Z sphere masking & modifiers!!

[Sample D Light]

Just found out that you can apply masking to Z shperes & most of the modifiers like inflate, gravity, bend, taper etc... work on the model too!! WOW, I went through the new tutorial Z scripts but that wasn't shown, so I just thought you might want to check it out if you haven't discovered that yet. I've actually been spending more time with the Alpha skinning so far, It's just sooooooo cool to fool around with it and making objects with holes in them is now a snap. My only dissapontment (not realy) is that I somehow thought that Z spheres could be "joined" when they are in close proximity with eachother, like Meta-balls do if you know what I mean. Example: Z spheres are amazing at creating branched singularities, like that tree tutorial and the human body (most things in nature actually) but as far as I know Z spheres can't be connected at the ends, so making something like a simple continuous circle seems impossible. someone correct me if I'm wrong. Personally I think that Z spheres are flabbergastingly spectacular so far, and this is just a minor nit-pick, but it would be neat if they could be joined together at the ends as well. Any other opinions on this?

[Stonecutter]

You mean this sort of thing?

http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/zbc_uploads/user_image-1030499176fsb.jpg

[Vikki]

Sample,

Forgive my rough example but you can do what you want but not in the way you are thinking.

http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/zbc_uploads/user_image-1030499188zfl.jpg

The parent sphere is transparent so when you start you just build and move, build and move until you get a circle. The last sphere that you add, you need to push inside the original parent sphere...if you toggle between preview and no preview in the Draw>Inventory palette you'll see what I mean after you start building spheres on top of each other. The first is the parent.

It will sort of look like meta balls when you get to the last sphere and start pushing it into the first parent sphere. You'll see on my image above a line. I didn't take the time to position it exactly. I just wanted to show one way it could be done. It's not like meta balls but you can probably come up with similar results.

Edit:

Lol, SC, I was still typing and didn't see your reply. Yours of course look much better. :D

[Stonecutter]

Here's another one...

http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/zbc_uploads/user_image-1030500305qjg.jpg


And here's a script to show you this being used to make a wire...


http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/zbc_uploads/user_image-1030500432phf.jpg

Wire.txt (http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/zbc_uploads/user_file-1030500835nnv.txt)

What I like to do is keep it 'angular. Until you need a bend, don't put it in...
;)
And there are two 'false starts' in the script...Just answer 'no' when it asks you if you want to save, and the third's the charm! :D

[Sample D Light]

Hey thanks Vikki and StoneCutter! SC, your example is what I'm after but it just doesn't look like a continuous mesh when I overlap the ends, and yours does. I must be missing something obvious, I'll keep trying.
PS: StoneCutter this all got started 'cause I'm tring to figure out how to make a simple boat's hull with Z Shperes, and was thinking if they could connect the way I "imagined" in my head the result would be a smooth continuous mesh. I know your a sailor so perhaps you might have some insight on how to go about this? My comment of Z spheres not being able to connect at the ends was not a good example of what I was imagining in my head about how I am trying to manipulate the spheres, so maybe the boat hull will give you a better Idea. Thanks for your help, and this is ADDICTING :D :D

[Stonecutter]

Hey Sample, I'm glad to help...And since I'm originally from Nova Scotia, I think it would be illegal for me not to be a sailor! :D ;) (In fact, I first went to sea at the age of 8...)

I probably wouldn't use ZSpheres for this type of model...It would be a lot easier to do it say with a flattened regular sphere tool, and hollow it out as if you were doing a 'dugout' canoe...ZSpheres are very powerful modelling tools but they aren't the easiest way to do everything...With 'move' and 'draw' editing, it would be a hell of a lot easier, and more straightforward... :)