Blender + Zbrush

Character Creation Series

Part Three: Texturing

1
 Table of
Contents
Forward 4
Basic introduction to Part Three

PolyPaint Overview 5
What PolyPaint is, and how it works

Painting Skin 6
Techniques for painting skin with PolyPaint

Masking Paint 8
How to mask out areas to PolyPaint

Spotlight Painting 9
How to use the Spotlight feature to get more realistic results

UV Mapping Explained 11
An explanation of one of the more technical parts of 3D character modeling

2
Table of
Contents
UV Master Plugin 12
How to use this powerful Zbrush plugin

Exporting Maps 14
Generate and export your maps from Zbrush

Exporting the Model 17

Exporting the model back into an OBJ file

Video Companion 18
A hyperlink to a video companion for Part Three

Index 20

3
 Forward
Part Three Texturing
In the third part of this tutorial series you will make use of the Zbrush feature
called PolyPaint. Techniques will be discussed for proper skin texturing and
clothing texturing. We’ll also discuss exporting this model out of Blender while
keeping the detail levels high without the insane polycounts Zbrush uses.

4
PolyPaint
Overview
What is PolyPaint?
PolyPainting is a way of adding color, or texture to your model. When using PolyPaint,
you are literally painting the individual polys of your model, just like when sculpting you
are moving the individual polys.
Just like in sculpting, the higher the division levels, or the higher the polycount, the
better the result will be when PolyPainting in Zbrush.

The sphere on the left as only 1 division level, while the sphere on the right has 5 division levels.
You can clearly see how much smoother the PolyPaint is on the right.

5
 Painting
Skin
If you click on any color
in Zbrush you will notice
that the entire model
changes to that color.
This is good for finding a
good base color to start
painting on. You don’t
want to just select a skin
tone and apply it your
model. To create an
interesting surface you
will want to gradually
build up color, just like
when we sculpted the
model and we gradually
built up the shape.
For an organic model I start off with a type of red base color. I will paint veins and skin
in layers over top of the red, which simulates the color of blood, or flesh.
1. Find a good base color to paint off of.
2. On the top menu of the screen click “Color” then “FillObject” to fill the model with
the base color. You can change the base color at anytime by doing this again.
Keep in mind, any other painting you do will be covered up by Filling the Object
again.
3. Select a different color. Notice the model doesn’t change color this time.

6
Painting Skin
Continued
When painting over the base color you don’t want to use 100% color intensity, because
you are slowly building up a level of color. Painting in this way insures variation in color,
because skin is not one color. Technically, skin is made up of multiple thin see through
layers. When painting skin you try to simulate those layers.

4. Select and highlight RGB from

the top Color Intensity Menu.
Now you can paint individual polys.
5. Change the Rgb Intensity to something lower, like 15-20%. Play around with
values to find an intensity you like.
6. To add a bit of variation in color change the Stroke type to either “Spray” or
“Color Spray.” It is a bit messier, and sprays a small variation in color.
7. Selecting an Alpha, such as Alpha 22, or
24 is a great way of building up a mass of
color with great variation for skin color.
8. The Stroke Tool, “DragRect,” is a great
way to keep the shape of the Alpha intact
while you drag the shape onto the model.
This is great for building up a web-like
surface of veins to lightly paint over with
skin color and break up the surface.

7
 Masking
Paint
Using a mask is a great way to section
off an area to paint, or sculpt, without
modifying other areas.
1. Hold CTRL + Click to mask out a
section of the model.
You cannot paint or sculpt in the area that is
masked. It’s a pain to mask every area you
don’t want to paint on, so we’ll invert it.

2. CTRL + Click anywhere off the model

to invert the mask, as shown in the
picture to the right.

Also, ALT + CTRL + Click will erase

masking, just in case you make a mistake
while drawing your mask on the model.

Now you can paint within the limits of the

mask, which is how I made the war paint
for the model, as shown in the picture
below.
3. CTRL + Drag anywhere off the model
to clear the mask when you are done.

8
Spotlight
Painting
Spotlight is a great way to paint using textures in
Zbrush. Using Spotlight you can load photographs
into the program and selectively apply them straight
to the model. You can even edit the photographs in
spotlight to suite your needs. Using a photograph
as a texture is a great way to make your model
look more convincingly real.
1. Under Texture at the top of the screen, select
Import.
2. Choose any photograph/texture you like.
Do not use other people’s photography unless you
have permission.
I used Spotlight to texture the character’s clothing, so I
used a photo of some cloth.
3. In the texture menu click “Add to Spotlight.”
4. Spotlight will load up and your texture will fill the
screen. Browse around the Spotlight ring to select var-
ious options, such as the scale, saturation, intensity,
etc. Click on an option and drag the circle to change
the settings.
5. When you are ready to paint with the texture adjust
the spotlight radius and Press “Z.” Then you can paint
with the texture. To reload the wheel press “Z” again.
To close Spotlight, press Shift + “Z.”
You can load many images into Spotlight, edit them, and
use them as textures.
9
 Spotlight
Continued

In this image I am using an edited photograph supplied with Zbrush called “hessian01”
in spotlight to simulate cloth for the clothing of the character. Spotlight is allowing me
to paint the edited texture directly onto the model. You can see the radius of the photo
within the red circle, showing what part of the texture I am applying to the model.

10
UV Mapping
Explained
A UV Map is the assignment of polygons to an image. Every face of the model is
assigned a certain spot on the image, and that spot on the image is projected on the
model. You have already painted the model so it’s time to turn it into a UV Texture Map.
We’ll need to do this to export the model out of Zbrush and get the Polypainting to
show up in Blender as a texture map. Keep in mind that Blender cannot handle millions
of polys like Zbrush. That’s why we need UV and Texture Maps, to retain the detail
information.
To do that we’ll have to unwrap the model. What this means is essentially flattening the
model out. The texture is assigned to UV Coordinates on a flat image.
As you can see to the left here,
our model is fully textured and
“flattened” out. You can see
the outlines of all the faces and
where they are, flattened out,
on the image. This is a called a
texture map, and you can see
the UV Map right here.
Before Zbrush a character artist
had to manually UV Unwrap a
character on their own. This was
tiring and painstaking.
Fortunately, for us, Zbrush will
automatically create UV Maps
and with a little tweaking we can
get a lot out of this system. This
is great for getting your model
ready to export.

11
 UV Master
Plugin
First you need to decide what division level you will want
to export back to Blender. This depends on the polycount
you want to render. The second division level of my model
was about 12,000 polys. The first level was about 3,000
polys. I went with the second level because of the higher
polycount. This is the amount of polys the model we
export will have, and will look better than a 3,000 poly
model. Anything higher than that is a waste of system
resources. You can experiment to find out how many
polys you think is right to render for your model, however.
1. Lower the division levels to where the polys are
around 10,000.
2. Go to the top of the screen, click Zplugin, and then
click UV Master.
3. UV Master cannot work on a model with multiple
division levels. Click “Work On Clone.” This creates
an exact copy of the model, without division levels.
4. If you click “Unwrap” now, Zbrush will unwrap the
model. Click “Flatten” to view the UV Map. “Unflatten”
returns you to the model.
This result leaves a lot of space on the texture map
untouched, which is basically a waste of image data. It’s bet-
ter to divide up the model into different sections which allows
each section to take up more space.

5. Mask off the feet, hands and head of the model.

These will be the separate groups we make on the
12
UV Map.
UV Master
Continued

On the top left, an unaltered UV Map. Notice all of the 10. Flatten and view the new UV Maps.
wasted space on the page, compared to the image on the
right, an altered UV Map separated into groups that uses Unflatten and return to the model.
more of the page.
The next step is getting these UV Maps
6. Click on the Polygroups menu on onto the real model that has the detail
the right. information, and not just on the clone.
11. On the UV Master menu, click
7. Choose “Group Masked.”
“Copy UVs.”
8. Highlight “Polygroups” and un- 12. Return to the original model, and
highlight “Symmetry” under the UV click “Paste UVs.” The original model
Master menu. now has the same UV Maps.
9. Unwrap the model again.
13
 Exporting
Maps
Since Blender uses much lower polycounts we’ll use image maps to fake the details
of a model with millions of polys. We are going to export three different types of image
maps for use in Blender. The maps include a texture map, normal map, and finally a
displacement map.

A texture map holds all of your color data. A normal map effects the way light falls on
the surface of a model, which fake the shadows of little details like skin pores. A
displacement map literally effects the placement of your polys by morphing, or displacing
them into a different shape, faking the appearance of a model with millions of polys.

The model on the left is about 12,000 polys with texture, normal, and displacement maps (in Zbrush) The
model on the right is about 12,000,000 polys without the maps. As you can see, it is possible to get the
performance benefits of a low poly model with the details of a high poly model by using different maps.

14
Exporting Maps
Continued
When exporting maps the bigger the image the more detail and information it can hold,
sort of like how a high definition film looks better than a low resolution film. The higher
the resolution of the map means more detail for your character, at the cost of system ram. For
a character like this where you want details to be crisp and well defined, a texture resolution
of 4096X4096 px works well. If your system is not as powerful you can use a texture resolu-
tion of 2048X2048 px. Resolutions like this are only for rendering, not for gaming.
1. Under the UV Map menu on the far right, click 4096. This
will set the exported texture size to 4096X4096 px.
2. Change the model’s
division levels to the highest
level. This is the highest level
of detail of the polypaint.
3. Under the Texture Map
menu click “Create.” More
options will appear.
4. Clearly we want to
create our Texture Map from the Polypaint, so select
“New From Polypaint.”
You’ll see the map appear in the little square window.
5. Click “Clone Txtr.” This will send a copy of the texture
map to the Texture Menu at the top of the screen.
6. Select the new Texture Map from the Texture Menu, and
select “Flip Vertically.” This is because maps are flipped
in Blender, so we need to flip them before we export them.
7. Finally, click “Export.” Name it something like
“Character_texture.jpg” or .bmp. Blender reads either format. Click “ok.” The Texture
Map is now saved. Jpg files are much lower in filesize, because it is a lossy format.
15
 Exporting Maps
Continued
To export Displacement and Normal Maps:
1. Lower the Division Levels to 1. When creating detail
maps like this, you are basically saying that you want the
highest level of detail applied to the lowest level of detail.

2. Find the Displacement Map menu. Click “Create

DispMap.” The map will appear in the square.
3. Click “Clone Disp.” The map, since it is a Non-RGB
file will be sent to the Alpha Palette on the left side of
the screen.
4. Select the map from the Alpha Palette. Click on
“Make Tx.”
5. Under the Texture Menu at the top of the screen,
flip the Displacement Map vertically, and Export it.
Name it Character_disp.jpg or .bmp.
6. Find the Normal Map menu. Uncheck “SmoothUV.”
Click “Create NormalMap.”
7. Once created, click “Clone NM.”
8. Under the Texture Menu at the top of the screen,
find the normal map, flip it vertically and then export
it as Character_nor.jpg or .bmp.

16
Exporting
The Model
Finally we will export the model out of
Zbrush as an OBJ so it can be imported
back into Blender. Remember to get UV
Maps for all of your subtools as well, and
export the texture, displacement and
normal maps for them.
1. Lower the Division Level to the
level that you made the clone earlier.
2. Click “Export” on the Tool Menu.
The model is now exported as an OBJ
file, and has UV Maps.
Before we continue you may want to
create other assets, such as weaponry,
teeth, eyes, etc. Follow the same steps
as before. All models can be made start-
ing with a basemesh, exporting out
to Zbrush, sculpting and texturing,
uvmapping, and exporting back to
Blender.

17
 Video
Companion
When it comes to art, some things are better off being visual rather than being written
about in a guide. If you are having trouble with some of these techniques I have
supplied a video to re-irritate the focus of this tutorial. Check it out right here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwngjDrirdA

18
 To be
Continued...
That’s all for Part Three! By now you should have the knowledge
to Polypaint, UV Unwrap and export maps from Zbrush. In Part
Four of this series we will look at how to bring the model back into
Blender and set it up using the Cycles Rendering Engine!

19
 Index
C R
Clone 12 Rgb Intensity 7
Color Spray 7
Copy UVs 13 S
Spotlight 9, 10
D Spray 7
DragRect 7
T
E Texture Map 15
Exporting Displacement Map 16 Texture Resolution 15
Exporting Maps 14, 15, 16
Exporting Normal Map 16 U
Exporting Polypaint 15 Unflatten UVs 12
Exporting Texture Map 15 UV Mapping 11
Export OBJ 17 UV Master 12, 13
UV Unwrapping 11
F
FillObject 6 Z
Flatten UVs 12 Zplugin 12

M
Masking 8

P
Paste UVs 13
Polygroups 13
PolyPaint 5, 6, 7

20