Painting directly onto texture map in Photoshop CS4

We only been talking about painting texture directly onto the 3D object, but there is another way to paint textures. If you have done 3D before, you know you can directly paint onto the texture map file. This method is better for painting more complicated 3D textures.

To paint directly onto the texture map file you will need to set up the UV map correctly before exporting the 3D object to Photoshop. When you import the 3D object to Photoshop, click on the 3D layer and underneath the 3D layer. Double click on the texture map you want to paint (see image below).

This will open a new document for that texture map. The file will be in .PSB file format, the smart object format for Photoshop. This allows you to paint and change your texture map inside the smart object without destroying the original texture.

Another great thing about this is, when you finish changing the texture map and save it. It will automatically update the texture map on the 3D object.

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