Paint Tools properties

 
 
 

The following describes the properties for the items that appear on the Paint Tools tray.

Note

Some tools use only a subset of the properties listed below.

General

Color

Displays the current color for the Paint Brush. Click the color tile to display the Color Chooser window and modify the color assigned to the Paint Brush.

Affect

Specific to the Dodge and Burn tools. The presets let you bias the lightening (Dodge) or darkening (Burn) effect that occurs within the specified tonal range in the areas you stroke:

Note

Repeated strokes of the tool in the same area of an image build up the effect.

Midtones

Affects the mid-tones (gray value range) on the texture image.

Highlights

Affects the light gray to white values on the texture image.

Shadows

Affects the darker gray to black tones on the texture image.

All

Affects all tones on the texture image.

Exposure

Specific to the Dodge and Burn tools. Controls the amount of lightening or darkening that occurs on the affected pixels for each stroke of the brush depending on the Affect setting.

Blur Strength

Specific to the Blur tool. Determines the size of the circular area (in pixels) that is sampled to determine the amount of blur. The larger the radius, the greater the amount of blur. See Blur detail in painted textures.

Contrast

Specific to the Contrast brush. Controls the difference between light and dark pixels. A positive value increases the contrast, negative values reduce it. The range is -10 to 10, default is 1.

Amount

Specific to the Sponge brush. Increases or decreases the color saturation for pixels in an image as you stroke. A positive value decreases pixel color saturation, while a negative value increases it. The range is -1 to 1, default is 1.

Hue Shift

Specific to the Hue Shift brush. Specifies the amount in degrees to shift hue values around the color ring relative to their current value. For example, a Hue Shift setting of 90 degrees shifts a red pixel hue to green (based on a counter-clockwise direction around the color ring). You can enter positive or negative values ranging between 1 to 180 degrees and also use the Color Chooser for reference. See Using the Color Chooser.

Size

Sets the radius of the tool. Size is measured in world space units (for example, a default Size of 100 = a radius of 100 centimeters). Hotkeys: press b and drag, or press the square bracket keys, [ to reduce size and ] to increase size.

Strength

Determines how much the tool applies with each stroke. Hotkey: M + drag or press ; (to reduce strength) and ' (to increase strength).

Mirror

Reflects a stroke from one side of a model to the other, along the specified axis:

Off

Strokes are not reflected.

X

Reflects strokes across the world space X-axis.

Y

Reflects strokes across the world space Y-axis.

Z

Reflects strokes across the world space Z-axis.

Local X

Reflects strokes across the local space X-axis.

Local Y

Reflects strokes across the local space Y-axis.

Local Z

Reflects strokes across the local space Z-axis.

Tangent

Reflects strokes across the topological center line of a topologically symmetrical model. To use tangent space mirroring on a model, you must first define the model's topological center. See Set a topological axis.

Use Stamp Image

Turns on the selected stamp for the tool. Stamps modify the strength of the paint brush according to the gray scale values in the stamp image. The darker the overall values the lower the strength of the tool. Not all paint brushes work with stamps.

Orient To Stroke

When on, the stamp orientation follows the direction of your brush stroke.

Rotate

Rotates the stamp image clockwise.

Horizontal Flip

Flips the stamp image horizontally.

Vertical Flip

Flips the stamp image vertically.

Randomize

Turns the Randomize options for the tool stamp on or off.

Random Horizontal Offset

Randomizes the horizontal position of the brush tip dynamically through the stroke.

Random Vertical Offset

Randomizes the vertical position of the brush tip dynamically through the stroke.

Randomize Rotate

Randomizes the rotation of the brush tip dynamically through the stroke.

Randomize Scale

Randomizes the size of the brush tip dynamically through the stroke.

Randomize Strength

Randomizes the strength of the brush tip dynamically through the stroke.

Horizontal Flips

Randomly flips the position of the brush tip along its X axis dynamically through the stroke.

Vertical Flips

Randomly flips the position of the brush tip along its Y axis dynamically through the stroke.

Stamp Spacing

Controls the stamp frequency/continuity on a stroke. Depending on the Size and Falloff settings for a tool, the Stamp Spacing can be set to a higher value to refine the tool behavior and improve the appearance of the stroke. The default setting is 6.25 and ranges between 0 and 100. The higher the setting, the more gaps appear on the stroke, depending on the tool settings.

Steady Stroke

Helps to produce a smoother stroke by filtering mouse/stylus movement. When on, a vector displays on the tool cursor and no stroke appears until you drag a distance equal to the length of the vector. The length of the vector is set by the Steady Stroke Distance property.

Steady Stroke Distance

Sets the length of the Steady Stroke vector on the tool cursor.

Snap to Curve

When on, the tool snaps to an active curve when the cursor travels within the specified Distance. See also Sculpt or paint using curves.

Snap to Curve Distance

Sets the distance your cursor can be from a curve before snapping occurs. Default is 60.

Flood From Camera

Floods all parts of the texture map that are visible to the camera with color. (Not available for Clone, Blur, and Dry Brush tools.)

Reset

Resets the tool properties to default values.

Falloff

Lets you specify how the tool effect diminishes (or not) from its center point to its outer edge. The falloff is represented as a curve that can be edited. See also Adjust tool falloff.

Falloff presets are available in the Falloff tray.

Snap

Constrains points to the grid.

Store To

Saves the current falloff curve to the tray.

Falloff image

Right-click the falloff image in the Properties window for the following options:

Insert Point

Inserts a new point under the cursor.

Select Point

Selects the point under the cursor.

Delete Point

Deletes the point under the cursor.

Falloff based on Facing Angle

When on, Mudbox reduces the effect of the Sculpt or Paint tool on parts of the model that face away from the camera. You can define the threshold values for the falloff using Falloff Start Angle and Falloff Range values.

For example, if the Falloff Start Angle is set to 85, and the Falloff Range is set to 5, faces with a facing angle from 0 to 85 degrees have no falloff. From 85 to 90 degrees, the falloff goes from nothing to full. For faces with facing angles over 90 degrees, the brush has no effect at all.

Falloff Start Angle
Sets the maximum angle below which no falloff is applied. The allowed range of values is 0 to 90.
Falloff Range
The number of degrees over which the falloff goes from minimum to maximum. The allowed range of values is between 0 and 180, minus the Falloff Start Angle value. For example, if you set the Falloff Start Angle to 45, the Falloff Range can be from 0 to 135.

Advanced

Remember Size

Preserves the size of the tool after use. When off, the brush inherits the size of the previously used brush.

Orient To Surface

Orients the tool cursor display (in the 3D View) along the normal of the face under the center of the cursor ring. Influences cursor display only, does not influence the effect of the brush on the surface.

Pen Pressure

Min Size

Specifies how small the tool is when the lightest pressure is applied to the pen, expressed as a percentage of the tool’s Size property. For example, a Min Size of 100 indicates there is no size variance, regardless of the pressure applied.

Min Strength

Specifies how weak the tool strength is when the lightest pressure is applied to the pen, expressed as a percentage of the primary tool Strength value. For example, a Min Strength of 100 indicates there is no strength variance, regardless of the pressure applied.

Related topics

Painting basics

Painting presets