Polybrush Manual

PolybrushManual

User Manual: Pdf

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Page Count: 37

Introduction
Quick Start
The Interface
Toolbar
Push / Pull
Smooth
Vertex Color
Texture Blend
Brush Mirroring
- Brush Mirroring Options
  - A) Mirroring Axis
  - B) Mirroring Coordinate Space
Brush Settings
Writing Texture Blend Shaders
Settings
Troubleshooting / F.A.Q.

Introduction
Polybrush brings several exciting level design tools to the Unity editor: MeshSculpting, VertexColorPainting, and TextureBlending.
Directly in the editor you can sculpt complex shapes, paint in custom lighting or coloring, and blend textures across meshes.
Polybrush is a natural extension of Unity’s famous "what you see is what you get" workflow, and is even compatible with ProBuilder meshes
for the complete in-editor level design solution.
GettingStarted
Important!
Polybrush is for working with meshes, not terrain. Use the Unity Terrain tool for modeling terrains.
If you're just getting started with Polybrush, the QuickStart tutorial is a great way to begin.
For further learning, browse the topic links to the left. If you prefer video tutorials, we've got you covered- every section has a complete video
summary.
INeedHelp!
If you've encountered a bug or other technical issue, please post on the official SupportForum. We respond very quickly, and the
community benefits as well.
For general questions, comments, etc, feel free to email us directly.
OptionalExtras
LeaveaReview
If you like what we are creating, and want to support further development and new ideas, reviews are the single best way to help- thanks very
much! WriteaReviewforPolybrush
RegisteryourPurchase
Optionally, you can "Register" to gain access to our User Toolbox page, where you can access direct download links for all your ProCore
purchases.
Simple send us an email with your original Unity Asset Store reciept (the one with the "OR302..." number), and we'll setup your account,
usually within 24 hours.
StayInformed
If you'd like to keep up-to-date with new tools, contests, sales, and any other news, we have a few options:
1.  Twitter : @probuilder3d
2.  Facebook: facebook.com/probuilder3d
3.  News Page & Newsletter: procore3d.com/news
SpecialThanksto:

Example Textures generously provided by gametextures.com

QuickStart

Complete Video: Getting Started With Polybrush

First time using Polybrush? Start here for a quick and pain-free overview of the essentials,

plus links to more advanced learning.

QuestionsorConcerns? Please let us know via email or on the forum. We'll be happy

to help!

1)OpenthePolybrushWindow

Quick Video: The Polybrush Window

From the Unity menu bar, choose Tools>Polybrush>PolybrushWindow . This opens

the PolybrushWindow, which you will use for 99% of Polybrush functionality.

2)ChooseaMeshtoEdit

Quick Video: Choosing a Mesh to Edit

Polybrush will automatically work on any mesh, but for now we'll use a Unity primitve

mesh.

To create a sphere primitive, in the Unity menu bar choose

GameObject>3DObject>Sphere

You can also use ProBuilder meshes for an even more powerful

workflow!

3)SculptYourMesh

Quick Video: Mesh Sculpting and Smoothing

Let's make this sphere look more interesting!

1. The default Unity sphere is only 1 meter across, so let's scale it up about 10x.

2. Activate Push/PullMode by clicking it's icon ( ) in the ModeToolbar.

3. Hover your mouse over the Sphere, and LeftClick to "pull", ShiftLeftClick

to "push" geometry.

4. To smooth out hard edges, activate SmoothingMode ( ) and brush the mesh

with LeftClick .

4)PaintPrettyColors

Quick Video: Painting Vertex Colors

Danger, Danger! The default Unity material won't show VertexColoring, so let's create a

new material that will:

1. In your Project Panel, right-click and choose Create>Material , then give it a

really cool name

2. With the new material selected, look at the top of the Inspector Panel- see that

drop-down labeled "Shader"? Click it, and choose

Polybrush>StandardVertexColor

3. Apply this material to the mesh you'd like to paint

Hey custom shader people! You can use any shader, as long as it

supports vertex colors

Now we're ready to paint vertex colors:

1. Activate ColorPaintingMode by clicking it's icon ( ) in the ModeToolbar.

2. Click to select a color from the ColorPalette buttons at the bottom of the

PolybrushPanel.

3. Hover your mouse over the Sphere, and LeftClick to paint, ShiftLeftClick

to erase.

5)BlendFancyTextures

Quick Video: Texture Blending

TextureBlending requires a special shader- you can create your own, or use ours:

1. In your Project Panel, right-click and choose Create>Material .

2. With the new material selected, look at the top of the Inspector Panel- see that

drop-down labeled "Shader"? Click it, and choose

Polybrush>StandardTextureBlend.

3. Apply this material to the mesh you'd like to paint.

Prefer your custom shader? You can use any shader with Polybrush -

see Writing Texture Blend Shaders for more information.

We can now paint and blend textures on the mesh:

1. Activate TextureBlendingMode by clicking it's icon ( ) in the ModeToolbar.

2. Click on a texture in the bottom of the PolybrushPanel to select it.

3. Hover your mouse over the Sphere, and LeftClick to paint, ShiftLeftClick

to erase the selected texture.

Textureskindlyprovidedbygametextures.com

Summary

Congratulations, you've learned the essentials of Polybrush! You may now ChooseYour

OwnPath:

ThePathofAdventureandDubiousWisdom:

Jump right in and learn the rest as you go. You can always return to these docs or ask us

if you have specific questions. Enjoy!

ThePathofInfiniteWisdom:

Use the handy-dandy topic links (on your left) to jump quickly through these docs.

Whether you skim, read in-depth, or just watch video tutorials, you'll be lvl60 in no time.

TheInterface

A)ModeToolbar

Sets and displays the active BrushMode. Active mode is indicated by a blue accent line

below it's icon.

Choosing any of Unity's standard tools (Pan, Move, Rotate, Scale) will automatically de-

activate Polybrush.

B)BrushSettings

BrushSettings lets you choose Radius, Falloff, Strength/Opacity, and Falloff Curve.

You may also save and load often used brushes via the BrushPresetselector.

C)BrushMirroring

Chooses the BrushMirroring methods to use with the current brush.

D)ModeSettings

Any additional settings specific to the current BrushMode.

Toolbar

Modes define how a brush interacts with a mesh. Some move vertices around, others

apply values per-vertex (like color).

To enter a BrushMode click on the toolbar button. To exit a BrushMode select the

Move, Rotate, Scale, or GUI tool in the Unity toolbar (or use the W,E,R,T keyboard

shortcut).

You can tell if a BrushMode is on by it's button in the toolbar. The active mode will

appear with a blue accent line:

The available modes are:

ModeName Description

Push / Pull Move vertex positions in a direction.

Smooth Smooth the differences between vertex

positions.

Vertex Color Paint mesh colors.

Texture BlendPaint mesh textures.

Settings General Polybrush settings.

Push/Pull

About

The Push/Pull tool moves vertices in positive and negative directions along an axis (determined by the Direction setting).

Usage

Select any mesh object, enter Push/Pull mode, then click and drag while hovering over the selected mesh.

Holding the Shift key while dragging the LeftMouseButton will inverse the movement direction (Up becomes Down, Right becomes left, etc).

The actual movement of vertices will be affected by the current BrushSettings. Check out the Brush Settings page for more information on how.

Settings

IgnoreOpenEdges

When IgnoreOpenEdges is enabled, any vertices that make up an open edge (eg, an edge that is only a part of one face) will not be affected by

the brush.

BrushNormalisSticky

When the brush direction is set to BrushNormal this locks the vertex movement direction to the axis the brush normal is facing at the time of first

application.

Direction

Direction determines how vertices move. Up, Down, and Forward move vertices along the X, Y, and Z axes respectively. BrushNormal moves

vertices along axis of the brush orientation's up direction. VertexNormal moves vertices along their normals. Use VertexNormal on objects like

spheres where you want the movement to be relative to the direction of the affected vertices.

BrushEffect

This value determines the distance a brush stroke will move vertices in it's path. Higher values mean more movement, smaller values less. Holding

Shift while dragging negates this value (eg, 2 becomes -2).

BrushEffect can be negative, which is handy for carving out river beds or valleys!

Smooth

About

The Smooth tool averages the differences between vertex positions along a axis (set by Direction). Use this mode to make your jagged vertices

more uniform.

Usage

Select any mesh object, enter Push/Pull mode, then click and drag while hovering over the selected mesh.

The actual movement of vertices will be affected by the current BrushSettings. Check out the Brush Settings page for more information on how.

Settings

IgnoreOpenEdges

When IgnoreOpenEdges is enabled, any vertices that make up an open edge (eg, an edge that is only a part of one face) will not be affected by

the brush.

BrushNormalisSticky

When the brush direction is set to BrushNormal this locks the vertex movement direction to the axis the brush normal is facing at the time of first

application.

Direction

Direction determines how vertices move. Up, Down, and Forward move vertices along the X, Y, and Z axes respectively. BrushNormal moves

vertices along axis of the brush orientation's up direction. VertexNormal moves vertices along their normals. Use VertexNormal on objects like

spheres where you want the movement to be relative to the direction of the affected vertices.

In Smooth mode the VertexNormal brush direction behaves slightly differently than you might expect - instead of constraining the movement path

to the normal each vertex position will be averaged with it's neighbors. This is very handy for reducing large gaps in vertex positions and making

your mesh look super-smooth.

VertexColor

Important!

VertexColor mode requires special shaders to work. If you're not able to paint colors

on a mesh, change the material to ProCore/Polybrush/Material/StandardVertexColor

and try again.

About

ColorPaint mode enables you to set the vertex colors of a mesh with a brush or paint

bucket. Use the toolbar under PaintSettings to choose between the two modes.

VertexColor mode will only work if the shader a material uses supports vertex colors.

Most default Unity shaders do not support vertex colors! Polybrush will show a warning

when hovering a mesh with an incompatible shader.

Polybrush includes some default materials that support vertex colors. Use one of these

materials if you want to paint colors on a mesh (or alternatively any other shader that

reads the mesh.colors attribute).

Name Description Path

DiffuseVertex

Color

A Legacy Diffuse shader with support for a texture, normal

map, and vertex colors.

ProCore/Polybrush/Materials/Diffuse

VertexColor

Standard

VertexColor

This material behaves similarly to the Standard shader, but with

support for painting vertex colors.

ProCore/Polybrush/Materials/Standard

VertexColor

Usage

Select any mesh object, enter Push/Pull mode, then click and drag while hovering over

the selected mesh.

The actual color applied to vertices will be affected by the current BrushSettings. Check

out the Brush Settings page for more information on how.

Settings

BrushType

Specific to VertexColor and TextureBlend modes is the option to select between the

standard circular brush and a special bucket brush.

PaintBucket will restrict the brush to the triangle (or triangles) touched by the mouse.

BrushColor

BrushColor shows the current brush color. The final color the brush applies also

depends on the BrushStrength and the underlying mesh color.

Toselectanewbrushcolor,eitherclickanelementintheColorPalettelistor

manuallychangetheBrushColorfield.

ColorMask

The ColorMask field allows you to selectively modify color values by channel

(R,G,B,A ). By default the all color channels are affected by the brush. Toggling off

channels tells Polybrush to leave those channel values alone when modifying the mesh.

ColorPalette

The ColorPalette provides quick access to brush colors. You can add, remove, or

change colors in this list at any time. To reset a palette back to the default values, click

SetDefaults below the list view.

To add a new ColorPalette open the Palettes popup and select AddPalette....

TextureBlend

Important!

TextureBlending mode requires special shaders to work. If you're not able to paint

textures on a mesh, apply one of the included materials (see below for a chart) to your

model and try again.

About

TexturePainting mode is a special interface for texture blending shaders. It applies data

to a mesh using a combination of some or all of the following attributes:

[UV0,UV2,UV3,UV3,Color,Tangent] .

This information is defined by the shader and is just 2 extra lines in your shader code

(more on that later). Polybrush includes a few different blend materials to get you started:

Name Description Path

Standard

TextureBlend

A PBR enabled material with support for blending up to 12

different textures.

ProCore/Polybrush/Materials/Standard

TextureBlend

Standard

TextureBlend

Bump

A PBR enabled material with support for blending up to 4

different textures with normal maps.

ProCore/Polybrush/Materials/Standard

TextureBlendBump

TriPlanar

TextureBlend

A PBR enabled material with support for blending up to 4

textures and automatically projects UV coordinates.

ProCore/Polybrush/Materials/TriPlanar

TextureBlend

TriPlanar

TextureBlend

Legacy

A Blinn-Phong lighting pipeline (legacy) material with support

for blending up to 4 textures and automatically projects UV

coordinates.

ProCore/Polybrush/Materials/TriPlanar

TextureBlendLegacy

UnlitTexture

Blend

A simple unlit material with support for blending up to 6

textures.

ProCore/Polybrush/Materials/Unlit

TextureBlend

If you'd like to write your own texture blending shaders, see the Writing Texture Blending

Shaders document for more information on how that works.

Usage

Select any mesh object with a compatible material, enter TextureBlend mode, then click

and drag while hovering over the selected mesh.

Polybrush will show a warning if the mesh you're hovering doesn't support texture

blending. See Writing Texture Blend Shaders for more detailed information on compatible

shaders. If you're not comfortable writing shaders, you can just use one of Polybrush's

included TextureBlend materials.

Settings

BrushType

Specific to VertexColor and TextureBlend modes is the option to select between the

standard circular brush and a special bucket brush.

PaintBucket will restrict the brush to the triangle (or triangles) touched by the mouse.

TextureSelection

Polybrush will automatically detect what textures are available per-material and display

them as a selection grid. To select a brush texture, click on one of the textures in the grid.

Your currently selected texture will be shown with a green bar under it's preview.

BrushMirroring

Sculpting with a single brush is pretty great, but what if you want to take things to the next level?

BrushMirroring is the answer. You can control up to four brushes in the scene simultaneously using

this feature.

BrushMirroringOptions

A)MirroringAxis

The first three toggles (A) determine the coordinate space that the axis will be calculated from (X, Y, or

Z).

Anywhere from 0 to all 3 axis can be chosen.

B)MirroringCoordinateSpace

The second toggleset sets the axis to mirror across.

In World the axes are always the same, matching Unity's world coordinates Camera uses the Scene

camera's transform as the coordinate to cast axes.

BrushSettings

BrushSettings determines how a brush will affect meshes. In the image below I've used the gear

icon to expand the settings panel, exposing 3 additional settings.

A)BrushPresetSelector

Click this drop-down to choose from saved Brush Presets

B)SaveBrush

Save the current brush settings as a new Preset, or overwrite an existing Preset

C)BrushOptions

Min/MaxValues

Min: This is the minimum value the Radius slider will allow. This value cannot be negative.

Max: This is the maximum value the Radius slider will allow. This value cannot be less than

BrushRadiusMin.

Radius

This value determines how big your brush's entire effective area is. The Radius is shown as the

second colored ring in the scene view.

Shortcut: Control (Command) + Mouse Wheel

Falloff

Falloff is the distance from the center of a brush at which the strength begins to taper to 0. This

value is normalized; 1 means the entire brush gets full strength, 0 means the very center point of a

brush is full strength and the edges are 0.

Shortcut: Shift + Mouse Wheel

Strength

Strength is the effectiveness of this brush. The actual applied strength also depends on the Falloff

setting.

Shortcut: Control (Command) + Shift + Mouse Wheel

FalloffCurve

The falloff curve determines how values between the falloff and radius will be calculated.

SceneGizmoExample

WritingTextureBlendShaders

Constructing a shader that is compatible with Polybrush's TexturePaintMode is very simple. You can either write your code by hand, or use

ShaderForge.

Polybrush will pass texture blending information to the shader using some combination of mesh attributes (ex; via color, tangent, uv0, uv2, etc).

There are two methods for passing information about how a shader uses mesh data:

By defining in shader code which mesh channels to look for data in (UV, Color, etc)

By creating a separate metadata file that stores per-attribute information

If your shader just wants to map Color.R to _Texture1 , Color.G to _Texture2 , etc go with the first option. If your shader has more complex

interactions with attribute information, use the metadata method.

DefiningChannelDatainShaderCode(Legacy)

If your shader simply blends between textures using normalized values set in a mesh array, you can use this method to make the shader compatible

with Polybrush.

1. Somewhere in the shader you must define how many textures are used: defineZ_TEXTURE_CHANNELS8

2. Somewhere in the shader the mesh attributes used must be defined: defineZ_MESH_ATTRIBUTESCOLORUVUV3 The order in which the

mesh attributes are defined also tells Polybrush which Texture inputs belong to which attribute. For example,

defineZ_MESH_ATTRIBUTESUV0UV3UV4 tells Polybrush that the first 4 textures should map to the 4 values in each vertex uv0 property,

the next 4 textures belong to uv3 , and so on.

The available mesh attributes values are UV0,UV2,UV3,UV4,COLOR,TANGENT . Each value should only be used at most once.

Polybrush accesses these statements by searching the shader source, so they may be either provided in a comment or defined.

#defineZ_TEXTURE_CHANNELS8

//isthesameas

//defineZ_TEXTURE_CHANNELS8

Here's what this could look like in shader code (boring bits omitted)

Properties

{

_MainTex("Texture",2D)="white"{}

_Texture1("Texture1",2D)="white"{}

_Texture2("Texture2",2D)="white"{}

_Texture3("Texture3",2D)="white"{}

_Texture4("Texture4",2D)="white"{}

_Texture5("Texture5",2D)="white"{}

}

SubShader

{

Pass

{

//TellPolybrushthatthisshadersupports6texturechannels(Texture,Texture1,soon)

#defineZ_TEXTURE_CHANNELS6

//TellsPolybrushthattheshaderexpectsdataintheuv3anduv4channels

//(4componentsinuv3,2inuv4)

#defineZ_MESH_ATTRIBUTESUV3UV4

structappdata

{

//localposition

float4vertex:POSITION;

//thetexturecoordinate

float2uv:TEXCOORD0;

//float2uv1:TEXCOORD1;//notused(thiswouldbemesh.uv2)

//mesh.uv3data

float4uv2:TEXCOORD2;

//mesh.uv4data

float4uv3:TEXCOORD3;

}

etc...

In this example Polybrush will show 6 textures in the palette and map each texture's strength to mesh.uv.xyzw and mesh.uv3.xy respectively.

Check out the shader z_UnlitTextureBlend.shader for a simple working example.

MetaDataFile

Polybrush can store fine-grained instructions for interpreting mesh data in the form of a metadata file. A metadata file is composed of a shader

reference (pointing to the shader it describes) and a list of z_AttributeLayout entries. Each entry contains all the necessary information about how

a value is used in a shader for Polybrush to work with.

When Polybrush loads a material into TextureMode it will first search for an accompanying ShaderName.pbs.json file, then try to fall back on the

Legacy method (searching for Z_DEFINE_MESH_ATTRIBUTES in shader source).

Creating MetaData

To create a new Polybrush metadata file:

Select the shader you want to work with.

Right click (Option click Mac) the Shader and select Create/Polybrush/ShaderMetaData .

By default Polybrush creates the new file using the name of the selected shader, placing it in the same directory. This is where Polybrush will look

for metadata. To specify a different name or path, in the shader add the following comment:

//Z_SHADER_METADATAMyMetaDataFolder/SomeOtherName.pbs.json

The path provided after Z_SHADER_METADATA is relative to the directory of the shader.

Editing MetaData

Mercifully, you do not have to write this metadata by hand (though you can if you'd like to).

PropertyTarget - The shader property that this attribute will affect.

More complex interactions may not map to a single property, so this field may be either the name of a property, or a simple description.

If the string provided to this field matches a 2D property in the shader, Polybrush will load the material's texture matching this property name.

If it does not match a texture property, this string will be shown as the preview in the texture selection well.

Channel - The mesh channel that this attribute will draw from.

Index - Which component of the channel this attribute receives data from.

Range - The range (x is min, y is max) that this attribute will operate in.

Group - Attributes with matching groups will affect one another when applied. Use NoMask to mark that this attribute will always operate

independently.

How Polybrush Applies Texture Data

When a texture is selected in TextureMode, Polybrush sets a new target value for each attribute matching the selected attributes group. The

selected attribute has its target value set to Range.max, while all other attributes in the group are set to their Range.min value. Polybrush then

applies this new mix of attribute values to the mesh, taking into account brush strength and falloff.

A Simple Example

Say you have a shader with 5 textures; a base texture and 4 blend textures. This shader reads texture blending information from the mesh.color

channel. The final fragment color is built using the following formula:

//samplethetexture

fixed4col1=tex2D(_MainTex,i.uv);

fixed4col2=tex2D(_Texture1,i.uv)*i.color.y;

fixed4col3=tex2D(_Texture2,i.uv)*i.color.z;

fixed4col4=tex2D(_Texture3,i.uv)*i.color.w;

floatsnowMix=i.color.x*((cnoise(i.uv*_SnowTiling)+1)*.5);

fixed4final_color=lerp(lerp(lerp(col1,col2,i.color.y),col3,i.color.z),col4,i.color.w);

final_color=lerp(final_color,_SnowColor,snowMix);

In this case you'll want Polybrush to show 5 entries in the TexturePalette: 4 textures and "Snow". This means the metadata needs 5 entries.

All the texture properties are related, meaning when one value is set to maximum strength the others should be set to minimum strength. To do this,

create each for these attributes with the same group.

The attribute values are set like so:

Property Channel Component Range Group

_MainTex Color G { 1, 0 } 0

_Texture1 Color G { 0, 1 } 0

_Texture2 Color B { 0, 1 } 0

_Texture3 Color A { 0, 1 } 0

Snow Color R { 0, 1 } No Mask

You may have noticed that _MainTex and _Texture1 share a common channel. The reason is that _MainTex is special in that it does not map it's

strength to a single attribute, rather, its strength is determined by the lack of strength in the other texture channels.

To accomplish this, we set _MainTex to use the Color channel and register it to the G field. However, instead of setting the strength from 0 to 1 it

is from 1 to 0. That means when Polybrush applies _MainTex at full strength the Color.G field will be 0, and the Color.B and Color.A fields will

also be 0 (since their min values are 0).

Snow is also a special case. Since it is a generated effect in the shader it does not map to a texture property. Polybrush will display the name

"Snow" for this value. By setting the group to "No Mask" we're telling Polybrush that this value should be modified independent of all other

attributes. That means when you're applying Snow at full strength all other attributes will remain unaffected.

WithShaderForge

Post-Processing

Shaders built with ShaderForge require some additional work to be compatible with Polybrush. Fortunately through some post-processing this

process is extremely simple. In short, Polybrush will automatically listen for changes to any shader with the suffix _SfSrc, then make some changes

to the source code and compile a new shader right next to it (omitting the suffix so you aren't confused).

For example, if you have MyNeatoShaderForgeShader_SfSrc.shader it will be compiled and renamed to MyNeatoShaderForgeShader.shader. Use

this shader in your game (not the suffixed one!).

Similar to writing shader code, you need to define how many textures are used and what mesh attributes data is provided in. Usually this means as

a comment on one of the nodes (right click and select "Edit Comment").

It is required that all ShaderForge shaders have the following two lines present in node comments:

1. defineZ_TEXTURE_CHANNELS8

Where the last number is the number of textures used.

2. defineZ_MESH_ATTRIBUTESUV3UV4

Where the values following Z_MESH_ATTRIBUTES is the mesh properties that are accessed. Available values are

UV0,UV2,UV3,UV4,COLOR,TANGENT .

In addition, shaders must be named with the suffix _SfSrc (ex, MySimpleBlendShader_SfSrc.shader). This lets Polybrush know that this shader

requires some post-processing.

The ShaderSettings/Path must be set to Hidden (ex, Hidden/MyShader). Polybrush will automatically detect this and remove the Hidden part

from the path when compiling the new shader. If you're having issues with black triangles on a mesh, check that the shader has Hidden/ in it's path.

Here is a basic 4 texture blend shader in ShaderForge. This shader blends the 4 textures using mesh.uv3 as input. Note the comments

Z_TEXTURE_CHANNELS4 on the Main node and Z_MESH_ATTRIBUTESUV3 on the Vector4Property node.

AccessingVector4UVs

Due to a limitation in ShaderForge, accessing UV data as Vector4 types requires some extra work. To read a UV as a fixed4 in graph language,

first

1. Create a UVCoord. node matching the channel you would like to read blend information from.

2. Create a Vector4Property node named TEMP_CHANNEL_UV0 (or TEMP_CHANNEL_UV1 , or TEMP_CHANNEL_UV2 etc, where the final number

matches the channel specified in the UVCoord. node).

3. Create an Append node and connect the uv.u , uv.v , TEMP_CHANNEL_0.z and TEMP_CHANNEL_0.w . It is important that you not swizzle the

UVCoord. input.

4. Use the Append output as though it was the uv0 channel.

In shader code, the texture coordinates are always zero indexed, where in Unity you may be used to seeing the uv0 channel called simply uv and

the uv1 channel called mesh.uv2 .

If you're confused, here's a graph mapping the mesh property to it's shader counterpart.

Mesh Shader Vector4Node

Name

mesh.uv or mesh.uv2 uv0 TEMP_CHANNEL_UV0

mesh.uv2 uv1 TEMP_CHANNEL_UV1

mesh.uv3 uv2 TEMP_CHANNEL_UV2

mesh.uv4 uv3 TEMP_CHANNEL_UV3

F.A.Q.

TexturePaletteDoesn'tMatchWhat'sPainted

Make sure that the properties are listed in the correct order (they will be matched sequentially to the Z_MESH_ATTRIBUTES list).

Settings

RebuildNormals

When RebuildNormals is enabled Polybrush will automatically recalculate the mesh normals after a brush has been

applied.

RebuildMeshCollider

When RebuildMeshCollider is enabled Polybrush will automatically recalculate the mesh collider source after a brush

has been applied. If the target object does not have a Mesh Collider this setting is ignored.

LockBrushtoFirst

If LockBrushtoFirst is enabled Polybrush will not let the brush affect any other mesh after a drag has been started.

This is useful for situations where a mesh may be partially obscured by another. For example, where a beach meets the

water: You may want to sculpt the beach terrain without affecting the water, and by default Polybrush will apply to any

selected mesh that the mouse is hovering.

IgnoreUnselected

When IgnoreUnselected is enabled the mouse will always show a brush when hovering a selected mesh, even if another

unselected mesh is obscuring it's view.

If IgnoreUnselected is off, the mouse will always register the first GameObject it is hovering, which may not be in the

current selection.

When a brush stroke is applied it will always ignore unselected meshes until the drag is complete.

AnchorBrushSettings

When enabled the BrushSettings GUI items will stay locked to the top of the window regardless of where the scroll bar

is.

AdditionalVertexStreams

Additional Vertex Streams is a new feature in Unity that allows an extra mesh to be attached to the MeshRenderer that

will override any duplicate attributes.

This means that instead of Polybrush having to copy and instantiate a copy of any edited mesh, a partial

additionalVertexStream mesh can instead be appended and edited.

Note that once enabled any mesh that has been modified with additionalVertexStreams will always make use of the

stream mesh. Ie, toggling this feauture off will "lock" any edited mesh attributes in. To reset these meshes, simply find the

AdditionalVertexStreams component and click the Delete button. This will clear any changes applied by

additionalVertexStreams .

HideWireframe

When this option is enabled Polybrush will hide the wireframe of the currently hovering mesh object.

BrushHandleColor

This sets the color of the falloff disc in the Scene view, as well as the vertex billboards inside the falloff zone.

BrushGradient

BrushGradient sets the colors used for the vertex sprites outside the falloff zone, from most affected to least.

Troubleshooting/F.A.Q.

Frequently asked questions and troubleshooting tips when working with Polybrush.

BrushIsn'tApplying/Can'tSeeBrushGizmo

First, make sure you have a BrushMode selected (click any of the buttons in the top

toolbar except settings).

This is usually the cause, since Polybrush automatically pops out of BrushModes

when the Unity tool is changed.

Check that you have a GameObject selected, and that the selected GameObject has

a valid mesh. Polybrush only applies brushes to the current selection, and must

have a mesh with a vertex count greater than 3.

Polybrush does not work on Unity Terrain objects. Make sure the GameObject is a

mesh.

Reset the BrushSettings by deleting the ProCore/Polybrush/BrushSettings folder.

Note that this will clear any saved brush presets, so use this only as a last resort!

SaveMeshasAsset

Polybrush adds a new button to MeshFilter components that reference an instanced

mesh (a mesh that isn't saved in the project). The "Save to Asset" button will create a new

mesh asset in your project and point the MeshFilter to that object. This allows the mesh

to be used in Prefabs.

Prefabsaren'tworking

See Save Mesh as Asset.

ColorsorTexturesnotPainting

Vertex colors and texture blending both require special shaders to work. By default,

Unity's Standard shader does not include support for either of these modes. Fortunately,

Polybrush includes a number of prebuilt Materials that work well with these modes:

Name Mode Description Path

DiffuseVertex

Color Color A Legacy Diffuse shader with support for a texture,

normal map, and vertex colors.

ProCore/Polybrush/Materials/Diffuse

VertexColor

Standard

TextureBlend Texture A PBR enabled material with support for blending up to

12 different textures.

ProCore/Polybrush/Materials/Standard

TextureBlend

Standard

TextureBlend

Bump

Texture A PBR enabled material with support for blending up to 4

different textures with normal maps.

ProCore/Polybrush/Materials/Standard

TextureBlendBump

Standard

VertexColor Color This material behaves similarly to the Standard shader,

but with support for painting vertex colors.

ProCore/Polybrush/Materials/Standard

VertexColor

TriPlanar

TextureBlend Texture A PBR enabled material with support for blending up to 4

textures and automatically projects UV coordinates.

ProCore/Polybrush/Materials/TriPlanar

TextureBlend

TriPlanar

TextureBlend

Legacy

Texture

A Blinn-Phong lighting pipeline (legacy) material with

support for blending up to 4 textures and automatically

projects UV coordinates.

ProCore/Polybrush/Materials/TriPlanar

TextureBlendLegacy

UnlitTexture

Blend Texture A simple unlit material with support for blending up to 6

textures.

ProCore/Polybrush/Materials/Unlit

TextureBlend

TexturesnotPainting(withvalidshader)

Occasionally Unity will refuse to update mesh values after a lightmap bake. To fix, open

Window>Lighting>Scene and click the arrow on the Build button in the bottom right

corner then select "Clear Baked Data".

KeyboardShortcutsNotWorking

Unity can sometimes not register keyboard shortcuts when a package is first imported.

The solution to open the Menu item and manually select the shortcut. You should only

need to do this once ever.

LightingSeamsorVertexColor/Textures

Bleeding

For vertex colors and textures to have hard seams (meaning no blending at vertices

between different colored faces) a mesh must have hard edges. Most 3D modeling

applications call this some variation on "Smooth" or "Hard" edges.

This can also affect lighting - if an edge is not smoothed then using the Push/Pull or

Smooth brush tools can exacerbate a lighting seam.

BlackFaces/TrianglesonMesh

This can happen when a Texture Blending material is in use, but no texture channels have

been applied to the mesh. To fix, open the TextureBlendMode panel and select a

texture, then apply the brush to the affected areas.

In some cases you may also need to use VertexColorMode to paint the entire mesh with

a White color.

Polybrush Manual