Download

You can download the Add-On here: <python file> (70 kB)
Not certain what to do with this file? Read the information on installing Add-Ons.
In the Add-Ons panel it will show up as Material: Texture Paint Plus.

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Introduction

Texture paint plus is written to improve and speed up the workflow of texture painting in Blender.
The video below gives an overview of the possibilities of the old version of the add-on. However a lot of new functionality has been implemented,
so for a full list of possibilities look at the overview section below.

Overview

Texture paint mode
Hotkey	Tool	Example
A	Add alpha / erase alpha (not in 3d-view)
B	Use mipmaps
D	Add / multiply
Ctrl + F	Display brush settings in 3d-view
G	Temporary grid texture
Shift + left mouse	Draw straight lines
Ctrl + Numpad minus	Select less faces (enable selection mask to see the changes)
Ctrl + Numpad plus	Select more faces (enable selection mask to see the changes)
Q	Mix
R	Object wireframe
Alt + R	Reload image (also works in 3d-view)
Right mouse	Sample colour
S	Selection mask
Alt + S	Save image (also works in 3d-view)
W	Easy access popup
Shift + W	Enable image painting

3D-view (edit and object mode)
Hotkey	Tool	Example
Q	Create and apply a default image material to the selected object
Ctrl + Alt + X	Create and apply a new default material, with diffuse, specular and normal textures, based on the object's name

UV-editor
Hotkey	Tool	Example
F	Display selection in 3D-view and doubles in UV-editor
Shift + F	Keep UV and editmode selections in sync
Ctrl + Alt + R	Reload all images in the .blend file
Ctrl + Shift + Tab	Snap type menu in UV-editor
Shift + W	Enable image painting

Global
Hotkey	Tool	Example
Alt + F1	Mass append objects from multiple files at once
Ctrl + Alt + R	Reload all images in the .blend file
Ctrl + Alt + S	Save all images in the .blend file

Buttons in User Interface
Location	Tool	Example
3D view toolbar	Consolidate images into a single new image
Editmode mesh-menu	AutoMerge UV: enable merging of UVs by default when using alt+M
Ctrl + Tab	Additional combined select modes
Shift + S	Origin options in snap menu

Tools - additional explanation

Some tools need a little additional explanation on how they work. You can find the details below.

Consolidate images

This operator can be found in a seperate panel in the 3d-view toolbar. It collects all UV images and consolidates them into a single new image.
An explanation of the options:

- The first field controls where the consolidated image is saved. The option right below it determines the image format.
- Input determines whether only UV images of the active object should be consolidated or the UV images of all selected objects.
- Width and height enable you to manually set the size of the consolidated image.
- Auto keeps images at their original size, and calculates the necessary size of the consolidated image based on that (overrides the width/height fields).
- Alpha determines if the consolidated image has an alpha channel.
- Split by type determines if all images are consolidated into one, or if the output is split based on influence type. Splitting is done based on the Diffuse, Shading, Specular and Geometry groups.
- Finally there are two buttons that actually run the operator. The first only creates a consolidated image leaving the original object as it was, while the second button (Consolidate + remap) also changes the original materials/textures/ UVcoordinates to use the newly created consolidated image.

Important notes:
- I've spent a lot of time on this feature, but but it's complex to code it so I recommend to first make a backup of any file you wish to use it in. It's probably not necessary, but better safe than sorry.
- If source images don't need to be resized in the consolidated image (for instance when 'auto' is enabled), a special method is used to ensure 100% accuracy between input and output. The drawback is that this method is slower (over 10 seconds for 1024x1024), especially if many source images are involved or the output is big. But since consolidating isn't done very often I hope this is acceptable.

Display of brush settings

Two things are displayed. First of all the brush name and secondly the brush blending mode.
This is displayed at the top-left of the 3d-view and additionally for 1 second above the brush when you change any of the settings involved.

Easy access popup

The popup is displayed by pressing W. The properties displayed are exactly the same as the ones you can find in Blender's original interface. This popup is just a way to access them easily, enabling you to draw in fullscreen mode without the need for having the toolbar expanded.

Grid texture

Pressing G replaces all UV texture images with a UV grid. This is useful for quickly checking texture stretching. Pressing G again changes from UV grid to Colour grid and pressing it a third time reinstates all the original images.
Important note: changes are only visible if GLSL shading is enabled (3d-view -> properties (N key) -> Display -> Shading). If GLSL is disabled the changes are not visible, but they do occur. So please be careful with this option.

Mass appending

This function lets you append all objects of all blend-files that are located in a single folder. Call the function and simply navigate to that folder. Then select 1 of the blend-files and press the Mass Link/Append button. The add-on will now append or link (you can set the options at the bottom left) all objects of all the blend-files in that folder, not just of the file you selected.

Straight lines

You can draw straight lines both in the 3d-view (in texture paint mode) and in the image editor. Simply press Shift and drag with your left mouse button.

More information

There is a support thread for this script at BlenderArtists.