ZBrushCentral

Why isn't my materials and polypainting staying on my Ztools?

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

Hi guys,

For some reason when I am saving my ZTools the materials and poly painting is not being saved with it. The objects have been filled with the materials before polypainting, but if I save and reload the ZTool all the work is gone.

I assume its something I am doing wrong since another project of mine doesn’t have this issue. Does anyone know how to fix this? What is the exact steps for saving a ZTool with materials and polypainting on them?

#2

Custom materials will need to be loaded back into the same ‘slot’ in the material list in order to appear on your model. The simplest way to do this is to save the Project using the Save As button in the File menu. This will save your model also.

Alternatively you can save the Document through the Document palette. Provided the custom materials are on the canvas (for example, as a version of your model) then they will load back in when you load the Document.

Polypainting doesn’t need any special treatment and should save just fine when you save your model. There are two possibilities as to why polypainting isn’t showing:

  1. If the Tool>Polypainting>Colorize switch is OFF (or the paintbrush icon in the subtool list).
  2. There is a texture map displayed on the model - check the Tool>Texture Map menu. Texture maps will hide both polypainting AND materials.
#3

Thank you for the advice. I am still not really sure whats happening though.

I have checked the polypainting buttons but no difference.

I have a snowman I tried making, he only has materials assigned and when I load his tool everything pops up correctly.

When I try the same with a ring I recently made it loads without the materials (although strangely the poly painting is still there, as I can see it once I load the material.)

I have saved a ZProject but I keep seeing that ZProjects can go corrupt easily so I’ve been saving as tools.

#4

If you are using custom materials you will need to place them into your brush presets folder which on my computer is located like this:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Pixologic\ZBrush 4R2\ZStartup\Materials
That way ZBrush will load them in with your other materials when you fire it up.

One other thing, are you using dynamesh? each time you remesh you can lose material information, its a bit maddening as its easy to forget.

Hope this helps!

EDIT: I am a total ass and thanks to Zber I get a second chance, I had placed THIS:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Pixologic\ZBrush 4R2\ZStartup\BrushPresets <-----<<< INCORRECT!
As the directory but that is now corrected above…
Sorry and thank you Zber, I think I go into the brush one out of habit for some reason since R2 changed my brushes so dramatically, its become automatic!

#5

Thank you for the suggestion however I had the materials loaded into my materials folder and I wasn’t using Dynamesh :confused:

Its no biggie I saved a few different copies of a ZProject and since there are only two materials loading the ZTool and reapplying those materials is no problem. I’m just afraid this issue will rear its head when I get into something more complex :o

Thank you all for the suggestions and tips :slight_smile:

EDIT: I load the materials from Lightbox, would that be making a difference? They are still in my default materials folder, just not loaded into the materials palette when ZBrush is opened.