Sculpting texture mid-level

Support Modeling
#1

Hi,

originally, I planned to get better at sculpting this year - and since there are still a few hours left of 2020 I figured, I probably should start working on that. :wink:

So, I just tried to make a few textures for sculpting. Until now, I was under the impression that these textures would work like the Displacement Modifier textures: dark areas lower the surface, light areas raise the surface. (And a mid-level can be set.)

Unfortunately, I just canā€™t get that to work with sculpt brushes. Based on the brushā€™s +/- setting the texture seems to lower OR raise the surface but not both.

When searching for a solution I stumbled on this rightclickselect thread ā€œWould it be possible to get a true Alpha Sculpt Brush?ā€ which suggests that it just isnā€™t possible to have both at the same time.

Does anyone know if this indeed isnā€™t possible? It feels a little strange as the Displacement Modifierā€™s behavior is making a lot of sense to me.

Thanks for your help.

#2

A texture always holds positive values (at least for file formats that I know of) so if thereā€™s no midlevel setting for alpha or color then itā€™s not possible to calculate the negative part. Displacement has one but sculpting brushes donā€™t. Probably a very easy setting to add, not sure why hasnā€™t been implemented yet.

#3

Thanks Blutag. That is what I suspected. But, I hoped that I just didnā€™t look in the right place. I would never have guessed that this didnā€™t work this way in sculpt mode.

It doesnā€™t sound that difficult, indeed. And even a single checkbox like ā€œmidlevel at 127ā€ (I guess someone could come up with a better name) would make a huge difference. (Of course, a custom midlevel would be even better.)

#4

Of course itā€™s possibleā€¦
Start here and keep readingā€¦ :wink:

1 Like
#5

Sorry for taking that long to respond. And thanks for pointing me in that direction.
Iā€™m still a little confused by the settingā€™s name and sample bias unit. But setting it to -0.5 seems to work just fine. If Iā€™m not mistaken, this is just what I was looking for. :slight_smile:
Thanks a lot!

#6

Aha, so it was hidden under a weird name. Thatā€™s a good find! So it takes the value from texture + bias, then yeah -0.5 bias is a good middle value.