shown above.
it may help to let you know this is for Sculpted prims in second life, i have read all posts on here and sluniverse about second life and zbrush ref texturing,
im fine creating the models and getting the sculptmap to create the scultpted prims, this i can do with ease, its the textring im having problems with.
i remember reading the tutorial by sylvia trilling from flying tribes and the texture she had after exporting did not look like mine, i have tried everything, even maxing the texture too 8000x8000, i tried the cavity mask and blurred it out and followed Rykka’s steps from the forums, still nothing.
Please, i dont mean to pester im just major desperate to get this right after trying for 4 months, im getting just a little depressed hehe, i love zbrush just need to get this texture problem resolved. meaning seeing what i actually painted and not randomly filled pixels=))
hi i have tried everything you have suggested and still no joy, does anyone have any ideas at all to what i am doing wrond please^^
thank you
=)
Hey PollyMiller,
there ist one essential thing that you are missing:
In order to have a texture map to look like an “unwrapped skin” you need to apply proper UV coordinates to your model. This ist something ZBrush is not capable of at this point. What you see in your exported textures is (aurick mentioned this before) an automatic mapping which means, that every polygon on the model is assigned with one little square on the texture map. The textures you posted above shows exactly that - a grid of squares and every square is assigned to one specific polygon.
Now, to get things working, you’ll need to create proper UV coordinates for your model. For that purpose you need to export your model as OBJ, load it into an application which is capable of creating unwraped UV coordinates and when that is done, you can import the model back into ZBrush again and paint your model with the new UV coordinates. THEN, when you create a texture from your polypainting, ZBrush will take your new UV coordinates and will create a texture map like you imagine.
Just to get you on the right track Roadkill UV is a free programm to create unwrapped UV coordinates. Also, all major commercial 3D applications are capable of creating unwrapped UVs. And yes - that might be read as a wink to Pixologic. 
hi, well what can i say? your a diamond, i knew i was doing it right, but i never knew this, now will this happen everytime i create a tool in zbrush or have i done something to mess this up?
i downloaded roadkill and tried it out, do i have to move each one or can i just get this app to remap it all for me?
if you have any ideas to how it could of got like this ( the uv’s) please let me know so i dont do it again in the future.
really appreciate your reply its just clarified the previous reply=)
thanks again
i have zbrush, maya, blender, and ps cs3 do any of these programs have the capability of restoring the uv map, and just to clarify, when i create a tool in zbrush will i have to map it all manually for the texture to cover it correclty?
The point is, that a 3D model does not automatically have UV coordinates at all. UVs allways have to be created and one way of creating them is to do automatic mapping like ZBrush does. But, like you found out, textures which are created with automativ UVs can’t be edited by hand in photoshop.
Now, that’s the point where different methods to unwrap UVs come into play. There is a wide variety of methods to create UVs in different programs which create more or less useful results for further editing by hand. The method Roadkill uses is quite popular because it creates relaxed UV-islands which can be edited by hand quite nicely. But in fact, you could also unwrap the UVs of a model totally by hand. If you use blender, you should also be able to create UV coordinates with it. Scroll down this webpage and have a look at “UV Unwrapping”. There’s a movie linked which shows the process.
To sum it all up:
I f you plan to export your polypainting as a texture map and if you want to work out the details of this map in photoshop you’ll always have to create UV coordinates. I mentioned the workflow above: sculpting in ZBrush -> export as OBJ -> create UVs in external editor -> import OBJ with new UVs to ZBrush -> Polypaint -> export texture from Polypaint -> edit texture in Photoshop.
ok i know what the problem was or is!
when i first made the tool im working on i read a tutorial to say that the uv’s of course would be messed up, but you said zbrush does this for you automatically
:UVs allways have to be created and one way of creating them is to do automatic mapping like ZBrush does:
so what i was doing was what i thought was automatically arranging/fixing the uv’s by pressing texture>enableuv>AUVtiles thinking like a fool this was fixing it when it was actually making the texture uneditable, but!!
now i tried to do a new tool, same process i did, except i never touched texture>enableuv>AUVtiles, i left it in hopes zbrush would do it, so i applied texture, polypaint, dropped, picked up etc.
and you never guess what lol, the texture has come out just fine and dandy, i can now see, were to edit and were not to edit in c3s, so am buzzing here.
I want to thank both you and Aurick for your support, i must say i will have to do alot of research into this uv thingy lol, i dont even know what one is, but the fact i can get the model to work in the 3d world, and import the texture, that is now workable and works great is a fantastic relief, seems like all my hard work, home tutoring has paid off, thanks again
and take care