So far I've been using just Photoshop/GIMP for texturing poser figures and items, but of course this is rather limited because I don't get a real time preview of the model with the texture.

What I'm most interested in is being able to paint over seams, which in photoshop is complicated.

What 3D texturing software do you recommend/use? I tried Bodypaint about two years ago but really couldn't get the hang of it, also tried 3D coat and found it to resource heavy, never tried ZBrush. Now I'm looking to try again and would appreciate your opinion and experience.

Thanks.

Have a look at this one. Never tried it my self since I use zbrush, but from what I've heard it's really good.

http://www.renderosity.com/mod/bcs/blacksmith3d-pro-v5/102454/

I'm confused. Photoshop clearly has 3d painting.

What version? Always say what version any time you mention any software at all.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mD39wgDoiHE

Good question, I don't remeber the exact versions, they were trials I tried about two years ago, including the Photoshop 3D painting (CS4), which I found rather slow in performance, loading a Poser figure, even a few body parts, would leave the scene slowing down a lot, making the canvas unresponsive.

Has Photoshop improved the 3D preview since CS4?

I'm willing to learn a new software package that would help me improve my experience texturing poser figures, so I'd like to hear opinions about what people here have tried or are working with.

I guess something that bridges with Photoshop, exposing all it's brushes and tools would be ideal.

Quote - Have a look at this one. Never tried it my self since I use zbrush, but from what I've heard it's really good.

http://www.renderosity.com/mod/bcs/blacksmith3d-pro-v5/102454/

That looks interesting, thanks fot the link!

I'd say give Blacksmith3D that Ghostman gave the link to a try (free demo version). It's pretty easy to learn, was designed to work with Poser content, and won't break the bank. It's no 3dCoat or zBrush or BodyPaint, but the tool set is very focused, which makes the learning curve a lot less painful.

I've use it (not as much as I should), and am very happy with my purchase. It's realatively simple to learn/use, and works well with Poser content, and makes fixing texture seems quite easy.

Quixel finally released their beta of the DDO/NDO tools for Photoshop. You could give those a whirl as well. It does require a triangulated mesh, but you can use the resulting maps on a quad version of the mesh. http://quixel.de

3D Coat also seems to be a popular app.

Quote - I'm confused. Photoshop clearly has 3d painting.

Only in the 'Extended' versions of CS3-CS6, and CC. I only have CS5E and CS6E so I'm not sure how well it works in CS3E or CS4E.

i think photoshop has the 'Extended' versions in it now,i think

zBrush has polypaint and spotlight

spotlight has a streek across 90 degree angles .
so i texture in gimp
fix the seems in zBrush

for monsters spotlights good.
no layers thou.
I'd try the demo

if ya didn't like maxon bodypaint probably wouldn't like photoshop

i'm probably will get photoshop ,it's $20 $30 a month i think.

i hate texturung in any app thou.

Blender can also paint directly on the object file.
But the tools are limited.

Do a google search for : "youtube blender3D painting"

Or a youtube search on Blender3D painting

Pay attention to the projection painting tools.
There is a fine example of a horse being painted.
And some examples of faces too.

And one of a sword being painted.

How good is ZBrush for texturing? do professionals use it for that purpose?

And wow, quixel looks amazing, I had never heard of it before.

@Hioushi: Yes, ZBrush is used for texturing. Spotlight is an awesome tool. I don't know what RorrKonn is talking about with the 90 degree "streek" in spotlight - I've never experienced that and I do all my texturing in ZBrush. The only glitch I've found with it is a line that will shoot off across your work randomly, every so often, but that has to do with the tablet you're using and can be fixed just by hitting an undo once or twice. ZB has unlimited undo history. Most of the latest CG hollywood films (Avatar, Iron man, etc, etc) use Zbrush for their modeling and texturing. That or Mudbox.

But if you're not a modeler, and are only looking for texturing, then ZB is a bit of an overkill on price @$700. For just texturing work, and a bit of morphing, I'd probably go with blacksmith3D. I've never used it cause I have ZBrush and don't need it, so I can't comment on how good or bad it is, but several folks seem to be using it. 

~Shane

Yes, ZBrush is way out of my price range, but I was curious if it was used for that purpose.

The company I work for does have ZBrush licenses at the design department so I could play with it for a while. I know it does have a learning curve though.

Quote - @Hioushi: Yes, ZBrush is used for texturing. Spotlight is an awesome tool. I don't know what RorrKonn is talking about with the 90 degree "streek" in spotlight - I've never experienced that and I do all my texturing in ZBrush. The only glitch I've found with it is a line that will shoot off across your work randomly, every so often, but that has to do with the tablet you're using and can be fixed just by hitting an undo once or twice. ZB has unlimited undo history. Most of the latest CG hollywood films (Avatar, Iron man, etc, etc) use Zbrush for their modeling and texturing. That or Mudbox.

But if you're not a modeler, and are only looking for texturing, then ZB is a bit of an overkill on price @$700. For just texturing work, and a bit of morphing, I'd probably go with blacksmith3D. I've never used it cause I have ZBrush and don't need it, so I can't comment on how good or bad it is, but several folks seem to be using it. 

 

~Shane

AmbientShade : spotlight a cube and get all six sides edges textures to match so there's no seems & ya get what I'm talking about.

oh and you half to leave it a cube with sharp 90 degree angles no morphing it in to a ball.

Hioushi : Each studio has it's own work flow ,that changes alot.
studio's are always looking for a faster better way.
I could give you a bunch of url's to software ya probably never herd of.

Anyways your making ya own home grown studio.
& I am fixen too ,wish I had $100,000.00 to spend on my own home grown studio
but since i'm poor...

I don't know what ya texturing.
I'll paint monsters in zBrush ,but I would not use zBrush for mechs.
if you like zBrush ,does all ya need and it clicks with you then ...
try the demos and get what clicks with you.

zBrush & MudBox does the same thing.
All studios #1 use of zBrush or MudBox is for
Vector Maps in movies .
Normal Maps in games.
They might texture in zBrush depends on what there texturing.

If you can't afford ZBrush, but BlackSmith3D is too limited for you, then I'd say try 3DCoat, it's pretty awesome. Close to Zbrush, yet not as expensive.

When I used it, I had no problem creating detailed textures for Poser figures and props with 3DCoat. I stopped creating items for Poser, so I sold my 3DCoat license, but I often regret having done so :(

Hioushi : So you get a idea of how things go with the Pros.
2012 ,2013 more then a few zBrushers got 3DCoat for 3DCoats retopology tools.
3DCoat is famous for there very good retopology tools.

2013 ,2014 with in a year some would say 3DCoat retopology tech is old tech.

I still model in C4D 9 ancient tech ,LOL

Quote - If you can't afford ZBrush, but BlackSmith3D is too limited for you, then I'd say try 3DCoat, it's pretty awesome. Close to Zbrush, yet not as expensive.

When I used it, I had no problem creating detailed textures for Poser figures and props with 3DCoat. I stopped creating items for Poser, so I sold my 3DCoat license, but I often regret having done so :(

Yes. Very much recommend 3DCoat. I've used it to paint figures to use in Carrara, which also is compatible with Poser. I find the interface to be well desiged. The layers used in painting textures is very similar to Photoshop.

@ RorrKonn - as I understand it, Spotlight in ZB is a projection tool, literally like shining a torch onto a surface. If you want to paint around corners without smearing, you have to constantly rotate the model.

An app that hasn't been mentioned is Allegorithmic's Substance Painter - it's not really suitable for Poser figures as it has no way of working with multiple UV maps, but it is still in beta so there is always a chance of that functionality in the future. It's also currently limited to 2k resolution (4k and 8k are planned according to the devs), but the big advantage is being able to paint multiple channels of your choice with a single brushstroke - eg. paint colour, height, specularity etc all at once from brushes, stencils or particle effects. It's got a ways to go yet, but worth being aware of IMO.

For the people here who paint with ZBrush - which model resolution do you use for painting, for which map size?

Zbrush painting is assigning colour to the vertices of the mesh, so the rough rule of thumb is 1 poly = 1 pixel. So a 4096 x 4096 pixel map = over 16 million polys. Then factor in how much of the UV space the model occupies - if it's 60% then your minimum poly count would need to be in the region of 10 million. (This is based on advice from Zbrush Central docs and Scott Spencer's book.)

V4 for example has three main maps covering head and body - to paint and generate a detailed 4k set of maps would take more polys than my system can handle (32Gb RAM) so I would have to use HD geometry. The advantage is poly count into the tens if not hundreds of millions but you then lose the ability to paint using layers and can only paint smaller areas of the mesh at once.

So the map size and way that the mesh is UV'd will indicate the resolution needed to get good maps. The advantage to vertex painting is that you don't need UV's until you want to turn the paint into a texture map; the disadvantage is system resources required for larger map sizes.

As usual, different apps and workflows have their own pros and cons.

Quote - 2012 ,2013 more then a few zBrushers got 3DCoat for 3DCoats retopology tools.
3DCoat is famous for there very good retopology tools.

2013 ,2014 with in a year some would say 3DCoat retopology tech is old tech.

Respectfully I would have to disagree with you on that one. I have both Zbrush and 3dCoat and am proficient with both, and I can still bang out topologys in half the time with 3dCoat than it takes me with Zbrush.

But as with anything each app is suitable to each artists particular whims and ways.

Quote - @ RorrKonn - as I understand it, Spotlight in ZB is a projection tool, literally like shining a torch onto a surface. If you want to paint around corners without smearing, you have to constantly rotate the model.

That works on a sphere but not a cube.

Ya can mask 5 sides of a cube but then ya seems don't match.

I've been asking this question for years now.

Never gotten an answer that works ,yet.

Quote - > Quote - Hioushi : So you get a idea of how things go with the Pros.

2012 ,2013 more then a few zBrushers got 3DCoat for 3DCoats retopology tools.
3DCoat is famous for there very good retopology tools.
2013 ,2014 with in a year some would say 3DCoat retopology tech is old tech.
I still model in C4D 9 ancient tech ,LOL

.

Respectfully I would have to disagree with you on that one. I have both Zbrush and 3dCoat and am proficient with both, and I can still bang out topologys in half the time with 3dCoat than it takes me with Zbrush.

But as with anything each app is suitable to each artists particular whims and ways.

I was just saying what some others had said.
Wasn't meant to sound like it was what I said.
I've never claimed to be proficient with any app.
Well , ah ,no I even sux at note pad.
Crayons maybe ;)

Quote - Zbrush painting is assigning colour to the vertices of the mesh, so the rough rule of thumb is 1 poly = 1 pixel. So a 4096 x 4096 pixel map = over 16 million polys. Then factor in how much of the UV space the model occupies - if it's 60% then your minimum poly count would need to be in the region of 10 million. (This is based on advice from Zbrush Central docs and Scott Spencer's book.)

V4 for example has three main maps covering head and body - to paint and generate a detailed 4k set of maps would take more polys than my system can handle (32Gb RAM) so I would have to use HD geometry. The advantage is poly count into the tens if not hundreds of millions but you then lose the ability to paint using layers and can only paint smaller areas of the mesh at once.

So the map size and way that the mesh is UV'd will indicate the resolution needed to get good maps. The advantage to vertex painting is that you don't need UV's until you want to turn the paint into a texture map; the disadvantage is system resources required for larger map sizes.

As usual, different apps and workflows have their own pros and cons.

You guys lost me there, is it possible to create a 4k texture in ZBrush for a Poser figure with less than 32Gb of RAM?

Yes it is. I have about 12 (maybe 16) on mine and I create 4k textures all the time.

not my words but zBrushes

Highly Recommended:

RAM: 2048MB required for working with multi-million-polys.
6 GB recommended. (ZBrush 4 is a 32-bit application, but can use up to 4 GB of system RAM)

http://pixologic.com/zbrush/system/

This is me talking.
So even if ya have more then 4 GB of system RAM zBrush wount use it anyways ,Right ?

I'm not a pro, but Blacksmith 3d works fine, once you get your head around how to use it ....;)

I don't have any of the other programs listed so take my sixpence with a grain of salt.

Quote - I'm not a pro, but Blacksmith 3d works fine, once you get your head around how to use it ....;)

I don't have any of the other programs listed so take my sixpence with a grain of salt.

All are opinions alt to be taken with a grain of salt.
That's why there's youtube & demos :)