Is this ok?

[dawakey1]

Hiya everyone. I am new to ZBRUSH 2 and have been looking forward to getting it for a while. I have been working through the practical manual because i am totally new at this. just wondering weather this is ok and if there are any pointers you could give me. Because i really want to go into animation.

So any pointers not only on this piece of work. But how to build a character and turn it into an animation would be greatly appriciated.

armour progression.jpg

[Jason Belec]

A good start.

Lots of ways to build a character. No hard and fast rules, no ultimate approach.


This may be of some help... it is ongoing...

http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/showthread.php?t=21407

This is an older thread, but might give you ideas.

http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/showthread.php?t=21356

Of course you can use other apps as well, but my view is 'the potential of Zbrush is still highly underated.' ;)

[mycroft]

jason is right. there are no hard fast rules to building a character. i'm an animation student myself so i can tell you what i've experienced in relation to animating a figure. the two most important issues to be aware of are polygon count and topology, or the way your polygon edges line up.

while high counts can make for a more detailed model, the more polygons your models has the harder it is to work with, both for you and your animation program. 5000 or so seems to be a reasonable number to work with at the moment. some animation packages are really bumping that number up (the new xsi is supposed to have a new mega super warp factor 8 flux capacitor engine that can handle models that are over one million.) the problem with that (i'm guessing, i haven't used it yet) could come when you're weighting the model to the skeleton. imagine having over a million polys and you have to find the ones that aren't weighted quite right. luckily, due to various mapping techniques, (displacement, bump, normal, etc) all of which zbrush can produce like magic, you can maintain a reasonable poly count and still have a unbelievable amount of detail when you render.

the other factor to keep in mind is topology, again the layout of the polygon edges. you want edge lines to lay smoothly in what would be the creases of where a model is going to fold or bend, such as where the cheeks fold when you smile. otherwise the model might look right in it's original state but if you pull it into a smile you could get jagged jutting points all along the folds. there are programs that allow you to re-configure topology, solo comes to mind, and zbrush is going to be releasing an update that does as well i believe! but what most people do right now is build a properly configured base in their main animation package, (maya, xsi, etc.) and then bring it to zbrush to use all the amazing sculpting tools to really flesh it out.

hope this all gives you a step in the right direction.

unrelated note: a student from my school, rutgers university, camden nj worked on ice age 2 and we are all going to a private screening today!!!!!

mycroft

[dawakey1]

Thanks for the advice guys. Is it ok if i just clarify something? So once i have say made a model in zbrush outta say zspheres.And i have gotten all my detailed burshed in. It's saved as a ztool.

What do i have to do to get this moving. The only animation programme i have is poser. So would i have to export it to poser. I am guessing some how adding a skeleton. But how do i make it smile and what not. It's all very confusing.

[mycroft]

okay it sounds like you're really starting from scratch. i've never really worked in poser so i can't tell you how the controls would work to do this but...

once your model is done in zbrush, go up to "tools" and "export". export your model as an "obj" file. open poser and import the obj. now you have to add a skeleton and "weight" the model to the skeleton by creating a "weight map". again, not sure about poser but the idea is that each bone in your skeleton should be coded with a color. say the right forearm bone is blue. now you make a map that would apply the same blue to the forearm of the model. this isn't going to show up on your model in regular viewing. its just a way of you being able to match mesh area to bone. now the program will move any part of the mesh that is blue when you move the control for the right forearm and so forth with the whole model. this is known as "rigging".
so this isn't a "how to" it's just a general explination of how a skeleton moves your model.

[dawakey1]

Lol yeah i am a total newbie, but am willing to learn. I will look into "riggin" tutorials. I have heard of that word but didn't know what it meant. Thank you for your clear explanation. I am also looking into getting maya. with the books learning maya :foundation and learning maya: animation and modelling.

What mental ray for. I know it's a render type thing but not sure where to get it.