Alpha Skinning example

[Ron Harris]

hello..several people have asked me over the last few days what the big hoopla was over alpha skinning...well for me its the ease to make immediate 3d objects...and in this example it is an old english letter R...now this can be done with scanned drawings, or alphas you make on or in Zbrush. I used psp7 for this quickie...could you imagine the time it would take to hand model something like this...as simplistic as my poor attempt at caligraphy is, it still came out kinda kewl to me...so here is a result of my play...so many reasons to use this quick and easy feature of z...this is just one of those...the quick ability to render a 3d font that is fully editable...not edible..snicker...
my quick steps...(which were no biggy to do)

The above is the various
materials used on the alpha
that has been converted to
a 3d alpha skinned ztl


the image on the right is the alpha
i created in psp7 by just using a
black background and painting a simple
old english letter r and saving it as a .bmp
and importing it into zbrush 1.5.1

and then all you do is hit the button on the
alpha pallelette that says make 3d and there you have a 3d modeled image....kinda kewl eh...
I am sure there are a bunch of better ideas than mine out there for this, truly...feel free to post yer examples and techniques and results here....


http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/zbc_uploads/user_image-1033101586oxg.jpg

[banez]

oh a tutorial by ron harris thats Rare!
keep it up buddy :D
i allways like to see a few tutorials on the same subject Just incase some one didn't understand then they could try the next.
but any wooooooooo here is one i made http://www.pixolator.com/zbc-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=1&t=007862
it has note pointers to what pallete being used and it will show you how to make your Letters More crisp looking with a Nice Clean Cut.

[DM]

Good example Ron, but should you be showing your R's on the forum. :D :tu: :tu: :tu:
Dave

[Ron Harris]

thnx you two...DM, you crack me up... :)

Well though, there had been tuts, you remember EZ that when you had to hand hold me thru some simplistic zscripts to make me understand things...so I thought I might not be the only one like that....but the main reason for the description was the fact that a few people had personally questioned the usefulness of an alpha skinned object...I was merely re-demonstrating..no big.. :)

[filament9]

Hi Ron, I did play about with alpha skinning a bit a while back. didn't post anything from those exersices - so I'm glad that someone has. :tu:

[DeeVee]

It is funny I was playing with the same thing yesterday. Nothing special, but I used ta similar method.
I made cut out's the image in Photpshop, pasted it on a black background then hit make alpha. I then used the modifiers to inflate it then hit the make 3D. I know that some steps can be eliminated but that was how I did it. Sometimes when I go straight to made 3D the object is not recognizable. http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/zbc_uploads/user_image-1033135833mps.jpg

[Uncommon Artist]

I know that this is an old question.
Just incase someone comes along...

Try the MRes setting to include more detail. Its max is 256.

UA

[Tartan]

Great explanation Ron and damn good to see you posting again!:) :tu:

[Ron Harris]

thnx for the info addition Uncommon Artist.

Thnx also Tartan...though this is a very ancient thread I am enjoying getting back to zbrush and the forum again..

I wanted to mention how ironic in my real world life this post has reared it's head. One of my closest friends here is a web designer and one of his local clients is a dance studio. Anyways, he came to me today about this very thing...he needs a textured model of some ballet slippers on the dance studio site... I will take his images/scans of the company logo patch from the studio and with Zbrush use the above technique to make something to enhance the site a bit. I never believe in coincidences....everything happens for a reason....well boring stuff, just thought I would throw in the story. lol....will post the results when I finish....as long as it's what he ends up wanting for the site.

thnx again...

ron
catfishmn@aol.com

[Angelstein]

. . . and importing it into zbrush 1.5.1


Heh, I thought poor old Ron was behind with the times there until I seen the date of this thread. :D

Ron's a real Zbrush veteran ;)

[Ron Harris]

Ron's a real Zbrush veteran ;)
Lol ...thats a nice way of saying Old Fart:o

Started using zbrush 1.0 after I accidentally discovered it on a disc in a 3d World Magazine....got the magazine/cd for the poser program 3.0.....fell in love with the almighty zbrush instead. I drove over two hours to get to the only bookstore I could find that still had that issue. They had one magazine left. I was lucky.

I looked back at some ancient threads recently and it's a humbling experience....embarrassing moreso.... five years later and here we are...:D

Ron
catfishmn@aol.com

[Angelstein]

Nah man, I meant that with respect ;)

Everyone should take a loook at some of the really old posts once in a while. It's like a history and a bit of a roadtrip kinda, of Zbrush from the users viewpoint. It's fascinating.

You really have been there from the start Ron, that makes you a veteran :D
You got nothing to be embarrased about either. You've posted your Zbrush experiments, doodles, 2.5D, 3D work and final renders, its all good stuff mate :tu:

I've yet to really post anything, I've only been brave enough to tag my work onto someone elses post rather than start my own thread :confused: