Photoshop CS6 Extended / Blender and the avatar.obj file Help...

[Crysantha Lafleur]

Hello.  

I have been through all the threads that I can find, and as far as I see, you can't just load the avatar.obj file into CS6 Extended and paint properly ?

 I have the files and know they used to work when I used to use CS4...  I used to be able to blend and smooth and paint directly onto the avatar.obj.  But now i cant blend from back to front etc.. i get a notice that keeps telling me to check the layer I am on ... and nothing works.. 

So I found a page that said. load them into Blender and then export them again then take them back into Photoshop and it should work fine..    Great, so I dl'd blender, tried to load the file into it.. and I cant figure out how to load the obj file into it?  I can find the file, but it simply does not load when I try to.. 

DOES.. anyone have the already corrected avatar. obj files?  I just need one for male and one for female so I can work on blending seams on the clothing I make.. 

Please help?  All i want is those files.. not a week worth of tutorials to learn how to load them into blender first.  

Thank you very much for any help.. 

[Chosen Few]

The OBJ's from the SL downloads page work just fine in PS CS6, but the 3D interface is quite different from what you're used to from CS4.  I'd be willing to bet the files you have are fine, and it's just a few aspects of the new interface that have been blocking your path so far.

Getting used to the new version may be a little uncomfortable at first.  Once you do get into it, you'll find it's leaps and bounds better than it was.  They've taken a huge step forward toward making it behave like a typical 3D program, rather than as the somewhat clunky 2.5D hybrid that it was before.  It's still not yet far enough along to rival the likes of Mudbox and Zbrush, but it's getting there.

Here are the main things to know about the new interface: 

1. You don't need to touch the 3D menu anymore, if all you're doing is texture painting. The functions you need have been removed from the menu, and placed on panels, where they're much easier to access.
2. Each 3D layer in your working document is now treated as a full blown 3D scene, complete with a ground plane (grid), multiple cameras, lights, selectable objects, the whole nine yards. 
3. When you're working on a 3D layer, The 3D panel now behaves as an outliner, just like you would have in any traditional 3D modeling program.  It shows you all the objects in the scene, by hierarchy.
4. The new Properties panel is great.  It shows all the editable variables for every selected object.
5. When you select the Move tool, the entire 3D scene becomes exposed.  You'll be able to see the grid, the multiple view ports, object selection boxes, manipulators, camera controls, etc.  Because of this, the camera controls and model manipulators that had previously been in the toolbox have been removed.

Hopefully, after reading the above, the interface is beginning to make more sense to you now.  Here's how to start texture painting:

1. Open the OBJ file.  You can do this in a number of ways.  You can drag it into PS from Explorer or Bridge, you can use the File -> Open menu command, or you can go to it inside the new Mini Bridge panel in PS.
2. In the Layers panel, click on the 3D layer to activate it, if it's not already active, and then take a look at the 3D panel.  You'll see everything in the scene listed here, including the environment, the scene, the model and its materials, lights, and cameras.  Click on any of these, and then you can adjust the item's various attributes in the Properties panel.  For example, if you want to work without shadows, select the scene in the 3D panel, and then in the Properties panel, change the surface style to Unlit Texture.
3. In the 3D panel, select one of the materials, and take a look at its attributes in the Properties panel.   Next to where it says Diffuse, click on the little file icon, and then in the menu that pops up, click Edit Texture.  The texture image will open as a PSB.  (Alternatively, you can also double-click sublayers in the layers panel to open texture PSB's, just like in CS4, but the Properties panel is far more convenient.)
4. From here on it, it's just like it was in CS4.  In the PSB, activate a layer to work on, and start painting.  You can paint in 2D in the PSB, or paint in 3D directly on the model in the PSD.  Changes will reflect in both.

That should get you on your way.  Any additional questions, come on back and shout 'em out.  Happy panting.

 

 

ETA:  I'm not sure what you mean by "blend from back to front".  Could you explain?  I want to make sure I'm addressing the right issue.

[Crysantha Lafleur]

By from front to back I was referring to the side seams on a clothing texture.  Any type of system clothing on the avatar has seams where the front meets the back along the side.  I havent checked out your instructions yet, so will do that tomorrow morning and see what happens.  

Thank you,

Crysantha

[Crysantha Lafleur]

Thank you so much for your simple to follow set up.  It worked exactly like you said it would.   I can now paint directly on the object and am able to blend the seams I need to perfectly.

Thank you

Crysantha

[Tarumi]

Soooooo helpful.   I spent hours trying to find how to view the template.  I went through every setting from a tutorial file, which never really showed "Unit Texture" in the setting, maybe because it wasn't originally a CS6 document.  I was sooooo frustrated until I read this.  Thank you sooooo much

[Tarumi]

I have to say though that painting with the pattern stamp tool or stamp brush seems totally clunky.  I can't get it to paint consistently.  It seems to not want to apply stuff on certain faces.  

[HeiseiEraGodzilla]

On 8/4/2013 at 7:54 PM, Tarumi said:

I have to say though that painting with the pattern stamp tool or stamp brush seems totally clunky.  I can't get it to paint consistently.  It seems to not want to apply stuff on certain faces.  

having the same problem on the obj file. if there is a fix i would like to know as well