Mesh Paint Tool Reference

This page describes settings for various parts of the Mesh Paint Tool.

Inside the Mesh Paint mode panel, there are several options available for using the mesh paint system, each of which has its own settings available for painting vertex color, blending between textures, or painting directly onto the texture file.

Listed below are each of the painting methods available, the tools you can use to work with your vertex color data, the brush settings available while painting, and the view modes available.

Vertex Painting Methods

The Mesh Paint Tool has three different painting modes: Vertex Color Painting, which paints color data directly onto a Mesh's vertices; Vertex Weight Painting, which blends different textures while you are painting; and Texture Weight Painting, which allows painting on textures. The default mode is Vertex Color Painting. The sections below display the options available in each mode.

painting-mode-icons.png

When you select a method, its settings will populate in the panel under the painting section.

Vertex Color Painting

The Vertex Color Painting mode enables you to paint vertex colors on your mesh, and access its available properties while doing so. You can switch between between the Paint Color and the Erase Color by pressing the X key.

vertex-painting-settings.png

Setting

Description

Paint Color

The color that will be applied while painting (LMB + Drag). A rectangular swatch displays a preview of the current color. Click the swatch to open the Color Picker. You can also type values into the R, G, B, and A fields. If you can't see the R, G, B, and A fields, click the triangle to the left to expand the setting.

Erase Color

The color to use as your "eraser" color while erasing (SHIFT + LMB + Drag). A rectangular swatch displays a preview of the current color. Click the swatch to open the Color Picker. You can also type values into the R, G, B, and A fields. If you can't see the R, G, B, and A fields, click the triangle to the left to expand the setting.

Channels

These check boxes set which color/alpha channels are affected by the paint brush.

LOD Model Painting

This is the specific Level of Detail (LOD) that vertex color painting will be applied to.

Vertex Weight Painting

The Vertex Weight Painting mode enables you to paint vertex weights on your mesh and access its available properties while doing so.

vertex-weight-painting-settings.png

Setting

Description

Texture Weight Type

This configures the blend weight "strategy" by setting the number of textures you are blending between in the material associated with the mesh. When you change this option, the choices available for Paint Texture and Erase Texture will update. Each setting requires a different type of material to be in place in order to be used properly. See the Material Setup page for more information.

Alpha (Two Textures)

This provides 2 texture channels, which will be controlled by painting alpha. This means the material will use only alpha values of 0 (black) and 1 (white) for blending. This setting requires that the object have a 2-way alpha lerp blend material applied, similar to the one demonstrated on the 2-Way Texture Blend Material Setup page.

RGB (Three Textures)

This provides 3 texture channels, which will be controlled by painting RGB values. This means the material will use only RGB values to blend textures. This setting requires that the object have a 3-way lerp blend material applied, similar to the one demonstrated on the 3-Way Texture Blend Material Setup page.

ARGB (Four Textures)

This provides 4 texture channels, which will be controlled by painting ARGB values. This means the material will use RGB values as well as alpha to blend textures. This setting requires that the object have a 4-way lerp blend material applied, similar to the one demonstrated on the 4-Way Texture Blend Material Setup page.

ARGB - 1 (Five Textures)

This provides 5 texture channels, which will be controlled by painting ARGB values. This means the material will use RGB values as well as alpha to blend the first four textures. An internal one minus calculation on the alpha provides a fifth channel for blending. This setting requires that the object have a 5-way lerp blend material applied, similar to the one demonstrated on the 5-Way Texture Blend Material Setup page.

Paint Texture Weight Index

The texture Blend Weight index that will be used when applied during painting.

Erase Texture Weight Index

The texture Blend Weight index that will be used when erased during painting.

Texture Weight Painting

The Texture Weight Painting mode enables you to paint on textures and access its available properties while doing so. You can cycle through textures using the Toolbar or by pressing the period (.) and comma (,) keys. Once you are finished with your texture painting, you can commit the changes using the toolbar or by pressing CTRL + SHIFT + C.

texture-painting-settings.png

texture-toolbar.png

Setting

Description

Paint Color

The color that will be applied while painting (LMB + Drag). A rectangular swatch displays a preview of the current color. Click on the swatch to open the Color Picker. You can also type values into the R, G, B, and A fields. If you can't see the R, G, B, and A fields, click the triangle to the left to expand the setting.

Erase Color

The color that will be applied while erasing (SHIFT + LMB + Drag). A rectangular swatch displays a preview of the current color. Click on the swatch to open the Color Picker. You can also type values into the R, G, B, and A fields. If you can't see the R, G, B, and A fields, click the triangle to the left to expand the setting.

Enable Seam Painting

If this box is checked, dilation is used to allow the painting of texture seams.

Channels

These check boxes set which color/alpha channels are affected by the paint brush.

UV Channel

The UV channel of the selected Actor that will be used for the painted texture.

Paint Texture

This swatch shows the texture to apply painting to. To change the texture, click the Name field to the right of the swatch.

Previous Texture
previous-texture-tool.png

This cycles to the previous Texture. (Comma)

Next Texture
next-texture-tool.png

This cycles to the next Texture. (Period)

Commit Texture
commit-tool.png

This commits Texture Painting changes. (Ctrl-Shift-C)

Mesh Paint Tools

This section describes the tools you can use to select your mesh and to change your vertex color data when using either Vertex Color Painting or Vertex Weight Painting. This includes copying color data from one instance and pasting it to another, filling the Static Mesh color data with a single color value, propagating your applied paint values from the instance to the base asset, and more.

mesh-paint-tools.png

Setting

Description

Select
select-tool.png

This is used to select the mesh for painting.

Paint
paint-tool.png

This is used to enable the mesh painting tools.

Swap Colors
swap-colors-tool.png

This swaps the Paint color and Erase color used for Mesh Painting. (X)

Fill
fill-tool.png

This fills the Mesh or instance being painted using the Paint color, respecting the Channels settings.

Apply
apply-tool.png

This propagates vertex colors on the instance to the source Meshes. (Formerly the Propagate tool.)

Import
import-tool.png

This imports a TGA image file to populate the vertex colors of the selected instances.

Save
save-tool.png

This saves the source Meshes for the selected Mesh instances.

Copy
copy-tool.png

This copies the vertex colors from the selected instance to the source Mesh asset.

Paste
paste-tool.png

This attempts to paste vertex colors on the selected Mesh instances.

Remove
remove-tool.png

This removes vertex colors from the selected Mesh instances.

Fix
fix-tool.png

If necessary, this fixes vertex colors applied to the selected Meshes.

All LODs
all-lods-tool.png

This applies the vertex colors from LOD0 to all LOD levels. (Formerly the Apply tool.)

Previous LOD
previous-lod-tool.png

This cycles to the previous possible Mesh LOD level to Paint on. (B)

Next LOD
next-lod-tool.png

This cycles to the next possible Mesh LOD level to Paint on. (N)

Brush Settings

The Mesh Paint tool is a brush-based system. Using the included settings, you can establish a brush designed for wide areas or fine details. Because the Mesh Paint Tool paints color on actual vertices, you might need to adjust settings based on the vertex density of your mesh. This section describes the brush settings common between all the tool's modes while painting on your meshes.

brush-settings.png

For the options controlled by sliders, you can click and drag the slider to change the value quickly, or you can click the field and type in a number.

Setting

Description

Radius

This sets the radius of the brush in Unreal units. In addition, the brush has a depth-based falloff that is equal to half of this radius. You can press CTRL + Left Bracket ([) to decrease the brush radius, and CTRL + Right Bracket (]) to increase the brush radius.

Strength

This sets the amount of paint to apply each time you click or move the mouse cursor while painting is enabled. Also if brush flow is enabled, a percentage (flow amount) of the brush's strength will be applied to the surface.

Falloff

This sets how the brush's strength falls off with distance. A falloff value of 1.0 means that the center of the brush is 100% strong and fades linearly towards the radius of the brush. A falloff value of 0.5 means that the brush is 100% strong halfway towards the radius, then falls off linearly. A falloff value of 0.0 means the brush is 100% strong over the entire radius. Remember that depth-based falloff is always active, regardless of this setting.

Enable Brush Flow

Checking this box configures the brush to apply paint to every single render frame, even when you are not moving the cursor. It yields results similar to an airbrush.

Ignore Back-Facing

Check this box to ignore triangles facing away from the camera so they will not be affected by the paint brush.

Visualization

This section describes the visualization settings common between all the tool's modes, which you can use to view the painted vertex colors individually or all together.

view-mode-settings.png

Setting

Description

Color View Mode

This setting enables different view modes, to help you visualize how vertex color is being applied to your Meshes within the Viewport. You can choose to display just the vertex colors, or you can view individual color channels.

Off

This is the first option in the Color View Mode list. It restores the default Editor View Mode.

RGB Channels

This is the second option in the Color View Mode list. It displays the Actors unlit, with RGB vertex colors showing.

Alpha Channel

This is the third option in the Color View Mode list. It displays the Actors unlit, with only vertex alpha.

Red Channel

This is the fourth option in the Color View Mode list. It displays the Actors unlit, with Red vertex color.

Green Channel

This is the fifth option in the Color View Mode list. It displays the Actors unlit, with Green vertex color.

Blue Channel

This is the sixth option in the Color View Mode list. It displays the Actors unlit, with Blue vertex color.

view-modes-demo2.png

This page was written for a previous version of Unreal Engine and has not been updated for the current Unreal Engine 5.3 release.
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