External editing (round-trip)

Send the current view out to an external editor (Photoshop, Krita, …), paint over it there, and apply the result back onto the model — handy for precise 2D work, then reprojected onto the 3D surface.

1. Set your external editor

First, tell CGpainter which editor to use: open Edit › Preferences… › External editor and Browse… to your image editor's executable (e.g. Photoshop or Krita). You only do this once — leave it empty to use the system default for the captured file type. (You can also set it from Layer › Projection / External Edit › Set External Image Editor….) The same page sets the capture scale and whether edits re-apply automatically when you save.

2. Capture the view

Layer › Projection / External Edit › Capture View for External Edit… saves the current viewport as an image and remembers the camera, so the edit can be projected back from the same angle.

3. Edit in your image editor

CGpainter opens the captured image in your editor — paint over it and save.

Paint your edits directly on the captured layer — not on the background, and don't add new layers. When the image comes back, your changes are reprojected onto the active paint layer in CGpainter.

4. Apply it back

The edited image is reprojected from the captured camera back onto the model: Apply External Edit (active set) or Apply External Edit to All Sets.

Auto-apply on Save — re-applies automatically whenever you save in the external editor, for a live round-trip.