Texture painting - alternative to ZBrush/Substance Painter?
polycounter lvl 12
Hi guys,
In short like the title says: What's your currently preferred method of painting textures and materials?
I'm currently using either ZBrush or Substance Designer/Painter.
ZBrush of course to polypaint models and bake that (and then go over it with Photoshop because ZBrush often does not give enough options to tweak painted color values for me). Also no layer export - at least not at all smooth.
Substance Painter I also love very much because it's a really good technical material creator. But there lies also my current problem with it. It's best at procedural object texturing.
As soon as things get into organic materials (faces and skin) it starts falling appart and feel somewhat clunky for me. Maybe I'm using it wrong in that regard or maybe it's not there, yet. Either way I am looking for a more flexible way to maybe extend my current pipeline for my own projects at home (work currently is too techical so I need to counter-weight that).
I know there is 3D Coat, Mari (indie), Quixel, Blender (?) and Mudbox ... and maybe a lot of others.
Before I get into testing each one of these myself (you know how time consuming it is to really get to know new software) I'd also love to hear what you folks like to use first and also why.
So what do you like to use currently?
Do you use it for character art as well?
What do you love or hate about it?
In short like the title says: What's your currently preferred method of painting textures and materials?
I'm currently using either ZBrush or Substance Designer/Painter.
ZBrush of course to polypaint models and bake that (and then go over it with Photoshop because ZBrush often does not give enough options to tweak painted color values for me). Also no layer export - at least not at all smooth.
Substance Painter I also love very much because it's a really good technical material creator. But there lies also my current problem with it. It's best at procedural object texturing.
As soon as things get into organic materials (faces and skin) it starts falling appart and feel somewhat clunky for me. Maybe I'm using it wrong in that regard or maybe it's not there, yet. Either way I am looking for a more flexible way to maybe extend my current pipeline for my own projects at home (work currently is too techical so I need to counter-weight that).
I know there is 3D Coat, Mari (indie), Quixel, Blender (?) and Mudbox ... and maybe a lot of others.
Before I get into testing each one of these myself (you know how time consuming it is to really get to know new software) I'd also love to hear what you folks like to use first and also why.
So what do you like to use currently?
Do you use it for character art as well?
What do you love or hate about it?
Replies
I tried it again just a week or so ago (was actually what spurred me to create the 3DC applink). I think it could be good if there was a way to have custom hotkeys that were enabled only when it was running, otherwise my keymap is pretty full with modeling tools already.
You can set a path to Photoshop in 3DC in Prefs; then you can press CTRL+P to jump your diffuse layers to Photoshop at any time. When you CTRL+S in Photoshop, it will immediately be updated in 3DC as well (and the photoshop instance can be closed at this point too). You can paint specular glossiness & roughness as well, but those dont have (by default) keyboard shortcuts IIRC. To paint in 3DC itself, you need to be in the correct "room" called "Paint" and you'll want to look into Smart Materials there.
3DC supports the same blending modes as in Photoshop, so they will carry. Sadly, masks will not (in 3DC you apply masks differently) but it will be there eventually and there are some semi-set-and-forget workarounds until then.
If you get adventurous, you can sculpt in it as well, bake too. I switched over to it because I could not get used to the alien GUI of Zbrush even after several months of usage.
http://pixexix.sophiehoulden.com
If you have no money, painting in Blender is probably a better idea. You can paint in both 3D or via projection with another app.
Someone should add that tool you posted to the wiki tools page though (I don't think I have an account on it anymore so can't do it myself).
3D-Coat is also really nice for Pbr and also non-Pbr Painting stuff.
You could probably also use Blender but its slow with bigger Texture Sizes and layers are not really Possible right now.
I don't plan on spending too much at the Moment but I don't Need to go for free at all costs. An optimal workflow is more important than spending a few bucks. I just don't plan to invest in the Mari Professional class if it's not necessary.
Since I've never worked with 3DCoat so far:
How do the paint Tools compare to ZBrush?
Can 3DCoat also paint Polygons directly or does it use only voxels - or does it do both?
Is the layer System able to use masks and blends and can it also Export all the layers to PSD flawlessly?
Have any of you worked with Mari Indie?
If so does it compare good enough to the Studio Version or does it also have some odd "indie" limitations like Maya LT's triangle Export limt?
it is (IMO) quite severely limited: http://steamcommunity.com/app/289550/discussions/2/624076851317052780/ also not really what i'd choose to texture with unless the requirement is to work towards a strict photorealistic look using photosourced textures and if your asset requires a very complex texture job as in high resolution/many patches. that's something other programs just can't handle.
for typical character work i use 3d paint mostly for quick and dirty jobs, to lay down foundations and cover up seams. for fine tuning nothing beats the photoshop/krita feel of brushes and their editing functionality in my opinion. the 3d painters all seem to lack here or there in the paint tools or in general flexibility.
i use mudbox, btw. easy to pick up and 'does the job'.
i also have substance painter kicking around but for working on skin and doing actual painting i can't use that. it's more like a cool tool to create masks for blending between materials to me. doesn't cover up seams nicely either in my experience.
perhaps i'll pick up substance designer in the next fire sale to make it more useful to me.
3DCoat can paint pixels (raster), vertex colors (polypaint), or ptex (uv-less resolution independent painting).
The layer system supports blending modes just like Photoshop, as well as layer groups, and can be exported/imported as a PSD easily. Masks however use a unique system and are not transferable via PSD, except as regular non-mask layers.
I think I will give the 3D Coat demo a shot.
@Thomasp: Yeah I see that about Marie Indie. Mesh, UDIM and exchange limitations are really pretty crippling, unfortunately. Especially the Steam account node lock. Maya LT at least can exchange with any MayaLT. It seems like 3D Coat might be the better option, anyways.
I hardly use shortcuts while I work so just clicking works for me. I am more of a mouse/tablet person than keyboard. Can't someone come up with a script for this or its gonna be impossible to do so.
To me this feels weird because I am totally a hotkey person - and I know that Snefer is also a total hotkey nut (looking at his modo modeling sessions and training videos).
To each their own. While it is anoying to set up hotkeys dedicated to layouts/workspaces can be really awesome, though. I've started scrathing the surface of customizing modo to my personal needs but it's already improved my experience so tremendously.
Aaaanyways. That was off-topic. 3DS fo me personally is out of the Picture, anyways.