Product Review: CEBAS's GhostPainter

GhostPainter is a great tool for game developers that use Photoshop and 3DS Max. The program links a material's texture map in Max with the current file in Photoshop and becomes a simple but powerful 3D paint program.

Once installed, GhostPainter becomes an option in any 3DS Max map slot including bump, displacement, or opacity. Setting up a 3D painting environment is easy: run Max and Photoshop side by side and apply GhostPainter to a material. That's all there is to it. With GhostPainter's straightforward interface, there is no learning curve.

In paint mode, GhostPainter projects a real-time line onto your 3D object representing the stroke to be applied in Photoshop. As soon as you release the mouse button or stylus, GhostPainter applies the stroke in Photoshop and updates the texture on your 3D model. Since all image operations are done right in Photoshop, you have all the power of Photoshop's tools: brushes, layers, actions, and so on. You can also draw on the map in Photoshop and see your changes in Max.

Although it's not quite a full-fledged, real-time 3D paint program, GhostPainter's simple concept of combining two very powerful graphics packages makes it a great alternative.

GhostPainter works in 3DS Max versions 3, 4, or 5, and 3DS VIZ in conjunction with Photoshop 5 or later. The program retails for $150 and is distributed only through an American partner, Trinity 3D (www.trinity3d.com).