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Mudbox beginner questions.

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malcolm polycount sponsor
Hi there, I don't know shit about mudbox, I've been using it at home for about 5 hours. Seems pretty cool so far but there are a couple things I would like it to do so perhaps someone could tell me if they exist.

1. Is there any way to morph back to your original mesh, ie I want to erase back to part of a mesh, unfortunately I don't have any of that work on a layer so the original subdivision has edits on it. It would be nice if I could load up the base mesh and apply the mudbox deformation as a layer and blend between the 2.

2. Is there an air brush feature, or do I physically have to move the mouse/pen for deformation to happen. I would like to click and hold in one spot and have that spot get pinched for example until I release.

3. Is there any way to apply a projection evenly across a model with one click, I saw you can go into projection mode but I still have to paint the projection so it's uneven. Wait, I'm guessing flood fill would do that?

4. Is there any way to reset all the brush settings to default?

5. Is there any way to invert a mask or should I always flood fill for a mask and then erase the part I want to be affected.

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  • Jeremy Wright
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    Jeremy Wright polycounter lvl 17
    malcolm wrote: »
    1. Is there any way to morph back to your original mesh, ie I want to erase back to part of a mesh, unfortunately I don't have any of that work on a layer so the original subdivision has edits on it. It would be nice if I could load up the base mesh and apply the mudbox deformation as a layer and blend between the 2.

    I think you could re-import the original basemesh (with UV's) and render out a displacement map, then add the map to the mesh. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UP9_frQw5Dw"]Wayne Robson has a tutorial on this on the Youtubes.[/ame]
  • malcolm
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    malcolm polycount sponsor
    Okay so what is the trick with the flood tool. It doesn't do anything for me. The help files says click flood and it floods, I click flood and it does nothing.
  • malcolm
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    malcolm polycount sponsor
    Is there a way to fade last stroke in mudbox like photoshop?

    Also does the erase brush have a strength it always appear to be 100%?
  • Ben Apuna
    For your original post question #2: I don't think there is an air brush feature, sorry.

    #3: You could apply a pre-painted bump/displacement map as a new sculpt layer over your model.

    From the menu bar choose Maps -> Sculpt Model Using Displacement Map -> New Operation. 16bit per channel grayscale images work best for this kind of thing to get nice smooth displacements.

    #4: I think you can delete your Mudbox settings which should be stored in your "Documents" or "My Documents" folder, that'll probably restore the whole app to it's default settings. Be sure to make a backup first though.

    Also of note about brush settings, under the "Advanced" settings for each brush there is a "Remember Size" check box. Check that if you want each brush to remember it's own size rather than inherit it's size from your last used brush.

    #5: I'm not sure what you are asking here. You can invert the strength of a stroke by holding down control while you click. If you're talking about stencils you can invert their values before you sculpt under the "Advanced" settings for the stencil there is a "Invert Values" check box that you can turn on.

    Also of note about stencils under the "Advanced" settings you can turn on the "Use Tiles" check box so that the stencil tiles in screen space that way you don't have to keep moving it around to fill a model with details.

    Going back to your question #3 you can also use a tiled stencil with the Flood function of the sculpt tool to evenly apply a stencil through your model, though this one's probably not that useful in most situations unless your model is a flat plane.
    malcolm wrote: »
    Is there a way to fade last stroke in mudbox like photoshop?

    Also does the erase brush have a strength it always appear to be 100%?

    Not sure about the fade last stroke thing, sorry.

    The erase brush doesn't appear to obey the strength setting but I think it does work with the different falloff settings so you can get a smoother transition between erased and not erased stuff. The eraser also sort of works with stencils and stamps which can also have interesting effects.

    You can also mess around with the opacity settings for a sculpt layer to increase or decrease it's overall affect on a model. The values can be negative as well as positive and also go beyond 100.

    Hopefully some of that info helps :)
  • malcolm
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    malcolm polycount sponsor
    Thanks ben helpful tips. I've been reading up in the documentation as well. What I was after with the eraser brush strength is solved by using a mask on the layer. Didn't realize the mask was live after the edits. I can now fade some specific areas by adding a low intensity mask where I want to blend back the edits I've done. Still can't get the flood tool working. Works fine when I create a mesh in mudbox but anything I bring in from maya does not flood?
  • malcolm
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    malcolm polycount sponsor
    Figured it out! Fuck, totally not intuitive at all. The flood tool only works on selection. Selecting a whole object makes it turn golden so I immediately deselect it and begin painting which works fine, this is not true for the flood tool you actually have to have a valid selection of faces first.
  • Hitez
    make sure you have view masks on, also. its in the upper right corner above the layers.
    i do agree though, mudbox isn't as intuitive as we'd all like.
  • NeoKaan
    Hi. I Am having some anger Management pills for mudbox. And almost everything is broken in my house. Because I cant get two stencils to blend with eachother. Ive got a front and left side Image and when I use the stamp tool It all goes to shit. What the fuck is going on in mudbox. It seems that the guys does not have a clue how to write a program these days.
  • NeoKaan
    [IMG]file:///C:/Users/NeoKaan/Desktop/Untitled-1.jpg[/IMG]
  • NeoKaan
    Sorry cant upload image I dont know how there isnt a tab here to say upload image
  • gray
    1) get in the habit of sculpting in layers. you can use the erase brush to erase a layer of sculpting. you can not erase on the base mesh because there is nothing to go back to.

    not trying to get on a soap box and tell you to RTFM. but if you take "1 hour" and skim through the docs you will have enough time to go through the whole menu and all the tools. and that will stick in the back of your head. when you need an answer you will know where to find it.

    i do this now with all new software and plugins i try. saves me days and days of diking around and frustration. :thumbup:
  • bhall27
    Hi,

    Been starting to do some 3d painting in mudbox and my natural inclination is to turn the stylus around and erase paint from the model - same as if I were in photoshop.

    However it seems that mudbox doesn't recognize that.

    Has anyone else mapped their cintiq eraser for this? I did it but it felt odd.

    Wish there was an better way to do this in mudbox so I don't have to setup hotkeys to switch between a brush and an eraser.

    Wish that mudbox would naturally recognize the eraser on my stylus and the pen tip.

    Thanks,

    B.
  • rorozilla
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    rorozilla polycounter lvl 6
    hey, i know its been a while, did you ever find a way to reset a single brushe? I have settings on some that I want to keep, but I want to reset the basic brushes like Scrape or sculpt back to there default state! Any luck figuring that out?
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