Using ImageCube and Z-Project brush by AngelJ

[AngelJ]

Hello everyone- A while back after watching the Next step video I always was curious how to use that imagecube the way it showed on the video for the concept sculpt part. I didn't see the info anywhere or on the wiki so I watched that part of the next step video over and over coupled with looking at the Z-Project tut by Sebescoir Igraine (may be mis-spelled) helped me figure it out. So I thought I'd post what I found. (Texture image ref used in tut by Wendy Pini of Elfquest Series)

1) First thing I did was got the plane 3D tool and turned them into a polymesh with make polymesh button. Then I put it on the canvas and put the texture I wanted to use on it. Then I switched tools turn off edit mode select another plane 3D tool and repeated that step again. The image of the last image plane and texture will still be up so once done. Which gives you this
Zproject Cutter ref on two image planes.jpg

2)Turn off edit mode and select another tool. I used a cube turned it into a polymesh with make polymesh button. Divided cube to get 500k- 1mil polys for best results and moved it close to or on top of one of the planes 3d. Scale cube to get it to the near same size as your planes 3D. Should have this..

Zproject imagecube over imageplane & texture.jpg

As you see once you have the cube over the plane 3D you select RGB only and the Z-Project tool. You then go into transpose by selecting move, scale or rotate in the edit mode. Then you put the transpose line down on your cube as you see in the pic above.

3) With a decent draw size with the Z-Project brush you just draw on the surface of your cube and should get this..

Zproject Cutter ref for imagecube-1a.jpg

4) Move cube over the other plane 3d rotate to another side of the cube and capture the other image like you did above. Be sure to get the images on as many of the sides as you chose to work on. I only captured 1 on each side to illustration purposes only. You will have this the image below and then you can hit clear in layer menu to get rid of the plane 3D's.

Zproject Cutter ref on imagecube two sides when done.jpg


5) Then you can append the object you want in sub tools inside the cube. Turn transparency button on so you can see inside it. Then in edit mode turn transpose on with move,scale or rotate and move your appended object. You should have this..

Zproject imagecube and appended object.jpg

6) Then continue to use tranpose tools in edit mode and move, scale, rotate to be ready to sculpt. Like this..

Zproject imagecube and appended object-2.jpg


If you have any questions ask, see if I can answer them. Also will see about putting this on the wiki in ZBrushinfo since I don't think i've seen this info there yet. Enjoy and hope it helps some.

[wasco]

Very Cool. Thanks. I was just trying figure this out. I was trying to use 3D copy and was about to give up after about 10 crashes. I will give it another try. Were you able to take the texture from the cube and apply to the mesh as a mask? I thought this was also shown in the movie as well.
Thanks again.
Wasco.

[AngelJ]

Wasco- I've not tried it yet. When I do I'll post it or someone may post it even.

[andreseloy]

Thanks for share this approach, it also work with 3DPlane i made a test few days ago and work fine.
Andreseloy

[ozone1979]

now i'm wonder full speed here, prolly,... but i see the tweaking and movement of the vertecies in the model, using the planes as reference...

then either:

- using the zproject brush to paint this grayscale texture onto the model, then using the intensity (b & w) of the texture to create a mask on the model... sculpt in the details... sounds like a nice script/plugin to me.

[spaceboy412]

For those not interested in using a 1 mil cube as their reference due to memory constraints, you can make a simple cube well under 50 polys, just create a texture say 1024, and then auv the cube, then go into projection master and use a plane with your reference applied as its texture to project that texture onto your cube, leave PM then rotate your cube and do the other sides.

[AngelJ]

Wasco- You can turn your texture image into a alpha and try to use dragrect stroke and apply that as a mask. Though I guess depending on what your doing will depend if that is what you really want. If you look at the video on concept sculpt part, he just projects the texture on the surface, initially I thought it was a mask as well but after playing with z-project and watching the vid countless of times it doesn't appear he masked it. Just as a guideline on his surface as he roughed in the basic shape. Though I could be mistaken and could be something I've not been able to figure out yet. However, I think it was put in the video as a eye-catcher marketing tool a very cool looking one. If it worked as neat as we thought by being able to actually extract lift 3D details from a 2D image I'd image there would be more info on it when it came out.

Spaceboy412- Appreciate you putting that in as we talked about in the chat conference the other night. Giving everyone alternatives and work arounds for doing the same thing is why this forum is so great. Z-Project is cool for cube thing but your way definitely saves resources and not all pc's are created equal.

[spaceboy412]

this might help too:
http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/showthread.php?t=46396&page=1&pp=15