Direct Paint — Paint right on your avatar's clothes, skin and hair in the Scene view [VRChat / Unity / lilToon] (Free trial available)

Direct Paint is a Unity editor extension for lilToon materials. Paint directly on your avatar's clothes, hair or body with a brush in the Scene view. The window can switch between English and Japanese.

No avatar models are included (tool only).

Common problems it solves

• You want to add a small motif or a line to an outfit, but in an image editor you cannot tell which part of the UV texture is which.
• Strokes break or shift at UV seams.
• You want to add blush or a beauty mark without repainting the face texture by hand.
• Exporting the model to another app and importing it back is a hassle.
• You want to try it on your own avatar before buying.

What makes it different

• A free trial: paint on your own avatar and check the preview before buying.
• Works entirely inside a Unity window. No other app or model export.
• The brush follows the mesh, so strokes stay connected across UV seams.
• Small areas such as around the eyes and lashes can be painted.
• Mirror painting (blush on both cheeks, etc.).
• The paint looks like the chosen color with the material Color applied.
• Full version: put the mesh into the window again later to get your painting back, erase and re-bake. "Put back the original materials" is included.

Our brush tools: which one?

• Paint your own colors -> Direct Paint (no glitter or gloss)
• Glitter, gloss or patterns (shiny materials) -> Shine Painter
• Tears (holes) or dirt -> Damage Painter (Direct Paint does not make holes)
• Recolor a whole part keeping its shading -> Click Recolor

Going back and forth with them keeps each effect.

What it does

• Left-drag in the Scene view to paint. Brush size, hardness (soft edge) and opacity.
• Shift + drag erases (only what this tool painted). Ctrl + click draws a straight line.
• Eyedropper and recently used colors.
• Undo stroke, Redo and Clear all painting.
• While you work, only a preview is shown; the original materials, textures and meshes are not changed.
• Full version: "Save and use" makes a new PNG of the painted main texture and material copies (new files), then swaps only the slots of that mesh. One Ctrl+Z undoes the swap (the created files stay).
• Does not change meshes or weights. The VRChat SDK and Modular Avatar are not required.

Free trial vs Full

• Free trial: paint and see the preview. No saving. Closing the window, entering Play mode or closing Unity removes the preview.
• Full: "Save and use" (goes into your upload), erase earlier strokes and re-bake later, and "Put back the original materials".
• Importing the Full version over the Free trial replaces it.

Tested

• On 10 lilToon avatars (free ones): painting, saving, reopening with the painting back; the original material and prefab files are not changed. One avatar that does not use lilToon stops with a reason.
• Strokes across UV seams, neighbouring parts not stained, opacity and eraser checked down to the pixel on a test mesh.
• Lines around the eyes and lashes on 5 avatars, checked in photos.
• Saving with Shine Painter, Damage Painter or Click Recolor and then painting and saving again keeps each effect.
• The swapped materials remain after the same processing as upload (Modular Avatar etc.).
• Tested in VRChat (a local test avatar loaded with the SDK's Build & Test): the painted colors show.

Notes

• lilToon materials with a main texture only. Not for lilToon Lite, Fur, Gem, outline-only, shadow-only, moving-UV / parallax materials, UVs outside a non-repeating texture, triangles spanning more than 1.9 UV tiles, textures with sRGB off or Gray Scale alpha, or 8192 px and larger (the window shows the reason).
• Only the selected mesh's surfaces facing you are painted; while dragging, other meshes in front (hair etc.) are not taken into account (pressing where another mesh is in front switches to it). Paint and save separate meshes one by one.
• Parts sharing the same texture area (left/right sharing) show the painting on both.
• Transparency is not changed (painting does not fill holes).
• Only the main texture changes; Main Color 2nd / 3rd, color adjustment, gradation maps, shadow color and emission textures can make areas look different (the window tells you).
• One brush type (no blur, fill, text or layers).
• PC only (lilToon is not available on standalone Quest).
• Meshes need Read/Write. Prefab Mode is not supported.

Requirements

• Unity 2022.3 (tested on 2022.3.22f1), lilToon (tested on 2.3.4), Linear color space

Terms

• Personal and commercial use are both OK. You may use the materials and textures made with this tool on avatars for streaming, recording and uploading.
• When you distribute or sell textures painted with this tool, follow the terms of the original texture.
• Do not redistribute or resell the tool itself.

Questions or bug reports: please send a message through the shop.

Developed with AI assistance (coding and testing). The store cover frame was made with generative AI.