Hello. I was hoping to find some clarification regarding Zapplink v4’s ability to project painting directly to a texture. There seems to be a lot of contradicting opinions regarding ZBrush’s ability to paint directly to a texture without the need for Polypainting and high mesh resolution. I have searched a great deal on this forum and other locations in order to get a definite answer, but have yet to find something concrete. I apologize if I missed something obvious.
According to the online documentation page for Zapplink v4 - http://www.pixologic.com/docs/index.php/ZAppLink - the plugin has the ability to project paint created in an image editor (I’m using Photoshop) “to the model’s PolyPaint or texture for more creative freedom.” This would imply that it is possible to paint directly to texture using projections from Zapplink. Unfortunately, the only method described on that page uses the usual Polypainting.
In this thread - http://www.zbrushcentral.com/showthread.php?t=94234&highlight=directly+texture - fellow forum member Campi was kind enough to outline the process for painting directly in texture space using Zapplink. I also found this process elsewhere (though I apologize for not being able to re-find it), which provides more evidence for the ability to paint directly to a texture without the need for high resolution Polypainting.
For those who don’t wish to leave this thread, the process is basically: turn OFF Polypaint>Colorize, assign a new blank texture to your subtool (which has UVs, of course) at the desired resolution under Tool>Texture, and then use Zapplink.
What I want to clarify is: 1) Does this technique truly result in painting directly to the assigned blank texture, removing the need for a high resolution mesh? 2) If the answer to #1 is yes, is it possible to assign a pre-existing texture map to the subtool under Tool>Texture and use Zapplink to append/modify this pre-existing texture? 3) If you are using this direct-to-texture technique, is it still necessary to have a large document size to maintain texture fidelity from Zapplink to the projection?
Thank you very much for your time and help. I think many people agree that the inability to texture paint independent of mesh resolution is a weakness of ZBrush, and if this technique works it would definitely provide a method for doing so. Cheers.