ZSphere d'oh!

[KenH]

OK...while all you lot are Zsphereing away to your hearts content, I'm still stuck!! :) Can anyone look at the pic and tell me why I get creases where the legs join the body? Should I be using unified skin? But if I do, it doesn't do thin things like fingers right...maybe I'm doing domething wrong there...but if I am, what is the point in having adaptive skining?? D'oh I'm confused. ;) I know it can be done because I remember pix did a pic with a man "worshiping" the Zsphere in all sorts of poses. Damn it man! Where are you with tutorials?? I need informing! ;) http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/zbc_uploads/user_image-1030738306szz.jpg

[Codexus]

I think unified skinning gives much better results. Or at least much more predictable. I've had no problems with the fingers and unified skin, you just need a good enough resolution.

[Stonecutter]

Move the 'Hip' ZSpheres down and out...
What's happening is that you have ZSpheres partly 'buried' in one another...Move them just a little, then use the 'A' key to toggle the preview mode on...If you move them gradually, and keep looking, and take your time, you'll get the idea... ;) :)

The longer you spend in adaptive mode, the better your control over the mesh will be...
A unified skin is much larger, and dense...

Here's a little example of using this 'creasing' deliberately to get the cuffs started...


http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/zbc_uploads/user_image-1030740365rie.jpg

The one on the right is a 'working' copy...The left one shows the smooth effect, but would be harder to edit...By working on the one on the right, and 'dividing' when needed, you can add much more detail, and the mesh will get smoother with the divisions without wiping that out... ;)

[Karasuando]

I think the adaptive skinning tries to attach the next Zsphere to the closest side in a cube (top,left,bottom, back etc). So because your leg Zsphere is positioned to the left and right of the pelvis Zphere it attaches them to the left and right sides of it and then just continues downwards.Thats how you get the crease, because the leg is only attached to the side of the body and not both the bottom and the side.

I dunno if there are ways to remove it, but there are most likely ways to make it less obvious. Of which I know none, I got it yesterday damnit! ;). But I think if one understands its trying to attach it to the sides in a cube you can figure out how to make it nicer.

[KenH]

Thanks for the replies guys. :) I want to work in adaptive mode to keep the polys down, but I can't see me being able to do fingers or legs for that matter in it...maybe I can use a low unified skin. In either case, practice makes brilliance! ;)

[Stonecutter]

Ken if you up the resolution for the 'hand' ZSphere, you will then be able to do the fingers without too much of a problem... :)
This let's you place the finger ZSpheres where you want...If you have a low res ZSphere, it will try to place all the fingers as close to the center as possible, thereby making life hard for you... ;)

Try upping the res of the 'hand parent' ZSphere, then adding fingers...

[KenH]

That sounds like the problem. :) Call me stupid, but how do you change the res of an individual sphere in a chain of Zspheres? I missed that in the tuts.

[Stonecutter]

Open the Tool->Inventory, and there is a place to increase the resolution...Then draw your new ZSphere...

Here's an illustration, and I include the ZSphere tool so you can play with it...It needs more joints in the fingers,and they need to be moved around...It is intended to be a sort of 'starting point' modelling aid. That's what I use it for, and it will let you fool around to see what happens... ;)

http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/zbc_uploads/user_image-1030749471svs.jpg

Here's the tool...

BeginningBum2.ZTL (http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/zbc_uploads/user_file-1030749499zsf.ztl)

[KenH]

Thanks Bud! :)

[Stonecutter]

Another tip is that if you skin this you'll find the fingers come to points still...In fact you want joints and ends of fingers a little on the 'bulbous' side...I gave it to you like this because I figure if you know you can always reload it, you can feel free to go nutz on it without worrying about losing work...!
Just play with it, and by next week you will probably see 'skinning' tutorials showing up on the Forum...