Reset the Default Context if any toolbars have been modified
install the persistent base if not already installed
install all the requirements - Unofficial Updates v9 has all the prerequisites already installed
drag the node into the link editor, ignore the alert and press the install button
delete the node from the scene after install is complete
when first running the paint tool, with the brush active - assign shortcuts to the increase and decrease brush size buttons.
"[" reduce size, "]" increase size
Material Notes:
The first step is to assign a material that uses vertex colors.
The only compiled(base object) material with access to vertex colors is the default solid color material. This can be assigned by RMB reset on the Material Editor sphere.
To see the vertex colors increase the value of the "VertexColorStrength". The "DiffuseColor" can be darker to increase the vertex color effect or black to see only the effect of the vertex colors.
Left: before, right: after
For node based(compound object) materials add a ShaderInput node and a Modulate node and connect as shown on the right.
The Color connector of the ShaderInput will provide the vertex colors and modulate is used to multiply the original color. Here the color was set to white to get the maximum vertex color values.
To see pure vertex colors without any lighting effects go into the DefaultModelShader and disconnect the Color input of the ShaderModel node.
Sometimes this works? TODO: Update this info later.
The ShaderVertex node can be used for advanced shader effects. It can be found in the FeederGPUVertexShader from the "Shaders - Vertex shaders" library.
Controls:
R G B - set red, green and blue values.
display and paint mode - radio buttons for full color paint or effect red, green or blue only.
Preset Colors - Black, White, Gray or One(1,1,1) color values.
Fill - fill the selected object with the current color. This fill button is only works when the brush is inactive.
Use the "f" key fill shortcut when the brush widget is active.
Gray Preview - when painting in single color mode only the selected color channel will show and it will show as a grayscale display.
Hue Saturation Luminance - set HSL color values.
Brush Size - size of the paint brush in local coordinates.
Size Step - amount to change the brush size with each press of the toolbar button.
Brush Mix Mode - Replace, Add and Subtract. The color fills quickly so use very small (dark) color values for Add and Subtract
Brush Profile - shape of the brush effect from flat to sharp is Flat, Circle, Sine and Linear.
A custom profile can be created in the Profile aspect panel.
Start Painting - begin the paint process. The first item you paint on will be the object to recieve the colors.
If the object does not have any vertex colors, a black color will be assigned to all the vertices of the mesh.
Left click and then Ctrl+Right click to edit the shortcut keys for a button.
When first
running the paint tool, with the brush active - assign shortcuts to the increase and decrease brush size buttons in order to enable interactive sizing.
Set "[" reduce size and "]" increase size
The paint tool widget must be enabled when assigning the shortcuts.
Move the brush over a mesh to see the brush size dot indicators
Hold the shortcut keys while wiggling the brush to increase and decrease the brush size.
To fill the mesh vertices with the current color, hold the "f" key and wiggle the brush.
The sliders are for coarse control and the scrubbers are for fine control.
Replace, Add and Subtract modes can be overridden by using the Ctrl key to force Add mode and Shift key to force Subtract mode.
Controls:
Hover Color - color of the dots showing the brush size.
Dot Size - size of the brush dots hover effect.
Widget controls are set before invoking the paint tool.
Controls:
Brush Profile Presets- shape of the brush effect from flat to sharp is Flat, Circle, Sine and Linear.
The sliders work in pairs to define a custom profile for the brush. The numbers left to right are the center to outside values.
Controls (Bone Weights):
Bone Weights assign random colors based on the influence of each bone in an actor.
Controls (UV):
Axis direction to create a color gradient. U, V, UV u direction, v direction or both u and v directions
Channel UV channel 1 or 2.
U Color color channel to use in the U direction gradient, R,G,B red, green or blue.
V Color color channel to use in the V direction gradient, R,G,B red, green or blue.
UV create the vertex colors on the selected mesh object.
Controls (Bitmap):
Channel UV channel 1 or 2.
Node full path to the node that has the bitmap data connector. Get Source Node copy the selected node path to this input and guess the bitmap connector to use.
Connector the node connector that has the bitmap data.
U Offset sample the bitmap using an offset in the u direction.
V Offset sample the bitmap using an offset in the V direction.
Wrap wrap the uv values to the 0 - 1 space. When false the u and v values will be clamped to the 0 - 1 uv space.
Image copy the bitmap image colors into the mesh vertices
The sliders work in pairs to define a custom profile for the brush. The numbers left to right are the center to outside values.
Notes:
Editing a mesh can remove vertex colors. Once vertex colors are assigned do not add any new geometry to a mesh.
Set Mesh Editor Settings Autotriangulation to "None" before reshaping a mesh that has vertex colors.
The trueSpace vertex colors are incomplete. This is shown in 2 ways. First the vertex colors are assigned to triangles not vertices. Second is that the Collada/X exporter will not export vertex colors correctly. It seems to write a color entry for each triangle instead of each vertex.
The vertex colors can be fed into the vertex shaders position, normal and tangent inputs. The normal and tangent values are normalized when retrieved. Meaning something like a very dark red would be normalized to the brightest red value. Pure white would normalize down to a medium gray.
Vertex colors are not available in the constant shader. The nromalized colors can be accessed by piping the color into the normal or tangent, but these values would be normalized.
Vertex colors are not available in any of the compiled texture materials.
Vertex colors only work with D3D renders. It does not work with Lightworks, VRay or YafaRay renderers.
