Is there anyway to copy/paste layers between images, or import one picture into another.
Can you allocate more than one material per object? and if so how?
Is there a way to add area to the border of an image? Ie go from a 640x480 image to a 1320x960 image without scaling the contents of the original image, just adding additional space?
Thanks
John
Hello JohnArtbox,
If I understand your 1st question correctly - you want to merge 2 ZBrush documents? This cannot be done. If you are asking can you bring an image into a document - yes. 1st import the texture via the texture palette and leave it selected - 2nd create a new layer and select the “flat” material then press layer>modifiers>fill. You may need to displace_Z this layer (under layer>modifiers) with a positive number to put it behind your other layers. You’re probably aware layer order doesn’t matter, only Z depth does.
“More than one material per object”? again I’m not sure what you are asking. I think you mean to add a second material while still in edit mode? Some people here do that but I don’t. To add a 2nd material press color>fill object while in edit mode and you may use a 2nd - 3rd etc material. Note however, that using this method the color is added on a polygon basis - a polygon is filled or it isn’t - this can lead to jagged textures because your level of detail is decided by the size of the polygons. My preferred method is to select the overall material/color for the object - freeze it on the canvas then paint the additional materials.
You cannot add space to a document without resizing. However you should not see this as a limitation. My basic method is this - In a small canvas (800x600) I place my models and use a marker for each object. If any object will be positioned in front or behind another object (especially if they have different materials) they are placed on a different layer. Each layer may have many objects but none overlap. Each object in a layer may be at a different Z depth.
When ready to paint I resize to 2048x1536 (or whatever you prefer) then clear (ctrl-N) each layer then using the markers, drop each object back into the layers. The way to add the additional space is to resize the document as desired - drop your object - remove the marker - move the object to the new location - add a new marker. This method would be tedious if you had mucho objects but in a scene such as your character study it could be done in minutes.
Hope this helps 
jd
Thanks for the excellent tip on using markers in that manner Impending, cool.
I have definetely wished in the past to be able to use a layer, with all depth information in another document. That would be a great addition to Zbrush to have an export/import layer option. So consider that one of my WISH lists. Probably wouldn’t be to hard to add.
Kurisu had an excellent tutorial on blending materials but I am not sure it made it to Upham’s PDF files. (links to which may be found at Z-Place) It consisted of using the ShadingEnhancerTool and multiple layers.