3 Day old Zbrusher with a few questions (problems)....

[AlchemicXII]

Hola peeps,

I basically was sculpting a hi-poli head when I noticed that areas that I extruded with Edit + Move were beginning to deform with distinct ridges and lines...
http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/uploaded_from_zbc/200407/user_image-1089168344wge.jpg

I tried Smoothing, selectively Sub-D-ing and Optimzing to no avail...I can't smooth out these lines without vastly effecting the rest of the sculpture. What do you experts suggest?

And lastly, I'm considering sub-d-ing the lips, ears, eyes and nose to death to get the fine detail I want, I'm still not sure how to best create a lower poly copy of the sculpture once I'm done and still retain all the detail (if that is possible.

...thank you

[reboren]

Dsmooth 1 turns on ZB's smoothing routines, but personally id prefer to just divide again.

[marcus_civis]

You might also like to read this recent thread:

try this (http://www.pixolator.com/zbc-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=1&t=016292)

[AlchemicXII]

Thanks for the reply guys, much appreciated ;)

Mark - The link that you posted relates to ZB2 doesit not? :

Turn off the Quick3D switch on the top shelf and then set Tool>Display Properties>DSmooth to a value of 1. This will activate ZBrush's smoothing routines, which kick in every time the model is not being manipulated.

Unfortunately I'm still stuck in 1.55r for Mac (waiting for 2). I can not find dSmooth so it must not be available in this version...

[Cezar Souza]

In Z 1.55b dSmooth is in Tool>modifiers>Smooth. Turn it to 1 and you should be ok. This will only work for display though, if you want the geometry to look smoother (planing to export to other app) you should mask the aliased area, invert the mask and press divide (one or more times) and then smooth (in deformations).

[Svengali]

Hi Al,

Excellent suggestions above...

One other suggestion: (If I'm guessing wrong, then never mind...)

It looks like you are starting the head with a sphere3d. If so, you might be forgetting to first rotate the sphere poles to top and bottom. With the pole in the default creation position (facing you) you have to fight the "concentric grain" of the polygons.

Last year I posted headstart (http://www.pixolator.com/zbc-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=1&t=013499), a little script that helps set up a "weighted" sphere that, at the start, gives you more polygons where you need them, over the face features area. The above link explains it all.

Sven

[AlchemicXII]

Thanks again to all of you...

Svengali
The only problem with rotating the shpere with it's poles North / South is that my x mirroring is oriented incorrectly :confused:.What is the work around for this?

Also, I've been working on the figure, and I finally came to the conclusion that smoothing and dividing are the best tools I have available in this version for controlling fine detail and surface ripples.

Still 2 questions remain:
I am using a Graphire tablet instead of an Intuos and my fine lines are bumpy instead of smooth. Is this the fault of the tablet? Or is there a setting in Zbrush that can improve this?

And..
To acheive fine detail, I wind up with a poly-bloated object that takes forever to render when exported to Maya. Is there a step for successfully reducing the polys and maitaining my detail for export?

Lastly, I'd just like to say I LOVE THIS PROGRAM! This is only my 4th day using it and I can already confess to being a Zbrush junky. This is the closest I've come to "natural" digital modeling. A HUGE thank you to Zbrush's ingenious creator ;)

[Svengali]

Hi again Al,

The easiest way to reorient the poles after drawing your sphere, is to use the TOOL: Deformation: Rotate slider -- First set it to X, then enter 90.

As for your other questions, first, see this thread...
drawing smooth line (http://www.pixolator.com/zbc-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=1&t=013300)

As for High detail/ low polycount...
Read over the ZB2 Practical Guide and watch the tutorials on displacement mapping... Also, try a search here in ZBCentral, there are dozens of threads already discussing the whole issue, especially related to exporting into Maya, with explicit procedures.

Sven