ZBrush - Lightbox

Aside from PolyPainting your mesh, there is a way to layer images directly onto your mesh. This method is called Lightbox.

Our egg

An egg texture

Today, let's paint an egg. The first image is the mesh we are going to paint on, and the second image is the egg shell texture we are going to apply onto our mesh.

The option to turn on Lightbox is in the 'Texture' tab

To start up Lightbox, you must go to the 'Texture' tab at the top of the window. Then, you must import your texture into ZBrush, where it will appear at the bottom of the available textures. With this texture selected, you must then press 'Add to Spotlight', which is the right-most button on the top row.

The wheel is a set of tools which will let you manipulate the texture directly

Your window will look something like this. The wheel that will show up is a group of tools which will allow you to manipulate the image, such as adjusting the opacity, how much it tiles, the contrast or the size. However, you don't need to do most of this.

Use your brush to paint the texture on

In order to activate painting mode (Making sure that your brush is set to RGB only and that 'Colorize' is on) simply press Z. The editing circle will disappear and your brush will re-appear. Simply edit the mesh to paint the texture on. You can also turn the mesh and re-apply from different angles if a specific area is stretched.

A happy egg!

To turn off the display, press Shift + Z. This will hide the texture and allow you to see your model.