Side by side Texture to Model creation

Benjamin86 · Jul 2015

Hi Guys

I've been poking around trying to find a method of having side by side texture painting to a 3D surface. Effectively what Zbrush does but not painting on the 3D mesh, just painting on the UV layout and having a representation view?

I know there is inbuilt aspects of 3Dmax that can do such a thing, but not for the type of textures I wish to create, specifically hand painted textures.

Does anyone have any creative ways which they solve this problem or know of any already made solutions? I would love to be able to texture Photoshop and have it instantly update in 3Dmax as I create.

I feel I am going to have a hard time grasping flattened mapping texturing and am looking to ease this transition a little.

Let me know your thoughts! Go team Polycount!

Eric Chadwick · Jul 2015

Photoshop has a 3d view, have you tried it? Which version do you have?

I think Mudbox has a 2d paint view. I know C4D has one.

coljwood · Jul 2015

Both Substance Painter and 3D Coat offer the ability to paint in 3D and 2D viewports, right?

Benjamin86 · Jul 2015

I have Photoshop CS6 and Max 2013 I think.. that sounds awesome for PS, can I load a mesh into the 3D view?

Thanks for the Substance Painter tip! Going to look that up now, would you recommend it as being as extensive as Photoshop for its 2D capabilities?

pior · Jul 2015

Broadly speaking there are 3 ways to work on "handpainted" textures.

- Painting straight on the UV layout in Photoshop, while previewing the results (and eventually adjusting the UVs when needed) in a 3D app like Max or Maya, or a viewer like Marmoset.
- Painting on the model directly in 3D space, like with Zbrush polypainting and almost every 3D painting app (good for broad coloring)
- Painting on a 2D screenshot of the 3D model in Photoshop, later reprojected to the mesh (good for accurate painting). This is extremely useful stuff, and most 3d painting apps can do that too.

Which one are you trying to achieve, which art/asset style do you need to work with, and which programs do you have access to ?

[edit] - just saw that you have access to Max and Photoshop. From what I have experienced, these are serviceable but not very fluid when it comes to 3d painting, so you might have to invest in something a bit more specialized.

Also and despite the name, Substance Painter is not really a 3d painting app in the traditional sense. It *is* fantastic for mask-based texturing with smart materials as well as detailing and weathering, but is not really made for "handpainted" work.

iadagraca · Jul 2015

Actually Photoshop CS6 and CC lets you paint on both the model and on the canvas and get live results on both so you can go back and forth.

It's not perfect though and sometimes i get a desync, if not for mudbox and other options having better performance it would be tops for me for handpainted textures.

In mudbox and blender you can export, reimport, or reload your textures to a image editing app.

Mud box doesn't seem to permit 2d painting but you can make your model look like UV's and paint that way which is technically not 2D cause you're still in the canvas view.

Benjamin86 · Jul 2015

[FONT=&quot]

pior wrote: »

Broadly speaking there are 3 ways to work on "handpainted" textures.

- Painting straight on the UV layout in Photoshop, while previewing the results (and eventually adjusting the UVs when needed) in a 3D app like Max or Maya, or a viewer like Marmoset.
- Painting on the model directly in 3D space, like with Zbrush polypainting and almost every 3D painting app (good for broad coloring)
- Painting on a 2D screenshot of the 3D model in Photoshop, later reprojected to the mesh (good for accurate painting). This is extremely useful stuff, and most 3d painting apps can do that too.

Which one are you trying to achieve, which art/asset style do you need to work with, and which programs do you have access to ?

[edit] - just saw that you have access to Max and Photoshop. From what I have experienced, these are serviceable but not very fluid when it comes to 3d painting, so you might have to invest in something a bit more specialized.

Also and despite the name, Substance Painter is not really a 3d painting app in the traditional sense. It *is* fantastic for mask-based texturing with smart materials as well as detailing and weathering, but is not really made for "handpainted" work.

Thanks for the breakdown here, I get what you mean about Substance painter now that it isnt about detail making as much as it is broad uses of textures and marks.
Whilst I havent ventured beyond the general texure creation pipleine of UV screenshot to Photoshop, re-export back to 3Dsmax I was hoping that there was a more fluid pipeline program/method in the mix to start on.

I do like the look of Marmoset as a model viewer as well as a portfolio showcases, and have after looking it up, have found some Digital Tutors courses that have it as part of the mix.

If anyone has any particular methods they use to have quickened their process of flat 2D texturing to 3D meshes please let me know![/FONT]

Benjamin86 · Jul 2015

iadagraca wrote: »

Actually Photoshop CS6 and CC lets you paint on both the model and on the canvas and get live results on both so you can go back and forth.

It's not perfect though and sometimes i get a desync, if not for mudbox and other options having better performance it would be tops for me for handpainted textures.

In mudbox and blender you can export, reimport, or reload your textures to a image editing app.

Mud box doesn't seem to permit 2d painting but you can make your model look like UV's and paint that way which is technically not 2D cause you're still in the canvas view.

Thanks iadagraca ill check these out! I dont need to to be minutely detailed but want to work 2D instead of 3D to get a better understand of my actions taking effect whilst I learn the texturing process more thoroughly.

Tzur_H · Jul 2015

I'm pretty sure MARI does what you're looking for. You can have a split of Orthographic/UV view and paint on either and see updates on the corresponding areas on the fly.

DavidCruz · Jul 2015

Just adding in other ways for variety.
A Half and Half open layout of Photoshop and Marmoset(with adjusted settings for no shadowing,ect,ect for hand painted stuff)

Cinema 4D's Body Paint 3D was a good old fav for many.

People say Blenders Painting is worth a shot, (once you learn the u.i.)

TZur that's cool i'll check Mari out, if i can.

If you are awesome you can do this zbrush "bodypaint" cheat by just adding subd's in zbrush and paint away what you need.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySiQlTbLEXQ

Justin Meisse · Aug 2015

While 3DCoat's paint mode is primarily for painting on a model it also has a window showing your texture that you can paint on. It's slightly finicky because it won't let you brush past uv borders in the Texture View ( I think it used to be called UV view).

3DCoat also lets do projection painting from within Photoshop. It's a pretty great program.

seth. · Aug 2015

Mudbox works pretty well for 3d painting too, I have seen people add a flat plane that shares materials with the 3d object that they are painting so that they can paint in 2 and 3d at the same time.

Side by side Texture to Model creation

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