ZBrushCentral

how do we blend materials?

ZBrush Artworks
#1

greetings. I’ve had zbrush for about 4 days. It really is intuitive! =)

I have been trying to link a shiny material with a matte one in a smooth way, both on one 3d object. I currently use a third material between them customized so that its specular is high enough to be shiny, but low enough to blend with the matte material. It works for me for the time being.

However, I’d really appreciate if someone came up with a way of seamlessly blending materials together.

Btw, in case a message on this topic has already been posted, don’t answer me. That will teach me not going through the entire forum. :wink:

Thanks, and I really love the work you are all doing here.

#2

Heh heh. All I’ll say, then, is that there is and answer to your question online. In fact, it was within the last 10 days, and the question was probably best answered by Muvlo. Happy hunting! :slight_smile:

(By the way, there’s a search feature that you can use in the links at the top of each page here at ZBCentral. That’ll help.)

Oh, and the most important thing: Welcome! :smiley:

#3

aurick, thanx a million.
I feel welcome already :smiley:
Er… I know about the search engine. It’s just that I was a bit dense this morning. lmao.
I checked the article. I’d be grateful if someone could now explain if the result image is a 3d model with blended materials (which is what I need) or a 2d pic.

tx again.

#4

'Morning Cneofotistos . . . :slight_smile:

I don’t know which “Blending” post you were reading, but if it had the image, ( below ), in it then I used PhotoShop to do the blending. After rendering two different versions of the same image in ZBrush, each one with a different Material, exporting each one, I then imported each image into PhotoShop where I then did the blending. At this time there is no way to do “Material Blending”, to my satisfaction, in ZBrush. :rolleyes:

There is in the works for a future upgrade version, a tool which will allow the “Blending” of different Materials. I don’t know how soon, but it will be a new feature. :wink:

I hope this helps some? Have a good one & I’ll see’ya later . . . :cool: Mark.

#5

There is another way to create visual blends between materials, using the Clone Tool.

Start by creating your scene using one of the materials (in this case, material 63):

Now, press the “DUP” button in Layer:Inventory to duplicate the layer. In Layer:Modifiers, move the entire duplicate layer BACK 1 pixol, by typing 1 in the Z Offset slider.

Bake the layer. Now you have what amounts to a 3D “snapshot” of your scene, frozen at this point in the creation process.

Return to your original layer. Using the SimpleBrush in Draw:M mode (ZADD, ZSUB and ZCUT are turned off)…

paint the scene with a new material. Bake it.

Choose the Clone tool, and in the Modifiers sub-palette turn on Layers mode, and turn off Retain Center. Turn off ZADD (and ZCUT and ZSUB).

CTRL-click at one point on your image. Click again on the same point, and wherever you paint will be cloned from the other layer.

I’ve used a lot of words to describe this, but it’s really a simple process. Duplicate, offset, bake. Return to layer 1, modify, bake, then clone.

You can use this same procedure to blend textures with textures together, or even textures with materials.

Hope some of you will find this helpful. For your convenience, here’s this advice in a recorded ZScript: Click Here.
dave

#6

Hi Davey . . . :slight_smile:

Thanks loads for the tip & ZScript! :wink:

I have tried a very similar procedure to the one you explained, except for the “DUP” action & the “OffSet” action, ( that I wasn’t aware of ), with unacceptable results. I will now give your ZScript a view, then try your example. :smiley:

There is so much to absorb & remember, & so much more that is even unknown about the workings of ZBrush. I think that an in depth “Manual”, sooner or later will be necessary to fully understand all that ZBrush can & will do. :rolleyes:

Again, I thank you & you have a good one . . . :cool: Mark.

#7

welcome cneofotistos :smiley: thank you for bringing this up!
and… thank you Davey for this obviously superduper inhouse method for blending materials AND textures, too! what a bonus! :smiley: + :+1: :+1: :+1:

  • juandel
#8

Thanx all, boys.
Thanx juandel, it seems I am welcome.
Tx kruzr and davey for the invaluable help.
:stuck_out_tongue:

I will probably see you soon. The name is Chris.

#9

Davey, and fellow Zbrush users, I know I suckass, but I can only absorb so much information on 3d programs… :frowning:

I would be grateful if anyone could explain, and if possible, Zscript the following operation for me;

Create a sphere3d tool and assign a different material to each hemisphere, then make them blend, and save the resulting Ztool.

I believe it can’t be done, because all the advice I got on this topic is aimed at blending two materials for use in a 2.5D image, not in modelling.

thanx in advance.

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR> What if God smoked cannabis? <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

#10

Chris, I think that you are correct. Within a 3D tool, itself, the materials won’t blend. However, the materials can appear to be blended through the use of textures.

For example, if you can create a plane with one material and bake that material. Then you can create another layer with the same thing, but a different material. The lower one can then be cloned onto the upper one, blending the two sets of material-generated colors together. Then you can MRGBZ-grab the resulting texture and apply it to a Flat-Color material sphere (or use any other materials, which would blend a third material’s properties into your object through the texture). The end result will be a sphere that appears to have two (or three) materials blended together on it.

From what you have said that you plan to use ZBrush for, this sounds like the perfect method, too. You’ve said that you plan to export your models for use in other programs. When you export an OBJ, the material properties will not go with it, but whatever texture is applied will. So if you export an object with two blended materials, then you would just get a plain, uncolored object. But if you export an object with a texture created from blended baked materials, then it will look to all the world like you’ve succeeded.

If you want, I (or possibly someone more experienced with the clone tool) would be happy to create a script illustrating this method.

#11

Aurick, thanx a million. I’d like to see a zscript, if you could spare some time someday.

Also, I want to comment on the warmth of the people on this forum. I’m a selfish, isolated boy, and I nevertheless find myself feeling all fuzzy inside.

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR> a thinking artist is not a surprise <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

#12

Okay, Chris.

Here’s a ZScript where I demonstrate using baking and the Cloner Brush to blend two materials in a form that can be exported and read by another program. It’s very basic, but will hopefully give you a good jumping-off point.

Anybody else who wants to add anything, or maybe has refinements/easier methods, that would be great!

Here’s the Blended Materials As Texture Tutorial.

Hope it helps!

PS: I didn’t even know that you could export textures with an object until yesterday when Pixolator pointed out the error of my ways. :slight_smile: He says that he has a tutorial coming soon on creating high quality textures. I can’t wait!

#13

aurick, again thank you for your insight. I am awed in this forum by you people.

btw, do you read fantasy?
I think Aurican used to be a famous dragon in the Dragonlance series.

if not, nevermind :slight_smile:

:+1: :+1: :+1:
<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR> a thinking artist is no surprise <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

#14

I’m glad that helped.

Yes, I’m a fantasy nut. In addition to having read Dragonlance, I’ve gamed with Tracy Hickman. He’s just a nut. :slight_smile:

I don’t recall any dragons of that name, though. Actually, Aurick was a name that I came up with a book that I’ve been working on for the last too many years.

#15

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