Feathers and hair tutorial

[upham]

Eons ago I made a tutorial about feathers (pre ver.123) which didn't quite cut the mustard but got the job done if you wanted a cartoon look. With a few more extra tools to play with in ver 123b, the job just keeps getting easier and easier!
This is pretty basic but it's a good foundation to expand. The low-down, is you create a map from a fiber brush via MRGB-capturing the screen and then map that capture onto a plane with transparency on.

http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/zbc_uploads/user_image-1010454919dhg.jpg
FEATHERS
1) Firstly I made a skinny cylinder in the tool palette and placed it in the document window. For a bit of flare I painted it and then baked it.
2) I paint the rod with the fiber brush with a modified gravity, grooming and thickness setting and also CONTINIOUS set in the picker palette. If you are new to this I recommend reading Pixolators tutorial Daily Dose of Fiber Fun (http://www.pixolator.com/zbc-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=1&t=000078)
3) Then with the MRGB grabber I draw a box around the feather. This grabs the fibers as a texture.
4) Now most importantly I turn the TRANSPERANCY button on in the texture palette. This means that the black areas act like a 2D-alpha and will be seen-through.
5) You don't need the contents of the document window so press CTRL-N to clear the screen.

http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/zbc_uploads/user_image-1010455105hle.jpg
6) In the TOOL PALETTE I make a feather shaped out of a plane with a bit of help from the taper, x-size, and the s-bend. You can download my feather here if you're lazy like me. Click here -> Feather.ztl (http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/zbc_uploads/user_file-1010455182vba.ztl)
NOTE: It's important you place the center-point of the feather at the end of the feather with the INCREMENT X&Y slider!


http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/zbc_uploads/user_image-1010455289bct.jpg
7) You can now layer your feathers how you like in the document window.

8) But to place your feathers on a model, you want to follow these steps:
:b3: a. Select DRAG DOT from the Stroke palette
:b3: b. Make sure the Continuous is turned off in the Picker Palette (press the box)
:b3: c. In the Draw palette change IMBED to zero
:b3: d. Now drag each feather into place over the surface of the model.
:b3: e. You'll want to rotate the feather around the Z-axis in the Tools>Modifiers>Deformation palette so you don't get such a uniform look.

9) You'll need to do a BEST-RENDER with a bit of anti-aliasing to get rid of the black-bits that didn't become transparent enough amongst the feather-fibers.

HAIR
http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/zbc_uploads/user_image-1010455399woj.jpg

Now if you clever-cloggs were paying attention you sooner or later click-on that you can make controlled hair styles the same way!

1) Create a sphere at the top of your document window, and bake. With a modified fiber-brush (density=30, Gravity=100%) fiber-paint some long strands over the ball! You'll need to change the length of the hair via the DEPTH slider in the DRAW PALETTE.
2) As above, grab the fibers as a hair-texture with the MRGB grabber-tool and turn transparency on.
3) You could use the same feather-tool as above, but I'd recommend cloning it and heavily modifying it with the S-BEND slider or TWIST slider , anything else that takes your fancy.
4) As in step eight place dozens of these hair-strands over the head however you like.


There's LOTS of room for improvement in this tutorial. Any new findings or questions please fire-away!
Take-care
Upham :)

[aurick]

This is some really good info, Upham! My hat's off to you (although I don't ever wear one, the sentiment is there). :)

[Stonecutter]

Great and useful information as usual, Upham!
:tu: :tu: :tu: :cool:

[el_pix]

well, it cut the mustard for me (never heard that before, still chuckling, btw.), didnt even touch the fiber tool yet, at least not successfully. thanks for giving me a clue.

[drjjwow]

wonderful tut.. upham thanks for all your tuts..and im not talking about the ones that make noise..lol

[banez]

you said any new finds fire away did you see my hair tut i posted a while back i did make the Feather in this hat with the hair tut but never wrote on how to do it but if anyone wants me to i will write a tut on the feather
http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/zbc_uploads/user_image-1008885998xbq.jpg
oh and the hat was fun to make all so.
i think the trick to the fiber brush is set your settings LOW RBG and intinsity i make some cool wolf man heads
with facial hair doing it that way..
try ZADD off and ZADD ON and there is a differnt when using it with the fiber brush
then go smudge crazy
;)

[DeeVee]

Thanks for the information. I will certainly give this tech. a try.

[filament9]

Now there's one tool I haven't played with at all... the fiber brush. It scares me! Thanks for the tutorial Upman. I appreciate the info!

[juandel]

yep, aurick is right: hat off! (in my case its a woolen cap due to most regretable climatic circumstances). :tu: :tu: :tu:, upham!!!

- juandel

[upham]

Thanks for the compliments dudes!
Well I better practice what I preach ... Here's an example using the above technique with hair.
(teeth by Southern!)
http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/zbc_uploads/user_image-1010482795tvs.jpg

Only a face a mother could love!
Ups :)

[DM]

Well thanks for the tutorial, thats useful info. I'm never very good at writing out how I do things, I always need to show people. Its always appreciated when people like yourself can achieve good tutorials, what I need now is a tutorial on how to write good tutorials. The character with the glasses puts me in mind of Mad Magazines Alfred E Neuman.
Dave.

[cneofotistos]

reminds me of A.N. too, DM. he probably reminds of A.N. to upham as well :)

nice WORK, upham. and a useful technique :)

and a really well-done alfred newman- make him lose one tooth :c

[filament9]

That face is one only a mother could love! But you know, it has me laughing.
Upman, IMHO, you don't post images nearly often enough.

[rhom]

Some very useful information here.Then you go and top it off with that excellent image of the boy in the glasses-that is a first class bit of work Upham-I like it very much.

[Zoid]

Upham your illustration is great. "What,me worry?" It reminds me of the work of Philip Burke (http://www.newnorth.net/~espeseth/burke/).
Your tutorial is excellent and just another reminder that I need to try adding hair to my subjects. Thanks :tu:

[Kathy]

Fabulous Tut Up. Just fabulous. Had to add that to my Zdocs!

Alfred E Newman....hee hee. "WHAT me worry???" LOVE the illustration.

[WingedOne]

That's a cool tutorial. I'll have to try that out. Now, if only ZBrush had varied levels of transparency in the texture sub-pallette.

[aurick]

Upham: I love your insane little kid. He is one heck of a character job. And the hair technique is really effective on him. It looks to me like you've opened up a whole new door in ZBrush. :tu: Did you post your tut over at 3DC, too?

filament9: The fiber brush scares you? Try the Vegetation Tutorial (http://www.pixolator.com/zbc-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=1&t=001244). A lot of people have found it very useful getting over the FB blues, since the techniques are focused around that brush.

[PusGhetty]

Thanks for the great info Upham! A really cool technique! Great nerdy kid image too! Lots of character!
That is some cool modeling EZ!

[robotalk]

Thanks for the tutorial--and your Kid face is wonderful--It's a true Gem !! :tu: :tu: :tu:

[upham]

Thanks for the compliments again dudes. The tutorial was pretty dull, so I had to back up my finding with a half-decent picture. I hope you apply this technique sometime - even for a experiment.
Ah, the nerdy kid isn't ment to be the character from the Mad magazine, though he does look like it. I wanted to create a dorky looking kid, but I ended up falling for him as his smile seems to be so full of self convidence that you forget all the pressures of social conformity.
"only a face a mother could love" - yeah I said it. I'm getting older, and with a birthday due in a couple of days ... damn maternal clock!
Upham :)

[s o u t h e r n]

talent by Upham. :)

[dillyduck]

hey thank you very much for this tutorial but I have one question I´m a very beginner and to get realy fast into it I downloaded your feather file but dont know how to apply it on my model