ZBrush Tutorial

[Ken B]

I've put on my site a Zbrush tutorial. It shows a method of converting a Zbrush created sculpture into an animation ready model for use in other 3D applications. There is also some texture master work.

This was originally published in the last (and final) issue of 3D artist.
http://www.brilliant-creations.com/tutorials.htm

Here is the character:

http://www.brilliant-creations.com/images/grunge_comp.jpg

Enjoy!

[filament9]

Just had a read thru of your tutorial Ken. Since I don't have the magazine, would you mind if I printed it out?

[Ken B]

the tutorial is there for your personal use in any way you choose, so print it out if you like.

[juandel]

thanks for sharing, Ken! :tu: :tu: :tu:

- juandel

[Sirus]

I read through your tutorial, you did a great job. I'm sure alot of people will find this a very informative and helpful tutorial.

I learned somthing out of your tutorial too.

It had never occured to me, to texture my character in greyscale to have more control over the bump mapping when creating it in ZBrush. A very clever idea indeed. I'm very appreciative you shared this tutorial with us. Thank you for taking your time (Heaven knows an artists time is always a precious thing) and putting this together. Great Job Ken!

I myself use ZBrush with Lightwave extensively. So It was great to read anothers techniques. Thanks again Ken.


S. Warner
P.S I briefly looked at your CG work on your website. Impressive to say the least. I'll have another look tomorrow when I've got a little time.

[upham]

Great Ken!
I was going to ask you if you were planning on making this public! Thanks man!
Mr U :)

[2byts]

simply AWESOME Ken....u answered a prime question for me about the Bump mapping texture map.

[Hanuman]

Ken,

Is the extra bump map mentioned in the tutorial meant to be used in 3rd party applications that apply it as a separate channel or was it meant to be used as an alpha to apply a mask for bump deformations in ZBrush?

[Ken B]

The greyscale images is meant to be used in an outside application's bump channel. Currently, Zbrush doesn't have a similar channel, the color and bump share the same. You can, like you suggest, use the image as an alpha to raise the bumps in ZB.

[Hanuman]

Thanks for that Ken.

I've not had experience with using external bump mapping in other 3d apps. Do applications that use a separate bump channel actually put bumps on the "live" object or do they merely use lighting and shading effects to imitate bumps like the material bumps in ZBrush.

[ub52]

Ken,

The turtorial is fantastic. I originally read your article in 3D Artist, and it was what inspired me to get back into ZBrush. I've been using Lightwave for a long time and it never occured to me that ZBrush could be used as a supplement. Since then I've been using Zbrush to model and then rebuilding a lower res mesh in Lightwave. I created a PDF tutorial for the process of constructing the lower res mesh in Lightwave and posted at the link below. I case anyone is interested.


Semi new to ZBrush (http://www.pixolator.com/zbc-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=1&t=006714)

So far I've just been modelling in ZBrush. I've only played around a little with Texturemaster, but have not had very good results. Not sure why. I figured I'd wait for 1.5 to really get into it.


Thanks for your inspiration
- Bob

[[EA]Krippler]

thanx Ken, I have been wanting to start animation soon. I know this will help

[Hanuman]

Ub52,

Hi, I tried downloading the tuts from the thread you mentioned, tried renaming etc but kept getting this error message and an empty folder.

http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/zbc_uploads/user_image-1029861217rio.gif

any suggestions? Using OS9.2 and stuffit.

[ATronic]

Re-Download it. Sounds like an incomplete archive.

[Mentat7]

I get a similar error with Windows. It asks me to insert Disk C:

[ub52]

I used Winzip 8.1 to create the archive on a Win2K machine. I just downloaded the files again from the above link and it worked fine. Possibly you are using an older version of Winzip. You might also try copying the files to 3 floppies and see if you can get extracted that way. If you continue to have problems let me know and I'll create the files with another archive utility. What is your preferrence? Keep in mind the PDF is about 1.2 meg and there is 500K filesize limit on uploaded files to the board, so whatever archive utility I use must support splitting the file.

Regards.
- Bob

[Grub]

Thanks for posting the informative Tutorial Ken, I'm especially interested in trying out the bump mapping methods you describe. :tu:

Ub52- I have windows 2000 and winzip 8.1, but could not unzip your tutorial also. Why not compress you file with a 'rar' archive format, if you have winrar or similar. They work really well with multiple files.

[ub52]

OK, lets give this a try. My evaluation period ran out on Winrar so I can't create a split archive with it. But..., I have Winace which does, and Winrar V2.71 was able to extract the file from the Winace split archive, so I'll upload the file that way. One other problem is the forum will only allow ".txt", ".zip", ".ztl", ".zmt", or ".psd" files to be uploaded, SO, I'll upload these as ZB2LW_ace.zip and ZB2LW_c00.zip. When you get them on your machine rename them to be ZB2LW.ace and ZB2LW.coo respectively. Boy, could we make this any more complex. Sheez.

Anyone have other ideas. I don't currently have a web site or I'd post it there, sorry.

- Bob

OK, here's the first file.
ZB2LW_ace.zip (http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/zbc_uploads/user_file-1029866920pcs.zip)

[ub52]

And the second file.
ZB2LW_c00.zip (http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/zbc_uploads/user_file-1029867057oxe.zip)

Let me know if this works out. If not we'll try something else.

- Bob

[Hanuman]

bugger, I'm getting the same problem. I'd love to see this tut on rebuilding a mesh.

[Mentat7]

I just sent you a private message UB52

[Nikko]

If anyone wants it, I can send it to you, with Bob's permission, I presume, since he posted it. It is 1.2Mb, and I could attach it to an email.

Pretty nifty tutorial there, Bob! Thanks for sharing this info and your time! :tu: :cool: :tu:

And Ken, awesome tutorial! Thank you for sharing YOUR time and info with the rest of us!
:tu: :cool: :tu:

Both of these outstanding pieces of work are worth your time if you're considering using the applications in this manner!

[ub52]

No problem Nikko. Propogate the info. That's what it's all about. Thanks for asking.

Lonnie - I sent you an email with the attached PDF. Did you get it?

- Bob

[ub52]

Hanuman,

I believe you sent me a private message with a request for the PDF. I sent it. Did you get it?

- Bob

[Hanuman]

Just got that bob, it's fantastic. I don't have lightwave but I've got pixelstudio3.7 and I hope I can make the techniques work.

[Mentat7]

It hasn't shown up yet Bob.

[aurick]

To answer your previous question, Hanuman, regarding bump maps in other apps:

Bump maps do not actually affect the geometry of an object. Instead, it is a trick of lighting that casts highlights and shadows as if the object actually had those bumps on its surface. The result is that the effect is most believeable with parts of the object that face the camera. The closer an edge gets to curving away from the camera, the less convincing the bumps become.

What ZBrush does when you apply an alpha as a mask and inflate to create bumps is the equivalent of a feature found in several of the high end programs called Displacement mapping. This does actually change the object's geometry during the render process. Unfortunately, it comes at a price since it usually requires a very polygon-heavy object in order for the effect to look good. Also, since it is a render process it naturally adds to the rendering time. In ZBrush, the technique also requires a pretty high mesh density but it does not add to render time.

[ub52]

Mentat7,

I just sent you the file again. Let me know.

- Bob