In this tutorial, you will learn how to enable a feature that allows BP3D Users to paint on multiple surfaces at once. This is very useful when you need multiple channels to match up percfectly.
Channel Basics In BodyPaint 3D, channels are the different parts or attributes of a material. Such attributes include Color, Diffusion, Luminance, Transparency, Reflection, Environment, Bump, Alpha, Specular Color, and Displacement. In our Tutorial "First Steps in BP3D", you learn how to paint on one channel at a time after setting up your object to be painted on. In this tutorial, you will learn how to paint on multiple channels at once.
Setting up the Scene Before we start multi channel painting, lets set up a basic scene in Cinema 4D.
1.In Cinema 4D, create a new sphere object:

2.In your coordinate manager, move the Y Position to 100:
 (Press enter to apply the move, or click apply)
3.This simply moves our sphere object up 100 points in the Y-Axis. We did this because we will be adding another object in a second that would conflict with the spheres original placement. Now create a new floor object (Objects > Scene > Floor):

4.Floor Objects are planes that expand forever (not noticeable in our view port unless we render). Now, create a sky object (Objects > Scene > Sky):

5.This is all that we are going to use for our current scene. We will use this same setup for future tutorials as well, so you may want to save your scene as it is right now. Once you have completed these steps, switch over to your BodyPaint 3D Layout (Window > Layout > BP 3D Paint).

6.Go ahead and set up your sphere object for painting. If you have not yet learned how to do this, go take the "First Steps to BP3D Tutorial". In the Paint Setup Wizard, keep everything to their default settings except for the Material Options in Step 3. In the Material Options, check the Color, Reflection, and Bump channels:

7.Click Finish and close the Paint Setup Wizard. Your Object is ready to be painted on. Lets enable multi channel painting. To do this, go into your Materials Manager Menu, and click the button that looks like this:

8.When clicked, a Green Check will appear in place of the red X showing that multi channel painting is turned on. Now, to the right of this button are a few more buttons labeled C, R, and B representing the Color, Reflection, and Bump channels. Chances are, there is a highlighted blue pencil already in the Color channel. To enable painting in another channel, click one or more of the other buttons. While Multi Channel Painting is enabled, your will paint in each channel that has a blue pencil in the channel button:

9.To change the color of a channel, simply highlight the channel (a red box will appear around it) and then select the color in the color settings:

10.In the Reflection channel, the more white your color is, the more reflective it will be, where as in bump, the brightness will effect the depth or height of the bump:

11.Try it out. Start painting on your object and then render it to see the results:

12.By now, you can probably see how useful the multi channel paint mode can be. With a little practice, and lighting, you can make some pretty cool effects with the techniques shown in this tutorial!

Good Luck! |