While you can do similar things in Photoshop by making the image grayscale for specular maps, or using the Nvidia normal map plugin, these results are never as accurate as using a 3D painting tool. This allows you to easily add areas that are shinier, duller, raised or lowered in your texture… all while seeing the result instantly so you know if you’re going in the right direction. These can generate fully calculated maps from the 3D model, as it is already loaded into the texture software. This can be quite a time consuming and frustrating process and using 3D texture painting eliminates it entirely.ģD Texture packages are also much more powerful as they allow you to paint on or edit different texture map slots, such as specular or normal maps, with ease. This can make visualising the texture as you make it in 2D software very difficult, sometimes leading you to have to save it out multiple times to view it on your 3D mesh to see your progress. Note the strange shape of the features and outline. Example of a head that has been UV unwrapped in 3DS Max. For example, when a human head is unwrapped you often end up with a butterfly like shape. When a model is UV unwrapped the surface of the model can often be warped into a strange shape in order to avoid as much distortion of the UVs as possible. So you want to make absolutely sure that you get this essential part of the 3D process done to the highest possible standard. This allows you to add finer details to smaller areas of your texture easier as they may be hard to find if you do a 2D unwrap with software like Adobe Photoshop.Īlso worth noting that texturing your model is one of the most important steps in making your 3D artwork look more lifelike, or to add your own unique style to the final piece. The advantage of 3D painting over traditional texturing methods is you can see how the texture looks on your model in real time. The main software for 3D painting is Adobe’s Substance Painter 2 and Pixologic’s Zbrush. This is a similar process to 2D painting but requires knowledge of texturing and working with 3D assets.

That means if you buy something we get a small commission at no extra cost to you( learn more)ģD painting is when you paint a texture straight onto a 3D model. Tips 3D Written by Thomas Denham Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links.

Textures for paint 3d