Texturing

Polypainting

Polypainting allows painting on a model’s surface without first assigning a texture map. A texture map can be created at a later time, and the painted surface can be transferred to the map. Polypainting offers significant advantages compared to standard workflow.

The resolution of the texture map need not be decided in advance. This is particularly valuable if you find you need more detailing on an area than you thought you would. Instead of repainting a new, larger texture map, you can simply transfer the existing surface painting to a new, larger map, with no rework necessary.

Similarly, the UV unwrapping need not be fixed in advance. If one unwrapping proves unsatisfactory, simply create a different unwrapping and transfer the surface painting to that map. Removing UVs from your model frees up system resources and allows you to work with even more polygons!

To understand how polypainting works, first consider a 2048 by 2048 texture map, which provides reasonable resolution. It has a total of a little over 4 million pixels.

If you work with a 4 million polygon model, then in terms of surface painting, simply assigning each polygon a uniform color gives the same amount of information as the 4 million pixel texture map. (Actually, somewhat more, since significant parts of texture maps are typically left blank.)

So, with polypainting, you can put all of the painting details directly onto the model’s polygons, and then transfer that detail to a texture map when the painting is complete.

 

Spotlight

The innovative SpotLight painting system enables image editing in ZBrush and then allows you to project the image to the surface of the model using the intuitive sculpting and painting brushes.

SpotLight goes beyond being just a texturing tool. Imported images can be altered, layered, and precisely positioned. Adjust the hue and intensity, color match other images, clone, tile, and color key to create entirely new images.

Use these images to project color on any part of your model. Use symmetry to apply skin color, tattoos and more to both sides of a face or character at once!

SpotLight is almost deceptively simple to work with. The interface puts everything you need right at your fingertips and provides real-time feedback for precise control. It will be your knowledge of its various features that will allow you to truly unleash your painting abilities.

 

UV Master

When creating or using a texture map, a 3D model needs UVs. These are 2D coordinates that tell all 3D applications how to apply a texture to your model. Until now, the process of creating those UVs has been a time consuming challenge that requires a high level of technical expertise and has little room for creativity.

The UV Master plugin will create very efficient UVs for your models with a single click. You can quickly and easily create excellent UV maps which are suitable for painting in a 2D painting program if you prefer to work that way. With UV Master’s cutting-edge technology you can leave all the technical work to the computer.