Painting Tools

This page covers every painting tool and setting in the Texture Painter. You will learn which tool to use when, how to set up the brush, and how to paint fine detail cleanly.

The toolsCopy Anchor Link

Tools paint on the selected layer. If the selected layer can't be painted, the 3D view tells you why and offers a fix: Paint layer for the base texture or a group, Show for a hidden layer, Unlock for a locked layer.

BrushCopy Anchor Link

Drag on the model to paint. Before you paint, a ring on the surface shows exactly how big the brush is, and a faint preview shows the colour.

Size, opacity and hardnessCopy Anchor Link

Change settings without leaving the model:

• [ and ] make the brush smaller and bigger.
• Ctrl + right-drag on the model (Cmd + right-drag on a Mac): drag left and right for size, up and down for hardness.

While a setting changes, a preview card at the top left of the 3D view shows a sample stroke with the current Size, Opacity and Hardness, and the ring on the model shows the new size.

Paint hidden areas and Edge fadeCopy Anchor Link

More brush settings (the sliders icon at the right of the options bar) holds two settings that control where the brush reaches.

Paint hidden areas (off by default). Normally the brush only paints what you can see from where you are looking, which keeps hidden surfaces clean: the back of an ear, the inside of a fold, the other side of a thin part. Turn it on when you want the brush to also paint surfaces you can't see from here, for example to colour both sides of an ear in one stroke. While it is on, the brush ring is dashed.

Edge fade (default 25%). Surfaces you see from a steep angle, near the outline of the model, get less paint the steeper they turn away from you. This stops strokes from smearing into long streaks where the surface curves away. Set it to 0% to paint right up to the outline; raise it for softer falloff. Edge fade is unavailable while Paint hidden areas is on.

Both settings are remembered for your next visit.

Painting fine detailCopy Anchor Link

1. Zoom in on the detail: point at it and press F, then scroll. See Moving around the model.
2. Make the brush small with [, and raise Hardness for crisp edges.
3. Turn the view so you look straight at the surface. Paint on surfaces that face you gives the cleanest result.
4. Paint on its own layer, so you can adjust or erase the detail without touching the rest.

EraserCopy Anchor Link

The eraser removes paint from the selected layer only, so you can clean up one layer without touching the others. Its options bar shows Strength instead of Opacity. On an AI layer, the eraser hides the AI texture again (see AI painting).

Colours and palettesCopy Anchor Link

Click the colour chip at the bottom of the tool rail, or the colour dot in the options bar, to open the colour panel:

• A colour picker and a # field for hex values.
• An eyedropper, Pick from the model (I).
• Palettes. The default palette is Basics. Built-in palettes: Basics, Sunset, Ocean, Forest, Pastel, Neon, Earth Tones, Monochrome, Candy, Autumn and Lavender Dreams.
• Your own palettes, made from scratch (Empty), from an image (Image) or from the colours of the model (Model). Click an empty slot to add the current colour; Alt-click a swatch to empty its slot; double-click a palette name to rename it.
• Recent: the last colours you used.

You always have two colours: the main colour and a second one. Swap colours (below the chip, or X) switches them.

Image brushCopy Anchor Link

The image brush paints with a picture instead of a flat colour: textures, patterns or stamps. Click Pick an image in the options bar, then add your own image with the + tile (PNG or JPG). Transparent PNGs stamp their shape. Scale (5 to 100%, default 50%) and Rotation (0 to 360°, default 180°) replace Opacity and Hardness.

Pattern brushCopy Anchor Link

The pattern brush paints a pattern in your two colours: the main colour draws the pattern and the second colour fills between it. The pattern stays in place on the model, so strokes from any angle line up into one continuous pattern instead of overlapping copies. Pick the pattern in the options bar: Stripes (default), Checker, Dots, Grid, Hexagons or Noise.

Settings that don't fit in the options bar are under More brush settings.

• Press X to swap the two colours, so the pattern and the fill trade places.
• Checker and Noise run on without seams everywhere. Stripes, Dots, Grid and Hexagons are flat patterns laid onto the surface from the front, the side and the top, so where a surface curves strongly they blend from one direction into the next.
• Paint a pattern on its own layer, so you can erase or adjust it without touching the rest.

DecalsCopy Anchor Link

A decal places one image on a spot of the model, like a sticker, logo or label. Each decal is its own layer.

1. Pick Decal (D) and click Add a sticker in the options bar.
2. Choose Upload for your own image, Dashboard for an image from your dashboard, or describe a sticker under Or generate one and click Generate sticker (5 credits, paid plans).
3. The decal lands in the middle of your view. Click the model to move it there.
4. Adjust Size and Rotation in the options bar, or turn on Move handle to drag it around on the model.

EyedropperCopy Anchor Link

Click the model to pick a colour. The eyedropper picks the colour exactly as you see it on screen, then switches back to the brush.

FillCopy Anchor Link

Click the model to fill an area of the selected layer with one colour. Use it for large base colours. For the whole model at once, add a Solid colour layer instead (see Layers).

See through (Experimental)Copy Anchor Link

Some areas are hard to reach because another part of the model is in front of them: the body behind an arm, the chest behind crossed arms, the seat under a table top. See through cuts away what's in the way, so you can see, paint and generate behind it. It is experimental.

Turn it on and cut away what's in the wayCopy Anchor Link

1. Click See through in the bar at the bottom of the 3D view, or press H. The button is highlighted while See through is on, and the top of the 3D view says Click what's in the way.
2. Point at the part in the way, like the arm. Everything a click would cut away turns blue, and the label next to the pointer says See behind this. If there is nothing behind that spot, it says Nothing behind this.
3. Click. Everything in front of a cut just behind that part goes away, and the surface behind it shows. A thin amber line marks where the cut passes through the model. See through stays on with the cut, so you can paint and generate right away. The top of the 3D view says See through on with Change cut and Turn off.
4. When you are done, click See through again, or press H. Everything is back to normal.

Dragging still turns the view; only a click without moving cuts. The cut always faces you and stays at the same place on the model, so you can turn the view a little and keep working.

Adjust the cutCopy Anchor Link

Open the settings panel with the small arrow on the right of See through. Its top line says what to do next; the cut settings show once you have cut something.

• Cut deeper or shallower: click Change cut at the top of the 3D view or in the panel, then scroll over the model or press [ or ]. Hold Shift with [ or ] for finer steps. You can also drag Cut depth in the panel at any time.
• Cut the next part: click Change cut, then click the next part. It is cut away too.
• Finish changing: press Esc or click Done in the panel. The cut stays.
• Only around here: a cut takes away everything in front of it, so a shoulder plate or the hips can go too. Turn on Only around here in the panel to keep the cut inside a circle around where you clicked. Change the circle with Size, or drag its edge while you change the cut. When a cut also reaches other parts, the hint at the top of the 3D view suggests it.
• Start over: Reset in the panel clears the cut, so you can click again.

Cut areasCopy Anchor Link

Where the cut slices a part open, like a shoulder plate or the hips, Cut areas in the panel sets what you see there:

• Checker (the default): the inside of the sliced part shows as a grey checker, so the part still looks solid. You can't paint on it, and the label next to the pointer says Cut area.
• See through: the sliced part stays open, so you can look inside it.

Your choice is remembered. It only changes the 3D view: the AI and your exports never see the checker. The other pictures on this page use See through.

Turn it offCopy Anchor Link

See through is either on or off, and every way of turning it off does the same: the cut goes and everything is back to normal.

• Click See through in the 3D view bar again, turn off the switch in the panel, or press H.
• Or click Turn off at the top of the 3D view, or in the note above Generate.
• Esc before your first click turns See through off again. After Change cut, Esc only finishes changing and keeps the cut.
• The × in the panel only closes the panel. See through stays on or off.
• Take a quick look: while See through is off, hold H while pointing at a part. It is cut away while you hold the key and comes back when you let go.

The cut only changes what you see. While it is on, the brush, the eraser and the AI leave the cut-away parts alone: strokes don't land on them and the AI doesn't see them. Exports, screenshots, Turntable and saved textures always show the whole model. The cut isn't saved with the session, and undo doesn't change it. A layer you generate with the cut on remembers it, so it stays in place when you project it again.

Paint behind the cutCopy Anchor Link

With the cut on, paint as usual: the brush reaches the surface that was hidden. Turn the cut off when you are done; the paint stays where you put it.

Generate behind the cutCopy Anchor Link

With a cut on, Generate with AI shows a note above the Generate button: See through is on. The AI only sees what's in front of you, and nothing is painted on cut-away parts. Depending on your view and layers, it also offers:

The result is a new layer called Hidden area fill. All sides (360°) is off while the cut is on: click Turn off to use it again.

Find hidden spotsCopy Anchor Link

After a few generations, small areas can stay unpainted because no view could reach them. In the See through panel, open Hidden spots and click Find hidden spots to list them. The panel remembers whether Hidden spots is open. It works while See through is off too. Choose what to check: All visible layers, Selected layer, or This 360° group when a group is selected.

Each spot says where it is and why it was missed, for example Back, behind another part, Left side, needs another angle or Front, deep in a gap. Very small spots are grouped at the end of the list.

• Show me turns the view to the spot. For a spot behind another part, it also cuts away what covers it, inside a small circle, so you can generate right away. When you checked a 360° group, that generation joins the group.
• Fill fills a spot in a gap with the colours around it, without AI, on a new Filled spots layer. Fill these without AI does all of them at once.
• Unpainted areas shows areas that faced away from every view.

Show what this view missesCopy Anchor Link

While See through is on, turn on Show what this view misses under Hidden spots in the panel to see, in amber, the surfaces that face you but are covered by other parts. A generation from this view can't reach them. Hide what's in the way cuts away what covers the biggest of them, like an arm, inside a circle. If they are covered by something too big to cut away, like the body itself, the panel says so: turn the model to face them instead. It is off by default.

TipsCopy Anchor Link

• It works best when the part in the way is clearly in front, like an arm, a sword or a strap. When it touches what's behind it, the cut goes between them.
• A click cuts too little? Click Change cut and scroll to cut deeper. It cuts other parts too? Turn on Only around here.
• Turn the view so the part in the way is between you and the area you want to reach, then click it.
• Nothing behind this on a part that clearly sits in front of something means the two are one solid piece in the model, so there is no separate surface behind it to show.

RelatedCopy Anchor Link

• AI painting: let the AI paint large areas, then refine with the brush.
• Layers: keep details on their own layers.
• Keyboard shortcuts and gestures

Frequently Asked QuestionsCopy Anchor Link