Catching up...

[Vikki]

Well trying anyway...I see I have a long way to go. I saw a thread by MTB that made it *look* easy enough...but as I found, it takes a little skill(well, maybe more than i a little, a lot more than a little) ;) . I have a couple of questions:

1. Do you model everything after you skin and before you increase the mesh?

2. Do you even increase the mesh?

3. Do you model point by point or do you use the drawing tools?

4. Basically, what is the order of things, zsphere, skin, ?,?,?...

Here's my attempt to replicate a really modellers model. :rolleyes:

http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/uploaded_from_zbc/200304/user_image-1050609141lwm.jpg

And I thought heads were tough to learn...ikes! ;)

[Frenchy Pilou]

Hi Vikki
I am not a specialist of modeling but look the Pixolator's post (http://www.pixolator.com/zbc-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=1&t=010148&p=2) (at the bottom of the page)
In one drawing all is explain and resume :)
(except the "bump displacement" of course)
Pilou

[drjjwow]

this is what i do and i think its pretty much done this way. first its the zspheres, then skin, after that, add fine detail dividing only the areas i need more detail in, and finally after all the modeling is complete i bring up my texture master and begin using my paint tools to texture and color my character,.. i then apply lighting to my character and adjust my texture to fit the scene. the last phase of my character is to add material too it... most of the time i just wing it and experiment with all kinds of material,.just rem. that the material works together with your light setting, so make your character in a small canvas, like 800x600 place a marker to save the postion of your character, and when your done with your character enlarge your canvas to double your actual size that you want to make the scene.


NOTE: the more detail you can place on your model during the zsphere stage the less you have to do when your dividing areas that need more attention. i hope this makes sense to you and that it helps you.

[Mentat7]

Hi Vikki! Nice to see you posting again!

It really depends on what work flow you are most comfortable with. For myself I have several approaches. When using adaptive skins I generally create a mesh with a density setting of 2. I then edit in Polyframe mode by moving points around. I divide only when I have to and then only as much as is needed. I try to keep the mesh as unmuddled as possible. Note that you can edit your mesh while creating the ZSphere figure. Just go into the preview mode (hit the A key) and you can edit the mesh. This is helpful when trying to create a pose for example. You can go into preview mode, edit the mesh, exit preview mode, move some spheres around, then go back into preview mode to see what the effect was on the editing....if the mesh is really mucked up you just set the Morph slider in the Deformations menu to 100 and it will reset the mesh back to the unedited state.

Now with unified skins I generally start with a resolution of 128 and smoothing set between 1 and 50. Then I edit the mesh using ZAdd, ZSub, Move, and mask/inflate etc. The 128 resolution ensures that I will have enough room to divide later if need be. With unified skins it is important to divide only when necessary as there is a finite number of polys a mesh may have and you can easily reach the maximun if you are not frugal with your divisions.

Overall the best method is for you to experiment and find what you are most comfortable with...the workflow that gives you the most bang for your efforts.

Happy Z-ing! :)

[Bonecradle]

Hi Vikki

A common trend is to model the general shape (the basic volume) as a first step and then details as a second step.

In the first step, therefore, you might model the basic shape of the torso, arms, legs, head, hands etc. I find it best to do this before dividing to keep the polygon count low. At this stage I often move single points or vertices, especially when working on the mesh to keep it clean and flowing smoothly over the model; having only a few polygons helps with this.

The second step involves adding detail such as muscles, bumps at the joints etc. Depending on the level of detail you want (and the final purpose of the model, e.g. for animation), you are likely to divide the mesh at this point. During this step I mostly use the drawing tools or 'move' clumps of vertices, varying the brush size as needed.

A couple of things to remember:

-With adaptive skinning you can move the mesh about in preview mode and these changes are remembered when you skin the model. I haven't found much point in doing this for static models as it's just as easy to make the changes after skinning, but there is a thread about explaining when it is useful (I just can't find it at the moment).

-It is possible to change the resolution of individual zspheres before skinning, enabling you to increase the mesh resolution at specific places. I haven't found the resulting mesh always to be the easiest to work with, but I haven't experimented with it that much.

[Vikki]

Thanks! Lots of info here.

Frenchy, went to look at the thread you mentioned...egads! attracting zspheres...they should be called dissappearing zspheres in my case...more practice needed there. And I did see Pixo's post. Thanks for the link!

Mentat7,
Thanks for the welcome back. ;)

Thanks everyone for the information. I'll go try out your suggestions.

I'll be back. ;)

[Vikki]

Ok, so I lost my symmetry while I was working and I came back and found the thread and script about restoring symmetry.

Well it didn't work and since I don't know which zspheres are erroneous, :) , I'll start again fresh.

Meantime, how do you know which zspheres are the offending zspheres so you can remove them?

[robotalk]

I really like the looks of this model-- something like a stonehenge meets Picasso look ! COOL !

[zerobugetgamemaker]

If your atractor spheres are dissapearing, it's probably because when you click the sphere to turn it into an atractor, you click on the actual sphere. with the Alt key down, that deletes a sphere. To make an atractor you have to Alt-click on the connecting spheres. And your model is a fun one.

David

[Kevin]

So how do you edit point by point?

Kevin

[Vikki]

Robo! Thanks!

Zerobudgetgamemaker! Thank you. Hey, that's pretty cool being able to do that! :tu: :D :tu: Thanks for the explanation! You are right, it's definitely fun and adds lots of possibilities.

Kevin, to edit point by point, I use a very small draw size and the move tool to move them around.