I’m trying to make some matcaps using Ben Simmonds matcap generator, from blendswap, using some zmt files. I got here by following some stack exchange threads and stuff that indicated this would be possible?
Also am I correct in understanding that a matcap is basically just an image that the program uses as a reference do quick shading? If I painted over by hand in photoshop a custom matcap would that make my sculpting clay look kind of hand drawn and stuff?
If you need to get them out of .zmt file you need to open the file in ZBrush and export the matcap texture out of it. There is a Create MatCapTexture button in Material menu under Modifiers tab in ZBrush that makes a texture out of the active material and you can then export the texture same way as you would export any texture from ZBrush. You can also draw or paint the spheres, make them out of photographs, scans or render them - anything that makes a picture of a sphere will work. Now the interesting part is - how are you planning to use them in Blender and what for? You can render them in Cycles easily, however that might have very limited use.
I just wanted more variety with what matcaps I could use in Blender. I looked online and found a bunch of matcap images already rendered out. I don’t have Zbrush so I can’t export them like that. I was hoping that maybe there was a way to extract it without having zbrush, but I’m doing fine without it.