Adobe Community: 3d painting issue - why is my selected value showing up different then the actual color I'm picking?

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1. Mylenium,

Apr 24, 2012 7:22 PM in reply to johncboins

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Color management (or its absence) plus naturally shading may figure in - even a uniformely lit model may expose different per pixel color than the actual color of the underlying textures. Whatever it is, it's probably normal and since you failed to provide any more information, nobody will be able to advise more specifically.

Mylenium

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2. johncboins,

Apr 24, 2012 8:13 PM in reply to Mylenium

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Ok, let me try to be explain the issue in more detail.

Note:

All 3D layer settings are default. No lights, ambient color setting, etc have been tweaked.

Description:

In order to paint out texture seams on a 3d character model, I have imported an .obj of the model into PS CS5 and applied a texture map to it which I have previously painted.

Using the eye dropper I have selected a color value from the sides of the seam and have attempted to paint that value over the seam to remove it.

Results:

The color value picked from a texture applied to a 3d model which is 161,161,173, is not the same color value when painted directly back onto the model. It has now mysteriously turned into 152,152,177.

Expected results:

When a color value is picked from a texture applied to a 3d model (161,161,173) and painted back onto the textured model it should remain exactly the same (161,161,173)

I hope lighting/shading is not figured in when color picking. That would make your results completely unpredictable. It could possibly be what is happening but is there a way turn this off or work around it?

Thanks for the help.

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3. Wade_Zimmerman,

Apr 24, 2012 10:17 PM in reply to johncboins

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I'll explain it but you won't like it even though it is so.

If all the values of the color remained exactly the same youwould have a flat color there would be no 3 D object to see.

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4. Mylenium,

Apr 25, 2012 2:12 AM in reply to johncboins

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Color management (or lack thereof). Make sure to use sRGB and not use any odd monitor profile and/or tell PS not to use it.

Mylenium

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5. johncboins,

Apr 25, 2012 8:48 AM in reply to Mylenium

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So after doing a few more tests it seems the color picker picks on a per pixel basis from the lit model not from the source texture map. This makes sense for 2d applications but is completely worthless in a 3d painting environment.

Example - If I put a medium grey texture on a cylinder and I color pick anywhere on that cylinder in 3d I should be picking my original grey color NOT my original grey multiplied by some lighting value, which is what is happening. This has no practical use in a realtime 3D environement that I can see.

I wish it were as simple as a color managment issue or a simplified idea of what a 3d object is or isn't. The tools just don't work in a way that makes this viable in a 3d production pipeline...or at least not for me. If anyone has some actually experiance with this workflow please let me know what you have done to solve it or work around it. Thanks for the help, folks.

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6. emil emil,

Apr 25, 2012 10:21 AM in reply to johncboins

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In the Layer's panel double click on your texture (the highlighted on the image below). This will open your texture in a new window. Keep it open next to the 3D scene window and pick the colors from the texture image. If you want you can also paint directly on the texture image too.

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7. johncboins,

Apr 25, 2012 12:09 PM in reply to emil emil

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Thanks for the help emil.

Ok I have come up with a workflow/settings that work. It's all about removing the lighting.

By default an imported 3D scene has 2 Infinite light sources. Delete them both (or turn them off). Your scene should now be completely black.

Add an Image Based Light. Make sure it's white. Turn off Create Shadows.

Crank the material Ambient all the way to white.

Turn off Catch Shadows and Cast Shadows for the mesh (might not be nessecary)

Set the Global Ambient Color for the scene to black.

Apply your texture map and paint with confidence!

You should now be able to color pick straight from the 3D object and get accurate results based on your texture map color/value without lighting mucking it up.

If anyone out there is looking for a simple, quick way to fix texture seams for realtime (not sure how many polys PS can push) models, this is a really easy and intuitive solution (and keeps you from dropping money on a stand-alone 3d paint solution like Body Paint 3D). Thanks PS!

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8. emil emil,

Apr 25, 2012 12:50 PM in reply to johncboins

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I don't use Photoshop much for direct painting on 3D but since all dedicated programs have flat texture rendering mode I checked and found that Photoshop has that too.

In the 3D panel, with the Scene item selected, in the Render Settings section, click the Edit button to open the 3D render settings. For Face Style choose Unlit Texture and click on the floppy disk icon to save the preset and give it a name. Then in the Render Settings section of the 3D panel just change from your unlit texture preset to Default and you can have the best of both worlds.

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9. johncboins,

Photoshop General Discussion

3d painting issue - why is my selected value showing up different then the actual color I'm picking?

Apr 24, 2012 11:54 AM

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