[Zbrush] how can i SECURE my texture?

mrlemonyfresh

I'm trying to paint a human face (for something completely different)

I successfully made my UV, click the 'new txtr' button in the texture map sub-pallet filled it with a colour and i began painting onto the mesh.

so i was a fair way into blocking in the golden zone, and red zone of the the face when something really weird happened. I'm not sure how exactly it happened but the program stopped me while it began some unwanted operation. When it was done, the texture had changed to a fill colour again. (:poly127:) I tried going back to the texture map pallet, assuming that since it had created the texture that i could simple apply it to the mesh again just like you can apply a tool the canvas but it wasn't to be found, and for some reason i couldn't undo it.

At the moment i am paranoid, as i don't actually know how to ensure that a texture is safe from zbrush's sensitive trigger of destruction.

I also have this problem that i was struggling with/ignoring prior to this:

-when i set a colour, the un-selected subtools become instantly filled with that colour. But I'm guessing it goes away once i give them textures.

cryrid

Polypaint and texture maps are two different things. If you want to paint directly on the map you should be using Polypaint, and only use the Texture Map sub-pallet when you're ready to convert it.

when i set a colour, the un-selected subtools become instantly filled with that colour. But I'm guessing it goes away once i give them textures.

When Polypaint is turned off, the tool will use the currently selected color and material (which makes it a quick way to preview what you have selected). If you want a subtool to remain a specific color, you'll just need to turn on polypaint for that subtool (Tool: polypaint: Colorize, or the little paint brush icon next to the subtool in the Subtool subpallet list).

You can use Color: Fill Object in order to fill a subtool with a specific color and material (use rgb, m, or mrgb depending on what you want to fill).

-Each time i add the texture and have all my settings just as the zbrush documentation asks but i can't add any colour to the object, even though rgb is turned on.

Texture data takes priority over polypaint data. So if you have a texture applied, you have to turn it off in order to see the polypaint again.

mrlemonyfresh

Right, so if the 2d surface of my object becomes one colour again i can get my work back by making sure that polypaint is on and i won't have lost my work?

I'm also experiencing ANOTHER recent issue, mainly just when painting. For some reason symmetry keeps turning itself off even though i'm not pressing X, and i keep having to start over because i don't know how to mirror the texture. Why would it turn itself off like this..?

Thank you for replying so quickly btw

mrlemonyfresh

Another problem: i create a layer, starting painting, then i turn the layer off to see if it works and of course it doesn't. It's like i can only paint on the default base layer. Any solutions for this one as well?

Bartalon

The color of your model changes because the model lacks polypaint data, or you have polypaint disabled. The default color that most matcaps work with is white, so have that color selected if your polypaint data is off/nonexistent.

Symmetry is per SubTool. Switching to a different SubTool will require symmetry to be toggled on again, and should remain on until toggled off. Symmetry settings should also persist through saving/loading tools.

From what I've gathered, polypainting with layers in ZBrush is pretty unfriendly in current versions. Mudbox handles texture layers far better, and quite on par with Photoshop (to include layer blend modes). Can't say anything about other software.

If you are looking to utilize Photoshop layering techniques with polypaint, you can use Document > ZAppLink to take the current perspective of your model into Photoshop and paint on it there. You can't change your view though until you've saved your changes and returned to ZBrush.