Did You Know That (ZBrush 3.5)

[gabo1991]

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ZBrush has always allowed me as an artist to experiment freely. I often discover new tricks or approaches that improve my workflow and help me achieve my goal of creating better artwork. All while having fun.

This thread will consist of simple tips and tricks that I'd like to share and hopefully give you new ideas to create a workflow within ZBrush.

I encourage any member to ask the question, "I want to do this, how can I?"

Please keep this thread as a place artists can come to get workflow ideas for their WIPs. Thank you.

I hope you enjoy


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[gabo1991]

Hello

Here is the first video. This video will show you how to merge subtools and be able to sculpt across the tool without having the seam spread apart. This video will also show you how to seperate the merged tool and reconstruct the subdivision levels.

v15408049TsxTF778

You will need the plug-in SUBTOOL MASTER to merge all the subtools. You can download the plug-in at the following link

http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/showthread.php?t=057154


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[brettSinclair]

What an excellent thread man. Pity SAfrica can't use veoh. No clue why :rolleyes:

[Derek Frenzo]

Nice video. Good to have another resource to learn the ZBrush 3 workflow while I continue to wait it out for the release of Z3 for mac. If and when it ever gets released, I want to be ready to just jump right in. Keep the videos coming!

[metric]

Awesome thread! That is a very cool trick, didn't know that was possible :D Look forward to seeing more tips in here!

[gabo1991]

Here is a link for the video on YouTube for my SAfrican friends:D

Hope you enjoy it Brett

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoyaXLYByIs

Paul

[MIGUEL GRANADOS]

Nice gabo1991, thanks for share it
regards

[Intervain]

HA! sweet one there :tu: Thanks!

[ncollings]

Indeed, didn't know that :D thanks for the trick man :tu:

[Sigmund Hentze]

Thanks Paul, we Namibian's to cannot use VEOH.... still wonder why...

Ziggy

[Webhead]

Very informative video that will save me a lot of headaches. I'll be watching this thread for more of them. :eek:

[aesis412]

this couldn't of some at a more perfect time, thankyou for this tut, much apppreciated.

[brettSinclair]

Brilliant mate! Looking forward to more :tu:.

[gabo1991]

Have you ever wanted to pose multiple subtools, but could not move them all together? This video will show you a trick using TRANSPOSE MASTER to move masked off subtools so that you can strike a pose.


v15429876NyGxyTTE


You will need to download the plug-in TRANSPOSE MASTER at the following link

http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/showthread.php?t=054270

The video is also on YouTube at the following link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKYY47o-pzk

Thank You for watching

Paul


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[Sigmund Hentze]

Hi Paul, thx another great tut, how about one on displacement and normal maps and the pipline to other programs eg, Modo or CD4

Ziggy

[Say again]

Gabo1991, these videos are fantastic! Lots of thanks!

[Lucky_1]

Great !
thanks gabo1991

L

[ne0lith]

Hi everyone,i've been following the forum for some time but this is my first post here.Hope this is the right place for my question.I've been playing with the retopo lately and i got it to work eventually but there's something i need to know about the workflow you should use if you
want to swap between max and zbrush.What i want to do is do the unwraping in max,but i'm having some trouble with having this work nicely in
zbrush.What i did was creating a simple high poly model,creating a low poly retopo-ed version,then exporting the low poly retopo-ed model
in max,where i unwrapped it.
When i went back to zbrush,i painted the lp model just to see if the texture created looks as it should,considering the unwraping and it worked great.
However,and this is where my problem is,when i transfer the details from the hp model to the lp model,which works fine,the texture coordonates go wrong.
When i paint the lp model and go create the texture from the polypainting,it looks totally chaotic,the uvw's get broken.I can see i'm doing smth
wrong,but i dont know what.It must be smth related to the difference between max's and zbrush's uvw sistems.I really want to have this working
without having to build the low poly in max,unwrap it and then create the hp in zbrush.I hope i made myself clear and it's a pleasure to have joined the forums :)

[gabo1991]

ne0lith

I have a couple of questions for you

Why are you painting on the lp model?
Are you subdividing the lp model up?
How are you projecting the hp info onto the lp?
Are you creating the lp just to have a better poly flow?
Can you just use ZBrushes UV lay outs or do you need to lay them out?
This is for a game?
Have you tried project all?That will transfer polypaint as well.

Screen shots can help sometimes as well. The more you provide the better understand I will have and maybe I can catch something from them.


I will be in and out this weekend but I will check back as much as I can.

Paul

[RainbowLightning]

Probably just need to flip UV's vertically in zbrush?

[gabo1991]

Hello Everyone

Thank you for all the kind words about the start of this thread. I'm glad that it has helped out so many artist. In response to Sigmund Hentze I have made a video that goes through all the Multi Displacement options in ZBrush in order to create a displacement that will be used in Maya. This is only the ZBrush side of the video, Maya side soon to come.


v154904889t4qQ8EW


Video can also be found on YouTube at the following link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuLMnRdeahg

Thank you for watching

Paul


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[aesis412]

great breakdown on the settings for a displacement map I have done so many displacement maps and never really understood the things I was adjusting and what not, but thanks this is great.

[moonlitmaverick]

This can go a long way in helping people design freely and not worry about stuff. :tu:

[ryankingslien]

Great stuff Paul. Thanks for pointing out that you can use Adaptive with Mulit-Displacement 3! These are short, to the point and informative. Can't wait to see more. :)

Ryan

[brettSinclair]

Awesome tuts man. I'm looking forward to the maya part of the displacement :tu:

[DDS]

hey Paul this is awesome stuff. Thank you so much :tu:

[JohnnyRaptor]

Hey wow this is great! thanks for sharing!

[mxhaunted]

Nice Tut Paul,

I have a tip for Maya users when it comes to rendering displacement maps. I found a good thing to do is to click on the SmoothUV Button (Tool:Displacement:SmoothUV) if you are smoothing the UVs in Maya. This can help with creating Image maps as there will be less distortion in the Displacement/bump maps.

Although I'm a little stumped when it comes to Smoothing the actual Tool UVs in Zbrush. The SUV (Too:Geometry:SUV) doesn't seem to do anything to the geometry's UVs.

MX

[Art-Machine]

So glad you're covering displacements in Maya!! I tried several times in the past to get a displacement from a zbrush mesh into Maya and every time i ended up abandoning it in defeat. I love maya but when it comes to displacement it seems to me the most unintuitive, overly technical, un-user-friendly program ive seen. I mean why make changes to the object scale affect the displacement's intensity and therefore all the values need readjusting?!

I've followed video tuts for displacement Zbrush > Maya before. The guy in the video gets a flawless result, i get a total mess....

So yeah very much look forward to the Maya half, maybe you'll open my eyes.

[Nolan_R]

Really useful tutorials featuring techniques I haven't seen covered anywhere else.Thanks for posting.

[Giantsun]

Such great info I just had to post a "thank you" for the great thread. :tu:

[ne0lith]

Ok,i'm back with my question,i wasnt able to reply these days,sorry for that.Forget all what i said,the retopo and polypainting things,now i made a really simple model for a test.It was made entirely in zbrush and it has 6 subdivisions.What i want to do is export the first subdivision level in max,unwrap it and then replace the 1st subdivision level with the unwrapped one in zbrush.After i unwrapped the model,i imported it as the 1st subd level of my model but starting with the 2nd level,i get an exploding mesh :( It's been giving me lots of headeaches,in theory it should work but i cant see where my trouble comes from.But since images speak best,here you go:
This is the first level of subdivision

ret-test-lp.jpg

This is the 6th level of subdivision

ret-test-hp.jpg

After exporting the 1st level and unwrapping it in max,i import it back in zbrush as the new first level but things go wrong,since starting with the 2nd level the model looks smth like this:

ret-test-lp-unw-2s.jpg

And if someone is kind enough to have a look on my model and try to quickly unwrap the first level of subdivision and replace the old one,i've posted (http://rapidshare.com/files/135081651/objs.zip.html) the obj files.I really cant see what i'm doing wrong,i've looked over this (http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/showthread.php?t=55366) thread and i'm following it precisely,except for the fact that i use max for unwrapping.Maybe i should've asked there so i wouldnt disturb this thread,but i just had to come back here to reply :) So,on a general level,what is the typical workflow you should use if you want to model entirely in zbrush and do the unwrapping in an external program?Modelling a basemesh in another program is out of the question for now :) Great thread,btw :)

[gabo1991]

Ok

Here we go. I tried this in Maya and I had no explosion. I do not use 3DS MAX but I made some calls. Make sure you are not changing any vert points. Here are three ways that may solve your problem.

Way 1

1.Import onto the lowest subdivision level
2.Import it again on to the lowest subdivision level

Way 2

1. When in 3DSMAX reset your transform and make sure none of your normals are flipped.
2.Import onto lowest sublevel

Way 3

1.Delete all the highest sublevels so all you have is the LP
2.Take to 3DSMAX and unwrap
3.Import that obj into ZBrush
4.Append the ZTL of the detailed work to the just imported obj
5.Subdivide the obj to a level close to the ZTL
6.Make sure both subtools are on and only those two
7.Click Project all

See if any of these solve your problem. If they do let me know which one and if it does not, I am still researching.

Paul

By the way thank you for the kind words. I'm glad this has helped so many people.

[gabo1991]

Ok Everyone

These are the next two videos that go along with the displacement video I put up. The first will walk you through the settings of ZMapper and create a Normal Map to be used in Maya.

The Second video is using ZMapper to create a Cavity Map that will be used in the Diffuse Channel of the shader in Maya.

I will have the Maya part up soon, I just wanted to give you all the ZBrush videos first. Enjoy :)


NORMAL MAPS



v15495613STErn88Q


This is also available on YouTube at the following link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYj-UHpgFq4


CAVITY MAPS



v15496777mrQqDYqa


This is also available on YouTube at the following link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMuhHKRPs6A

THANK YOU FOR EVERYONE THAT HAS VISITED THIS THREAD AND IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS PLEASE FEEL FREE TO ASK.

Paul




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[Darukin]

Great Post Gabo!

Keep em coming these are very helpful! :tu: :tu: Thanks!

Cheers!

[Totyo]

Gabo: thank you for these video tutorials! Keep it up!! :)

ne0lith: This issue is due to vertex order which change inside Max. It seems that Max 2009 new OBJ exporter generate this problem, depending of some parameters. I'm on it myself since I have this problem too. It's not a ZBrush problem and you will find other threads here about this problem. I just install Max SP1 and I will check if it solve the problem.
I think it may be good for you to post in another thread about this problem since it's not really related to a "Did you know that" subject :)

[Sigmund Hentze]

Hi Paul, thanks for the great tuts, one question, seeing as for some crazy reason we in Africa can't view Veoh, is there maybe somewhere we can download a higher res version on them as the You Tube quality is rather poor...

Many thanks and keep it up...

Ziggy.

[ne0lith]

@gabo:The third way worked like a charm,i cant thank you enough :) And thank you for the whole thread,in fact,it's very kind of you to provide these very informative videos.
@Totyo:Yeah,i should've asked this in another thread,but i'm glad i got it all solved.Btw,i'm working in 3dsmax8 for now.But i'll try headus UVLayout too,just to see how it goes.
I'll be keeping an eye on this thread for sure :)

[Art-Machine]

This issue is due to vertex order which change inside Max. It seems that Max 2009 new OBJ exporter generate this problem, depending of some parameters. Cant believe 3DMax hasn't adressed this even with version 2009 as you seem to suggest! It's a nightmare here at work when you want to do anything in max to be brought back into a zbrush file... I only recently got UVLayout at my post, so no more need to go through max for UVs. UVLayout has been the perfect companion to Zbrush in my own personal workflow at home, as it doesn't seem to change anything in a model but the UVs, doesn't even touch the scale or anything!

[gabo1991]

Sigmund

I do not a place to download the high res version yet, but I will work on it.

Paul

[Sigmund Hentze]

Hi Paul, thanks as this would be great as they are really good tutorials and it would be a waste not to be able to follow them.

I find these particulary user friendly as in may of the other good tutorials, I find the guys getting carried away in their skills and not really showing what ZBrush can do. They have there place to, but one has to develop your own style based on what ZBrush can do, I think there is still a lot to come....

Thanks again.

Ziggy

[Altermind]

look forward to the maya vid :)

[Aniruddh]

hey gabo, many thanks for these great tutorials, helped me a lot..! just one more thing, can you please put them to download..? or give us a download links..?, cause not every one has good net speed..it will be really helpful..!

thanks in advance..! ;)

[SpaceMan]

Paul as per your request in your first post. :)

I want to make a diorama (scene) - lets say I have some rocks ztools, some trees ztools, a bridge ztool, etc. I want all the ztools to be combined into one ztool but space between them. What I have read is that this could be done with Multimarkers and/or the Subtools (OTHER). And when doing this is it better to paint/texture each ztool first or after combined into one ztool. How to do this?
TIA
John
SpaceMan

[gabo1991]

Hello SpaceMan

You can use subtools for this. Here is a link on the Wiki that will help you with this. http://www.zbrush.info/docs/index.php/Subtools

As far as texturing the ztools. You can of course do it all individually and then append each tool to the main tool. Or you can append each tool and then texture each. Just keep in mind that ZBrush can not have multiple textures, so click the TXR>COL in the texture palette of the tools before appending. This will make any texture you have be poly painted onto the tool. If you have never used subtools before I would recommend doing everything individually.

This is how subtools works.

Load all of your tools
What ever tool you want to be the main (maybe the ground)
Under subtools click append
Select the tool you want to add
Use transpose to move your tools around
http://www.zbrush.info/docs/index.php/Transpose

Is this what you were looking for? If you need more info I can put together a quick tut a this.

Paul

[SpaceMan]

Thanks Paul I think the wiki answered most of my ouestions to start.

[gabo1991]

Ok Team

As asked for here are the links to download all the high resolution videos. I am working on some videos to put up this week. Sorry I've been at SIGGRAPH:D

Enjoy

Cavity Map Video

http://www.pixologic01.com/zbc/didYouKnowThat/Cavity_Map.mov.zip

Displacement Map Video

http://www.pixologic01.com/zbc/didYouKnowThat/displacement.mov.zip

Merge Multiple Subtools Video

http://www.pixologic01.com/zbc/didYouKnowThat/Merge%20Mutliple%20Subtools.mov.zip

Transpose Master Video

http://www.pixologic01.com/zbc/didYouKnowThat/Transpose.mov.zip

Normal Map Video

http://www.pixologic01.com/zbc/didYouKnowThat/Normal_Map.mov.zip

From here on out I will have links to high resolution for all videos. Thank you for the feedback.

Paul




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[Sigmund Hentze]

Great and keep them coming.... for Artsake...

Ziggy

[Malleable man]

Paul,

Nice job on presenting these concepts in a clear and concise manner.

Regards, James.:tu:

[gabo1991]

Hello Everyone

As promised here is the video showing how I took the Displacement, Normal, and Cavity Maps into Maya to render out with Mental Ray. Keep in mind all of the settings I go through may vary from Mesh to Mesh.


v15625038hw3JnSJ3


This is the link to the download the HighRes video

http://www.pixologic01.com/zbc/didYouKnowThat/HighRes_MayaRender.mov.zip (http://www.pixologic01.com/zbc/didYouKnowThat/HighRes_MayaRender.mov.zip)

Sorry to those who use YouTube to watch. The video is too long to put on YouTube. Thank you for taking a look at all the videos and as long as they continue to help I will keep making them.

Paul


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[aesis412]

Thank you for the tutorail, this couldn't of come at a better time one question about pluggin the normal map in maya I usually use tangent space normal could you explain the difference.

[Giantsun]

You dont happen to be able to do one of those only for 3dsmax? Even if you dont, great thread. :D

[cojoMan]

I subscribe to that...what about 3DSMax ?
thx

[gabo1991]

Hello aesis412

The difference between a Object Space and Tangent Space map is this. An Object Space map is the local 3D space of an object. Up is always up and right is always right. What I mean by that is it is an uniform space is what the world is really like. If you had a normal map of a spike and put it on the bottom of an object. The spike would look like it's going into the object.

Tangent Space is away from the surface. It follows the normals. So for the above example because the normal of the cup would be facing out not in the spike would look like it is coming out of the bottom.

In most cases it is best to use tangent space, in fact that is usually what I use. It is more accurate. For this demo the cliff I was using was for the most part a plane so I wanted to show what object space would look like. I have included a render of the same cliff with a tangent space setting.

Remember, for every mesh you have to play with all the settings to find which one works the best. The settings for each mesh may vary a little but usually you will find settings that will work for most of your meshes with little adjustments.


Tangent.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27104642%27,%27Tangent.jpg%27,1, 0%29)


Thank you for the question and please keep them coming.

As far as the workflow using 3DSMAX. I don't use that application but I have some friends that may be able to help on that.

Cheers

Paul


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[Giantsun]

Thanks gabo1991, that would be great. :tu:

[Art-Machine]

A sea of thumbs to you sir
:tu: :tu: :tu:

Now hopefully it'll work for me too when i do it.

[mestela]

Great tutorials, thanks for sharing!

One other thing regarding tangent space vs world/object space, only tangent space supports deforming the surface. So if you're doing a rigged animated character, you can only use tangent space.

[gabo1991]

Hello

Here is this weeks video. This is a feature in ZBrush that I think many people do not know about or how it works but it could save some headaches for some of you. When you are using the pinch brush have you ever wanted to add more detail but you couldn't because all of your polys have been pinched together? Well duh thats what the brush is suppose to do.

However, this video will show you how to reconstruct your polys quickly so you can add more detail around the pinch.

The tool is found in the Tool Palette under Geometry and is called

Reproject Higher Subdiv

Enjoy


v15797072dBmcMTsN


This is the YouTube link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOp1523Ky9w

Here is the link to download the high res version

http://www.pixologic01.com/zbc/didYouKnowThat/reproject.mov.zip


Thank you everyone for taking a look at the thread.

Paul




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[spaceboy412]

"did you know that" it is a good idea to store a morph target before dropping down, guess why. also that if you go all the way down and move your verts/polys manually to where you want them you get better results.

[skulll_monster]

thanx alot for sharing videos !

[anibalin]

thanks gabbo, nice tip indeed.

[gabo1991]

spaceboy412

thank you for sharing the tip. everyone is welcome to add onto any video I put up. the more info we share the more interesting everyone's work will be.:D

Paul

[marciani]

Hi man, thx for your video, very instructive.
I've one question about the transpose master video:
when you have setup all the model with the plugin, which is the combination are you using for subtract the mask?
1 Click on the mesh (arm) and mask with rotate
2 click on the other mesh (bracelet or glove)
3 at this point i've tried so many combo (ctrl, ctrl+shift, alt, alt+ctrl......) with no good results.
Hope you understand the question.
P.s. My english is poor and i can't hear properly wht are you doing....
Bye
leo

[gabo1991]

marciani

here are the steps for transpose

1. Hold ctrl on body and drag from shoulder
2. DO NOT let go of ctrl
3. Then click on wrist band
4. Hold shift and drag out your mask on the wrist band

hope this helps. if not please let me know and I will do some screenshots and maybe that will help:D

Paul

[marciani]

Thx for your fast reply,

but for me doesn't work at all, when i select the other mesh following your guidelines (holding ctrl) the body come all selected....i don't know why...
I've done a workaround, select with lasso and all work fine..
Thank's again for your tips.
Bye
Leo

[Fahim]

Thank you my dear friend for these great videos!
They are really appreciated!

Cheers buddy

[vedanta]

It 's a delight to see brilliant intelligence at work /play
thanks for sharing

[joie]

Hi there;

Your videos are amazing.

I just wanted to ask you to explain the multiple UVs displacement setup in MAYA for rendering.

For example, you have your cliff (I love its detail) but it has four UV regions on it instead of only one.

How do you setup the displacement of that four textures for rendering?, Do you use a multiple/divide node?, Do you use the defaultColor solution?, Do you use a layered texture?.

Any of those methods make seams at the UV ranges borders and don't know what to do to erase them (I suppossed it was a filter error, but all my textures got filters set to OFF and the seams don't go away).

I'd be very kind of you if you could explain that.

Thank's

[gabo1991]

Thank you to Fahim, joie, and vedanta for the kind words. I would also like to thank everyone who has left some great comments here.


joie

the cliff is only one UV region. In the video I only speak about that so people can understand how the exporter works. As far as rendering out multiple regions in Maya.

When you create a shader for each UV region you are still getting seams?
What settings did you use when you exported the displacements from ZBrush?
Can we get screenshots of your issues?
Have you looking at Scott Spencer's thread to make sure that is not your issue?
http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/showthread.php?t=56061

The more info we can see then we will have an understanding on the steps you took.

Thanks for watching.

Paul

[joie]

Yep, I've followed all the tips around there, the exportCCMesh thing, set filters to off, set correct code to multiDisplacement3 to render 32bit tif files..., everything I can think of (even create a single shader for every UV shell shows the seams).

Would you mind to check my MAYA file to see if it's something wrong with it?, I can ZIP all the data and upload to rapidshare or something like that (the 32bit tif files are a bit heavy, you know).

Thank's in advance.

[gabo1991]

joie

I would be happy to take a look at your files. Just send me a private message to where I will need to go to take a look at what you are doing. It would be great to have all of your files, including the ZBrush files. I can do more testing that way.

Paul

[joie]

I've sent you the link to download the files but...

I've made another different test later on just to check all my steps and now everything is going as espected.

So I've checked the first test in order to see what went wrong the first time and found I made some typo in the miExportCCMesh step..., I've redone that and now all is working right.

Excuse me for borrow your time but thank's for you support anyway.

(I now proceed to delete the rapidshare link).

[gabo1991]

Hello Everyone

There are two videos this week:D These videos will show you quick ways to edit any topology quickly. Example, if you just want to add more edge loops or add more topology on a certain part of your tool without having to redo all of the topology. This may solve some issues for people when they just want to add polys on one part of their tool.




This is the first video that will show you how to build your topology quickly and then add more topology.


v15840398pjSAR83W

Here is the link for YouTube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=im0fWQv6NhY

Here is the link to download the HighRes Video

http://www.pixologic01.com/zbc/didYouKnowThat/highRES_paintTopology.mov.zip

This is next one has two parts. This first part is another approach to the top video but is a much faster way. The second half of the video shows how you can use the topology tools to combine multiple tools

v15840158wF2w6tnq

Here is the link to YouTube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifnGYk4jmHQ

Here is the link to download the HighRes Video

http://www.pixologic01.com/zbc/didYouKnowThat/highRES_combine.mov.zip





Thank you to everyone that keeps an eye on this thread.






Paul




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[dagoned]

wow thanks man for sharing all this useful knowledge..i just found out about this thread... and now i'll be checking your thread from now on lol.

[DAnconia]

I love you man!!! These are the best tutorial videos. You go straight to the point. Keep going keep going!!!

[ministerart@hotmail.co.uk]

Gabo...your a god!...why the hell dont pixologic demonstrate stuff like this on the classroom page??????...this trick could have saved me days of wasted frustrated retopologising ....


Thanks buddy...

www.peterminister.com (http://www.peterminister.com)

[Rumi]

Thanks for the tips! Those plugins are also lifesavers (sadly, I discovered them a bit late :cry: )

[Tristanartform]

Hello.

Maya 8.5 and Zbrush 3.1 on a Precision 690. 2 RAM, OS: Windows XP-Pro

I am following Gabo's excellent video tutorials to render my ZBR mesh in maya. I had started the poly in Maya, then did all my texturing/detailing in ZBR as a bump map in maya. I made my displacement, normal and cavity maps and then went in to maya and started applying them. All is going well, but when it came time to add my normal map I hit a snag. To use the normal map as a bump map material I go to the 2D bump attributes and open the drop window "Use as:" and select Object Space Normals.

However, when I open the "Use As" drop window there is only Tangent Space Normals as an option. How do I add "Object Space Normals" as an option?

Is there a plug in I can load?

Any help most welcome.

Thanks, Tristan

[dustinbrown]

Thanks Paul. The one thing I would add to that last retopo video is that the process you're showing is for ADDING geometry only. If you have a weird spot in your topology that requires deleting points and redrawing that part of the cage, that redraw is going to change the point order for that area and it will cause havok when you go to project your detail onto that new adaptive skin.

Or at least that's what happened to me :)

-Dustin

EDIT -- The normals on my adaptive skin got flipped, so what I said above is probably rubbish. Paul rocks and I suck.

[gabo1991]

Alright here is the video for the week. This video will show you know to add polys to sections of a tool when you need to get more detail without subdividing the whole tool. Masking is used to select the region you want divided. Project all and ZProject Brush is also used to fix UV issue. This trick may help you when you need just a few more polys in one spot to get some detail.


v15913107XjxZ79PB

Here is the link to the video on YouTube

http://www.youtube.com/user/Pixo3

Here is the HighRes download

http://www.pixologic01.com/zbc/didYouKnowThat/adding_detail.mov.zip

Thank you everyone for the involvement on this thread.

Paul


small_icon.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27108311%27,%27small_icon.jpg%27 ,1,0%29)

[--E--]

Hey Paul, thanks so much for posting these tuts for the community. They are informative.;)

One question about this last one though. What is the point of masking and sub dividing only a specific area of the mesh if you are just going to project that detail onto another mesh that inst sub divided in that area and so therefore cannot hold that same level of detail?

It seems to defeat the whole purpose if the area you are projecting to doesn't hold the same amount of polys. Maybe I am missing something..

[DAnconia]

Thanks so much for the Tuts. They are so great. Straight to the point and loving it.

This is the best thread by far.

[gabo1991]

E

You make a good point. I would have to do some more tests to see what happens if I did not use this approach. More or less I guess I just wanted to show people that you could subdivide a small part of a tool and how you can use the ZProject Brush or Project All to fix issues you may run into. Looking back I should of broke this video into two. One on the subdividing and the other on how to use Project All and ZProject to solve several issues that you could run into. Thank you for the call out, it looks like I will need to do more tests:D

DAnconia--thank you for the kind words. I'm glad this thread is helping out;)

This is also the point of this thread too. A place we all can come to for workflow ideas and challenge thoughs flows to make them stronger.

Keep the posts coming.

Paul

[gabo1991]

Alright community I know it has been awhile. I was extremely busy and I had a family emergency. This video will demonstrate using the primitive 3D Circle to make a complex clamp for a Roman Empire's cape. I also hope this video will encourage you to take a look at the primitives in an initial state. Think about how a cube or sphere can possiblely give you a really quick base mesh. Enjoy :D


v16246533NR2HrHNn

There are two parts of this video for the YouTube people

PART 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2O3QGmGYoM

PART 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgBqUnSU0ls

Here is the file if you want to download the video

http://www.pixologic01.com/zbc/didYouKnowThat/primitives_tut.mov.zip

Hope you all enjoy and think outside the box



Paul


small_icon.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27111766%27,%27small_icon.jpg%27 ,1,0%29)

[gabo1991]

Hello ZBrush Community

Here is a 2 part video of using the ZProject Brush. This is an extremely powerful brush that will hopefully give you ideas of how to create some really interesting sculpts. In this video I use the ZProject Brush to combine two sculpts into one. In Part 2 I use the ZProject Brush to texture using images. Enjoy the videos.


PART 1

v16434289pbP2wmgW

PART 2

v16434463dXYnaC8D

Here are the two parts on YouTube

Part 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KzSM9aiqMQ

Part 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lxu5UF5bN8E

Here is a zip file of both videos in HighRes

http://www.pixologic01.com/zbc/didYouKnowThat/ZProjectBrush.zip

Hope this helps and keep the work coming. :D

Paul


small_icon.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27113686%27,%27small_icon.jpg%27 ,1,0%29)

[Blaine91555]

:tu: :tu: Thank You

I had not used that feature and I'm starting something where that will be useful. Great timing!

[Aniruddh]

hello guys, am trying to download hires video of gbos latest ZProject tutorial, but am getting this error message saying "This Domain Pxologic01 has been disabled" its the 1st time am getting this problem, i have downloaded all the tutorials before without an error, plz can anyone tell me how to fix this, i really like all the tutorials as they are very very helpful and i dont want miss this...! :(

[Totyo]

The server is currently in an upgrade process. everything should be back online soon!

[karstensand]

Hello Everyone

This is the first video that will show you how to build your topology quickly and then add more topology.
Hey Gabo

Thats some really really cool video you have made there,

I just tryed to follow the How to build your topology quickly..
But my Zbrush craches everytime..i just wonder if you or maybe anyone
else have that problem?..

im on a Mac,,just to get that info out,if its a issue only for mac users..

But again cool videos :tu:

[gabo1991]

Hello Everyone

Totyo is correct the server is being upgraded right now so the HighRes are not available right now. Sorry.

Karstensand

I have not tried this on the MAC. I will have to do that and let you know, but did you try the other trick in the video after the one you watched?

Let me know and I will talk to everyone later.

Paul

[canndis]

Hi gabo1991 (member.php?u=46557)

Really cool trick there ,enjoyed watching them all

Thanks for your effort

[gabo1991]

Hello ZBrush Community

Here are two videos on the ZBrush Plug-Ins Alpha Texture Loader and Turntable Plus.


The first video is on Turntable Plus. This is an amazing plug-in that will give you the power to make some really great Turntables.



v165865964Zm5Z4Bq

Here is the link to download the plug-in. Enjoy :D

http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/showthread.php?t=57913

This is the link to the video on YouTube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSlaBVtyNMs

Here is the link to download the movie

http://download.pixologic01.com/PluginsMovies/TurnTablePlus.mov.zip

This video is on the Alpha Texture Loader. It's a really great way to organize all the alphas and textures in ZBrush and have quick access.

v16586156hxy8KjMR

Here is the link to download the plug-in. Enjoy :D

http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/showthread.php?t=30425

Here is the link to watch the movie on YouTube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EDhh1NmLz0

This is the link to download the movie.

http://download.pixologic01.com/PluginsMovies/AlphaTextureLoader.mov.zip

I will see everyone on the forum. Keep up all the amazing work.



Paul

small_icon.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27114659%27,%27small_icon.jpg%27 ,1,0%29)

[Sigmund Hentze]

Hi There, something wrong with the download link, both will not download..?

Thanks Ziggy

[Nolan_R]

Excellent movies once again. Thanks for posting these - keep em coming!

[gabo1991]

Ziggy

Sorry about that. I will take a look it the issue and let you know when it is fixed.

Nolan

Thank you for the kind words. See you on the forum.

Paul

[gabo1991]

Ok the downloads work now. Sorry about that.

Paul

[dagoned]

thank you for posting this vids man. Great HELP.

[Aniruddh]

hi there gabo1991, i think the download links are not working again, trying to download Alpha Texture Loader Tutorial, but its giving me Following error "The requested server name is valid, but it does not have the correct data associated data being resolved (The host itself exists but is not directly reachable)
whats the problem? :(

[cannedmushrooms]

Hi gabo saw this thread and it looks like you have the same issues I had when it comes to sharing videos.

We have to place them in 13 different locations just to get them worldwide friendly.

Might I sudjest Mediafire.com?

Took years of stress away after I started using it.

BUT do not go pro its a rip off. Just keep the file sizes under 100megs and its free.

Pro you get charged for bandwidth!

enjoy ;)

[bartok]

Hi , this thread is great , im learning alot here.
I started with zbrush now and im having some seam problems when I export my normalmap . Maybe you known how to fix it. Iy looks fine when I check it at zmapper , but when I aplye the generated texture to the model I have this problem.
http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g270/mbartok/problemashipo.jpg

[gabo1991]

Hey Bartok

Can I get some close ups of your seam issue and what are the settings you have in ZMapper? If you want to share your tool with me so I can get a closer look that would help too. What you may want to do is drop a couple of levels in division and do a reproject higher subdivision level then generate the normal map. Let me know.

Paul

[bartok]

Hi gabo I dont known how to reproject higher subdivision level then generate the normal map, but tomorrow I will study it. I sent you a pm. Thanks again.
:tu:

[gabo1991]

Hello ZBrush Community

This video will show you how to use Transpose Master & Subtool Master with layers to create multiple poses for one character. Keep in mind after you watch the video you can keep adding layers with poses. I only show the first two layer creations. Use your talents to continue.


v169449559w9y4kNh (http://www.mediafire.com/?zjlrzyhjqct)

Here is the link to the YouTube Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3t6PLRQOzsY

Here is where you can go to download the HighRes Video

Click Here (http://www.mediafire.com/file/yny0ztc5tkz/HighResMultiple%20Poses.mov)



Paul

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[calum5ZB]

Thankyou !

[Giantsun]

Had read about the possibility but had never seen it on a tut, thanks man. Great stuff.
What codec should I install for the hires .mov file?

[gabo1991]

Hey Calum5ZB

Thank you for the kind words.

Giantsun

Is the video not playing for you? The default codec should work fine with the video. Let me know.

Paul

[Giantsun]

Not playing on 7.5 (861) it says it is not a mov file...freaky. Anyways, no worries, the youtube version is just fine. Again, thanks for the videos. ;)

[vedanta]

you are made for this stuff, aren't you.:D

[robinmitra1]

oh man this is awesome! ur a hero :tu:

[gabo1991]

Hey robinmitra1 and vedanta

Thank you so much for the kind words. I hope all the videos help you in some way. Keep up all the work and I wish everyone a Happy Holiday.

Paul

[slashpot]

This is very very high quality stuff my friend, Your talent and generosity are very much appreciated, you have put a great deal of time & effort into this, and your knowledge of Z is encyclopaedic.

Many thanks,

Michael


:tu: :tu: :tu: :tu: :tu:

[calum5ZB]

Theres not enough thanks on this thread for your efforts and brilliant help.

Your kindness is godsent.
Thankyou very much again,I keep coming back for more refreshers.
I was paying for things like this and would pay you!

Merry Christmas,and a Happy New Year!
cal
ps have you used xsi?

[gabo1991]

Thank you to everyone for all the kind words. I am so glad that this thread has helped out so many people. I will keep making them if everyone keeps watching them.

calum5ZB--no I have not used XSI. What is your question though? Maybe someone can answer it for you or I may have a friend that can answer it.

Happy Holidays to everyone.

Keep working

Paul

[lyka]

Thanks a lot Paul for the nice videos , great work keep it up :) , WISH YOU ALL A MERRY CHRISTMAS,

regads

[Asgard666]

Ok... I think this is the right place for my problem.

I need help (It´s really important) with Displacement Maps in 3D MAX.

Mental Ray!

When I import my Model in 3d Max and add the Displacement Maps like in the Pipelineguide in the WWW, I always get some crazy stuff. I only see just a few grayscale.... no Model.... nothing except grayscale. I have tried everything i found in the www. EVERYTHING! ^^

Here are my settings for the Displacementmaps:

DE-LBEK-EAEAEA-R32

UDim 0
InitialFileIndex 1001
MaxMapSizeAdjust 0
DpSubPix 0 (also tried 4)
Border 8

And in 3ds max (mental ray):

Material Editor:
mental ray connections:
Unlock Displacement=3d Displacement
Loaded the .Tif Map from Zbrush (32 bit)
blur to 0,01
Rgb offset -0,5
Extruction Strength 2,2

Render Scene Options:
Shadow & Disp.
Edge Length 1
Max Displace: 2,2
Max Subdiv : 16

Please help me :) It´s for my Abitur (I think in Eng. it´s called higher (http://www.dict.cc/englisch-deutsch/higher.html) education (http://www.dict.cc/englisch-deutsch/education.html) entrance (http://www.dict.cc/englisch-deutsch/entrance.html) qualification (http://www.dict.cc/englisch-deutsch/qualification.html) ^^). And to all of you:

Happy new year and Thanks for the help ;)

[gabo1991]

Asgard666

Is your map a solid gray color? You might have a scale issue on your model. Try changing scale to auto in the multi displacement 3 to see if you get a displacement.

Let me know.

Paul

[Asgard666]

hi gabo,

I can see the structure of my UV in the Displacement Map. At the Moment my Disp.Map has a Auto+A.D.F Scale. I will try it with only Auto und tell you what happens

Edit:

I tried some settings i found here with No Scale and in mental ray a strengh of1.

I get this error: (look picture)

[Asgard666]

Hi,

I found this post:

http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/showthread.php?t=50350

and i tried the same settings and get this: (look image)


can someone tell me whats wrong?

[gabo1991]

Hey Asgard666

Sorry that I have not gotten back to you. Is your displacement map file a tiff or map. I know when I get an error like this in Maya 2008 it is because it is a tiff file. Mental Ray does not like tiff files. A lot of issues with Maya 2008 version and tiff files in Mental Ray.

Paul

[Asgard666]

hi again,

yes it is an tiff file. i´ve heard about that but i´m now using maya too because there is no version of 3d max for mac ;)

so let me know what file i need instead of a tiff file

thanks ;)

[gabo1991]

Hello

You will want to use a .map file. You can find a converter at this link

http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/showpost.php?p=236569&postcount=77

If you have any questions feel free to ask.

Paul

[sazar26]

first off i like to say this is a great thread and it has helped me a great deal.

I was wondering if maybe you know how to make a transparency material in zbrush3 to use for some type of glass?

[Asgard666]

hi,

search in the internet. There you can find materials for zbrush, also glass material

greetz

[gabo1991]

hey sazar26

You can play with your transparency in the material palette. Open up the Modifiers under a basic material. Just make sure you turn off Flatten in the Render Palette and you must make a New Layer under the Layers Palette. Not the layer under the tool palette. Once you make the new layer draw out your tool on this layer to see your tool under transparency. Let me know if you need more info.

Paul

[- FoOD -]

Hey Gabo

This thread has saved my ass so many times - got really thank you for takin the time for this really helps and thx a ton bro :D :tu:

[raven0us]

Hi Paul,

Many many thanks for taking the time to make these great video tutorials.

[raven0us]

Hi Paul,

Many many thanks for taking the time to make these great video tutorials.

[gabo1991]

Hey Raven0us and Fo0D

thank you for the kind words. I'm glad it has helped. I have not done a video in awhile because I have been so busy but I do have a couple of ideas on the board. Hopefully soon.

Paul

[Asgard666]

hi gabo,

thx for the link. I´ve now the time to try it so i downloaded the .bat file. Then I sculpted the dog in zbrush with some detail and exported it. I´ve created the displacement map with multi displacement 3. I used this settings:

http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/showthread.php?t=50350

but now i can´t convert it to a map. When I drag&drop the tiff on the .bat file nothing happend.

I think I´ll never solve my displacement problem ^^

[gabo1991]

Hey Asgard666

Your problem is probably your bin. Here is what you have to do for Maya, not sure for MAX, but in the link you sent me he was using a tiff. Here is what I had to do for Maya. Maya has a folder called bin, I needed to set that path in my computer to make the converter work. Here are the steps

Step 1

Copy the path of the bin folder

C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Maya2008\bin

Step 2

Right Click on computer(Vista) or My Computer(XP) and go to properties

Step 3

Vista= click on Advanced System Settings
XP= click the advanced tab

Step 4

Click on Environment Variables

Step 5

Under System Variables find the variable called path

Step 6

Click Edit
A pop window will open with variable values

Step 7

There could be other programs there. Do not delete any thing. Go to the end of this path and make sure that there is ; after the last part. This is so you can add another program to the path.

Now paste your bin path there

Should look like this:

there will be other program paths here;C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Maya2008\bin

DONE

REMEMBER THIS IS FOR MAYA> I DON'T USE MAX SO YOU MAY NEED TO ASK AROUND.

Paul

[Asgard666]

hi ,

ah ok i´ll try this. I use maya for my mac and with the time i think maya is the beter program ;) so i´ll continue working with maya. Hope the introduction is similar with a mac ;)

[Atwooki]

A Mac version of this has been uploaded by mphilip to ZBC here:

http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/showthread.php?t=56223

hope it helps.

C.

[Rikimaru03]

hello,

very new to zbrush as well as the site. I am studying to be a game designer so I am using the UT3 engine.

one thing about UT3 and modeling is that if you are doing a wall, you really cant unwrap it as your UV page will be huge to try and cover a large wall. so we have to use tiling textures. So, is there a way to do something in zbrush with a model and tiling textures on it? like maybe import a model, add a 512x512 texture on it and tile it on the model? maybe pull a cool normal off of it? I am stumped on how I would make a cool texture for say a large wall. I am completely lost on how to make a cool texture and normal, one that gets the zbrush depth info. dont want to use that Nvidia plug-in as it doesnt look as good as zbrush.

also, I wanted to make decals. but am confused on how I could make say like a damage decal. is it possible to say take a plane, carve out what would be wall damage, and then make an alpha of just the wall damage with the normal, diffuse as well as the alpha?

[gabo1991]

Rikimaru03

Sorry for the late response but yes there is a way to do this in ZBrush. With ZBrush's capability to move the canvas using the ~ key you can make tilable textures.
Then when you are done you can download the Normal Map material and then paint with that then export the document. Of course you can also make a bump map as well. I would have to put a video together of this. I can do that for you. I have been really busy but I will try to have this up after I come back from the Denver User Group Meeting.

Paul

[Rikimaru03]

that would be really cool. this would really help come game engine time. Thank you.



just for example purposes, and if it isnt too much to ask, can it be say like a brick wall texture, as to be able to pull the diffuse, normal, (is zbrush capable of spec and Ambient map?)

[Rikimaru03]

just wondering if you are back from your user group Gabo

[gabo1991]

yes I am. Whats up?

Paul

[SNARK]

Hi, Gabo.

Thanks so much for your tutorials. Have you done a video demonstrating how to do 2-part eyes (white eyeball with transparent sclera) in ZBrush 3.1? We have 'Subtools' now, so many of the available tutorials don't consider this. Are 'Layers' still necessary to make refractive and caustic fx possible?

Thanks!

~S.~

[gabo1991]

Yes you still need to use layers. You would like me to make a video on this?

Paul

[Moni-Poroni]

Your awesome videos saved my life for more than a hundred times!
Such clever ideas and the great step-by-step explanation makes it so easy to understand.

Many many thanks for posting!
I´m curious what you´ll show us in the future.

:tu: :tu: :tu: :tu: :tu:

[SNARK]

Hi, Gabo.

Thanks for responding to my post (#138 ). My inquiry was about creating, positioning and lighting character eyes in 3.1. There are a few sources of information on this for earlier versions of ZBrush but none that fully address the changes in 3.1.

So, I thought it would be great if there was a tutorial on this specific issue. I have attached a picture MonsterMaker posted a few years ago that is a typical composition of a character bust against a background where he created a great transparent eye effect. If you look at the eyeball image you can see reflective and refractive elements that differ between the eyeball and the sclera and you can see distinctive reflections along the edge of the corneal bulge. These are all subtle details but are all very important to the final effect. Do you agree?

http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/showthread.php?t=23473 (http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/showthread.php?t=23473)

I don’t think we need this tutorial to show how to make a character bust, but it would be nice to see a workflow for making an illustration that takes an already existing character bust, composited on layers with a background and eyes that have transparent sclera. Maybe a few tricks using the radial brush and alphas to paint the iris. How 'Markers' work. It would also be nice to see how to light the composition to get the most out of the eye reflections. What do you think?

I think the point of the tutorial should be how to create a great transparent, reflective eye effect for an illustration.

How much of MonsterMakers' reflective, specular highlights are real, 'ZBrush 3D' and how much is 'Paint' in Photoshop?

Anyway, your tutorials are great and thanks for sharing.

~S.~

[gabo1991]

Hello ZBrush Community

I know it has been a while and I am sorry for that. Here is a video on creating your own custom menu in ZBrush. This is a great asset for you to create a really quick workflow for yourself. This video will also show you how this menu can be used as your own right click menu. Enjoy. :)



Custom Menu



v183632393pYF56sw

Here is the YouTube video

-oTAllGY8DY

This is where you can download a HighRes of the video.

http://www.mediafire.com/file/i13myzv1ww2/Custom_Menu_HighRes.mov

Enjoy and as always feel free to ask any questions.

Paul


DidYouKnowThatThumbnail.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27138538%27,%27DidYouKnowThatThu mbnail.jpg%27,1,0%29)

[Say again]

Thanks a lot for your time. Thanks for all your help!

[Art-Machine]

I wouldn't recommend anyone train themselves to use the pop-up menus until Pixologic fixes the annoying "interface jams on pop-up menu" bug that strikes so many. Maybe its fixed on the recent mac updates, I wouldn't know.

I made it a point to train myself in using spacebar menu, only to end up retraining myself NOT to use it once i saw how many times it's ruined hours of work total.

Despite that, very nice tip, for when that's fixed.

edit : Mac not Max :P

[gabo1991]

Hello

Just wanted to let everyone know that Art-Machine is speaking of the Quick Menu crash. This is fixed in the new MAC and remember you do not have to assign the right click to your menu. Any shortcut will work, but on another note i have not gotten a crash with assigning the right click to my custom menu. Thank you for the heads up Art-Machine. Hope all learned something. Talk to you all later.

Paul

[spaceboy412]

i have to just say i've been using a custom popup along with the normal popup for almost 2 yrs now, opening them a few hundred times a session and never once did i get this crash/jam, ever.

[Svengali]

Gabo,
Your tut on custom menus was great. I've always wondered why more people don't create and use their own custom menus... though there are some issues that make it a little tricky.

At one point I was experimenting a lot with creating special purpose menus - made one for retopologizing, another for general ZSphere sessions which integrated the TVEyes utility. I also found it useful to include custom buttons scripted to expand functionality or combine specific operations.

To make the development process a little less painful, I created a custom button set that works just like my QuickSave buttons (see attachment) that allowed me to save incrementally numbered interfaces as my custom menus progressed. Custom button groupings (integrating buttons from multiple other menus) and new, original custom submenu sets were the goal.

Custom popup menus are a new idea for me, something I really want to start using - thanks for that info and for this wonderful tutorial.



customizing menus.jpg

[YouZC]

Very, very helpful thread. Finally. Thank you Thank you!

[ilmostrog]

This is a great thread, just found it.
Thanks Paul

[77model]

:tu:
Great and keep them coming.... for Artsake...

ZiggyGreat

[ronybuster]

how we solve the problem of seams in normal maps...???:cry::cry::cry:

[Point]

I read somewhere a suggestion to blur them in photoshop with smudge tool.

[canndis]

@ronybuster

check out xnormal , even I had issues with zbrush sometimes with the normal map seems. Xnormal doesn't give any issues
http://www.xnormal.net/1.aspx

[gabo1991]

Seams are tough to take care of. There are set configurations in ZMapper that will help. Yes XNormal is a great application and can be a great tool for artists to have on their palette. Normals maps are different for every application. what are you using for rendering.

Paul

[vedanta]

Hi Gabo 1991,
Enjoyed your narration on the Decimation video...
tutorial request,,, one on materials ... kind of intermediate to advanced..
using/making multiple shaders in one shader. preferrably a skin shader of sorts. using sliders etc. maybe tie this in with using multiple layers.....
Thanks

[JesusFreak3122]

I'm very new to zbrush and its probally something really simple but when your doing eyes i see that many of the people have two eyes already in one subtool layer when i try it it alwas comes out as two one for the left and one for the right eye. i was wondering how u got two eyes in the same subtool. another thing is how to take those eyes and bring them into your body sub tool. so say u got a head but no eyes. and you have the eyes in the other subtool how would u bring the eyes into the head subtool. THANKS - Cheers-

[hockey14]

Hey JesusFreak3122 (http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/member.php?u=161165)

Ok this is a very simple process. If you have already made your own eye subtool you can just append that to your head. If you dont have an eye just select a sphere 3d and make it active in the canvas. Next make that sphere a polymesh 3d. Then load your head into zbrush if you havent already. With the head zubtool selected in the subtool palet click append and click on either your eye or the sphere 3d. This will make the head and eye appeare in the same canvas. Your eye probably isint in the right spot where an eye should be so transpose it into position. Now to get both of your eyes as one subtool. You will need the subtool master plugin if you dont have it already. Have the eye selected, and at the top of the screen click on zplugins and click on subtool master. Then another palet should appere, click on mirror. then check merge into one subtool and it should be on the x axis. Then click ok, and that should make your eyes one subtool and your head a subtool in the same canvas. Hope this helped, just ask if any more questions.

hockey14 aka (akacg)

[Gaarder]

Thank you very much for the great tutorials Paul! You have saved me a lot of time and grief! Hopefully one day I can contribute to the community in the same way. What software(screen capture) do you use for creating your tutorial videos?

[robinmitra1]

thanks for the tutes dude!

[corcoran3d]

Hey, if you "Reproject Higher Subdiv" will that loose any UV map info?
-Matt

[gabo1991]

Matt

Yes it will keep your UVs.

Paul

[Slice]

a noobish and short question here, how do I delete polygons? I've exported my model into 3ds max to try to delete it there, and used cage to import the model back to zbrush again( since I am already pretty far in the sculpting process)
but that did not work because the number of points should be exactly the same...

Thanks in advance!

[canndis]

Thought I will share this here

Question

Hi guys I'm just wondering does zbrush layers feature only works at one subdivion level? so say if I have a model that's in sub level 3 right now and I have created a layer, when I go into sub level 4 or higher I can't create anymore layers?

Answer

Yes you can

you actually can make a new layer in level 4 , what you have to do is go to layer 3 shadow.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27147803%27,%27shadow.jpg%27,1,0 %29) and click on it once, you will notice that the layer tab upper shadow goes off (not the eye icon) It will look like this now noshadow.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27147802%27,%27noshadow.jpg%27,1 ,0%29). Now you can go to level 4 and make a new layer.

[robinmitra1]

Thought I will share this here

Question

Hi guys I'm just wondering does zbrush layers feature only works at one subdivion level? so say if I have a model that's in sub level 3 right now and I have created a layer, when I go into sub level 4 or higher I can't create anymore layers?

Answer

Yes you can

you actually can make a new layer in level 4 , what you have to do is go to layer 3 shadow.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27147803%27,%27shadow.jpg%27,1,0 %29) and click on it once, you will notice that the layer tab upper shadow goes off (not the eye icon) It will look like this now noshadow.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27147802%27,%27noshadow.jpg%27,1 ,0%29). Now you can go to level 4 and make a new layer.thanks man i always wondered the same thing :tu:

[Slice]

a noobish and short question here, how do I delete polygons? I've exported my model into 3ds max to try to delete it there, and used cage to import the model back to zbrush again( since I am already pretty far in the sculpting process)
but that did not work because the number of points should be exactly the same...

Thanks in advance!could somebody maybe answer my simple question, it would help me alot since i cant go further with my model until I find a solution,

Thank you

[canndis]

@Slice There are different ways to deal with situations like that , This is one method. Hope it helps

-Hide the polygons which you want to delete ,
-go to the highest subdivision
delete all the lower subdivisions Tools>Geometry>Del Lower
-delete the hidden geomentry go to Tools>Geometry>Delhidden

-then reconstruct your geometry Tools>Geometry>Reconstruct subdiv

[Slice]

Thank you Canndis for replying, much appreciated, however, your reply brings up another question... how do I ignore backfacing polygons when hiding some??

Sorry for being ignorant:P

Slice

[canndis]

you should be careful so that you don't select them , enable the double side visibility form display properties

Tools>Display properties>Double

[Slice]

thanks man i owe you one :tu:

[TastelessTouch]

Awesome video man! One quick question. Once you combine the two subtools then deconstruct them again to edit; if you combine them once more, will you have to do the whole "export .obj file then import with mergred welds" process again or is that fixed by exporting/importing it the first initial time?

[dasca_thea]

m sorry i have to say this, but i dont know if u have been asked by this problem , gobi; i didnt have time to read all the 12 page and decided to ask u this.

So here is my problem:

- i worked with Zspheres to create my basic human model.( i didnt pay much attention to the finger at the time) After every sculpt is done except the finger. i found out that the hand was a mess(4 fingers mesh twish into each other)! u know what i mean ? its hard to explain this without picture, but i will get one for u, if u need.
when turn on the frame view, my hand mesh seem unrepairable(groups coming together in one place).

so what do i do?
my idea is to delete the hand mesh, build another hand(separately) and replace it!

so how do i delete the messed mesh? when i delete it, i guess that will open a hole in my model. is there anyway to close the hole?
if i am to build another hand, that means i will have to make the new one into the subtool. this mean connecting a closed mesh(no hole) into the part where there is hole( as i guessed). is this merging possible?

m sorry my question is a messed up. but i really appreciate it if u can help.

thanks.

[dasca_thea]

okay i have read some part of the forum, and here is the more question!:

to candis:

continue from ur last reply to SLICE question, i want to ask u this. when we delete polygon, then it will leave a hole. How do i close it?


Technical question. m working on my model, it has 4million+ polygon. 8 subdiv. i want to make another devision to my model. what RAM configuration should i use?

M running a Q6600 2.4 Ghz, 4Gb DDR2 1066 ram, Nvidia 512Mb(GF 9500) on ASUS P5Q.

[canndis]

continue from ur last reply to SLICE question, i want to ask u this. when we delete polygon, then it will leave a hole. How do i close it?


Well first of all you have to plan your work,whether you are going to make a hole or not , Zbrush doest not have a fill hole option yet. But this wont restrict you from closing it , you can always take your model to other traditional modelling software , close the hole and get it back to zbrush.

I work on a very low end system compared to the config you have mentioned,
Anything beyond 2 million will slow down my work.So Usually if I am modelling a character I plan in such a way that I give more polygons where it is necessary and adding to that in the later stage I do a local subdivision , that gives me resolution where I need , I know it spoils the model but I can easily hide it.

That said , you can add another 4 gb of ram and make sure that you are using a 64 bit Operating system.

[dasca_thea]

ok candis, i get it now.


i want to change to 64-bit, but many of my editing software wont support it. i will have to buy another version of them i guess.
i still have problem with the finger things..
Zspheres seems to be unfriendly with making finger. i tried another model and get the same problem, i cant get a clean mesh of zspheres around the finger.


i tried to connect a hand to my model, but seems impossible. i cant merge it together

[canndis]

@dasca_thea

You can take your base mesh to maya or max join the hand , get it back to zbrush and mask the hand and then project the details.

I you don't know how to project your model then check out these videos

http://vimeo.com/3213597
http://vimeo.com/3213568

[TheDarkKnightNL]

Don't know if this is the right thread to post it in but was wondering how sculpt stuff as seen in the pictures below?

Read stuff like





........

for sculpting i use clay,standardbrush with lazy, pinch and flatten brush , but the most is pinch. using pinch with and without alt(zadd zsub) give really different results

.....But I just can't seem to make it work.

Anyone got any good tips or like a good video that demonstrates a good technique?

Thanks in advance ! :)

[gabo1991]

Awesome video man! One quick question. Once you combine the two subtools then deconstruct them again to edit; if you combine them once more, will you have to do the whole "export .obj file then import with mergred welds" process again or is that fixed by exporting/importing it the first initial time?Hello

now all you have to do is use the new setting in Subtool menu. Which is merge visible with weld on. :) Once you import them with welded it wil import/export welded.

Paul

[gabo1991]

Don't know if this is the right thread to post it in but was wondering how sculpt stuff as seen in the pictures below?

Read stuff like

But I just can't seem to make it work.

Anyone got any good tips or like a good video that demonstrates a good technique?

Thanks in advance ! :)there are several techniques for this. you can experiment with the new Trim and planar brushes in 3.5. Use masking to pull out the parts that you want to extrude out.

A lot of people use the combination of flatten with the pinch brush. You need to mask out parts that you do not want to effect and use the flatten brush to flat the surface and then go back with the pinch brush to define the edge. Remember to also try using the ALT key with the pinch brush. It will create a really nice effect.

Paul

[Morph Division]

i would say its a combination of techniques...but to get such detail (in zbrush alone) I would use projection master and sculpt with alphas.

you can use the mrgbz grabber to create alphas from anything on the canvas.

Then use that to sculpt with in projection master...although you can sculpt with alphas using the 3d brushes I still use projection master for details because it gives more control over each stroke.

then retypo when you have theform right.

you could also extrude polys...

:tu:

[ochabrand]

Ok, I have a question. I bought and downloaded zbrush 3.12 for mac not too long ago. It is installed in my home computer and it's been working wonderfully, I am really glad I bought it.
But, I read the license file and it says something about being able to install it on your home computer AND in your work computer (so long as you don't use both at the same time). This would be really useful for me because I would love to be able to use zbrush where I work– it's a small design company, and i would like to incorporate zbrush into their workflow. I would be the only one using zbrush, and i would uninstall it if I ever left that job– I wouldn't want to just give them a piece of software I bought with my own money!

I'd understand if this wasn't possible, the only reason i ask is because i actually read the license text file. If it was possible– it would be really cool.

[gabo1991]

Ok, I have a question. I bought and downloaded zbrush 3.12 for mac not too long ago. It is installed in my home computer and it's been working wonderfully, I am really glad I bought it.
But, I read the license file and it says something about being able to install it on your home computer AND in your work computer (so long as you don't use both at the same time). This would be really useful for me because I would love to be able to use zbrush where I work– it's a small design company, and i would like to incorporate zbrush into their workflow. I would be the only one using zbrush, and i would uninstall it if I ever left that job– I wouldn't want to just give them a piece of software I bought with my own money!

I'd understand if this wasn't possible, the only reason i ask is because i actually read the license text file. If it was possible– it would be really cool.Ochard

It is possible to that. Just install 3.12 on your work computer and use the same serial number that was given to you. If you don't have the package file you will have to create a support ticket on support.pixologic.com to ask for another download.

[eldany]

When working with multiple subtools,
pressing alt+click over some inactive tool switchs active
tool to the clicked one ;)

[hhal9000]

Thanks for the great Video tutorials.I'm still having problems with displacement in Mental Ray even though I followed the cliff tutorial religiously.Even using Maya Software I don't seem to be getting any displacement happening.The renders look just the same as putting a smooth on the mesh.Any idea what might be happening.I have attached pictures of my attempts and the message from Maya's output window.Though this is a tiff file I did try a converted .map file . I got a bloated dislplacement and then after adjusting Alpha gain I got back to where I started-i.e no displacement.

[ilmostrog]

can you post a screen shot of your displacement map settings? Particularly the color balance settings. I might be able to help as I have messed with those a bunch in an effort to get good settings.

do you have GoZ yet? I think that is available in the latest version of Zbrush that feature has made it really easy to move between ZB and Maya with good displacement settings.

[sasquatchpoacher]

I was just watching the custom menu video (post#142) and for some reason I cant get it to work in 3.5.

When I ctrl click on my new menu to set the hotkey it brings up a prompt saying "press any key comb to assign a hotkey", but when I right click to assign that menu to the RMB it cancels the operation.

Anyone had any luck with replacing the right click menu in 3.5? or even better yet can I edit the default menu?

[hhal9000]

Thanks for the reply ilmostrog.Here is a screenshot of my displacement map settings.

No I haven't got Go z yet.I think it's only available for macs at the moment and I have a PC.Should be good though when the windows version comes out.I'm hoping that a lot of these displacement issues will then dissappear!

[hhal9000]

At last I seem to have cracked it with Mental Ray.I had not taken account of the tweeks needed for Maya 2008.After reading Scott Spencers post and using the script here is what I got.

[ilmostrog]

apologies for not responding sooner, I didn't see the image file posted but it does look like you have it solved. What did you end up doing? I am curious to know as I haven't had much luck with displacement maps in maya other than with GoZ

[jamespthornton]

Paul, these videos have been very helpful. I have just gotten around to watching them, but they've become immediately useful. :tu: :cool: :tu:

[hhal9000]

apologies for not responding sooner, I didn't see the image file posted but it does look like you have it solved. What did you end up doing? I am curious to know as I haven't had much luck with displacement maps in maya other than with GoZNo need to apologise ilmostrog.The problem I was having was bloating when I rendered in Mental ray with maya 2008.The solution was to download the script from Scott Spencers post.This fixed the bloating and the seams.Here is the link to the tutorial I followed if your interested.http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/showthread.php?p=429433#post429433

[Hugo ap]

Hello all!!!

I would like to make a question about zspheres.
Once a time i have loaded a zsphere and put the spheres exactly on the model. and wen i pressed the shortcut "a", the zsphere appeared whith the format of the model, but with the level 1, as a retopology.
I do not know how it happened, and i cant not find anywere that explains something like this
I dont know if i was clear.
Thanks for your attention!

would be great if the zbrush had the autosave feature for projects!
;)

[hhal9000]

Hi Hugo ap,
My understanding is that pressing the shortcut ''a'' gives you a preview of the mesh from the z-spheres you have created.If you want to see your Z-spheres again press a and they re-appear.I hope that I understood your question and that helps.

[Hugo ap]

hi hhal9000!
That is the question, in this case (when I put the zspheres over the object)instead of appearing the preview mesh, she automatically became the object that i was modeling.
That was incredible, but I don´t know how it happening.

Thanks!

[gabo1991]

Hugo

Can you put some images up please. I am not sure of the issue that you speak of.

Paul

[Hugo ap]

Hello Gabo!

It´s something like this:

[gabo1991]

Hugo

Can you give me the exact steps that you are doing? Are the ZSpheres a subtool? This image looks like you have the zspheres as a subtool with transparency on. What version are you using?

Paul

[gabo1991]

Hello Community

In this video I will walk through a new feature found in ZBrush3.5R3. The new Visibility capability to grow and shrink your selection inside ZBrush will most definitely speed your workflow up . The new sub-palette is found in the Tool Palette at Tool>Visibility.

With this new feature it is extremely easy to split up a tool into multiple subtools. In the video I will demo how to take a mesh that has several mesh shells with one polygroup and convert that mesh into multiple subtools by converting the multiple shells into multiple polygroups so that I may GroupSplit them into Subtools.

In the video you will also see how easy it is to select parts of a mesh now with a few keys strokes.

This is the YouTube Video:




wt-Rimg_cDM






Here is the Veoh video:




v19753272qsHMyhQ9






This will most definitely help your workflow. Now that this feature is inside ZBrush I find myself working faster then ever before.




Paul






small_icon.jpg (http://javascript%3cb%3e%3c/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27178712%27,%27small_icon.jpg%27 ,1,0%29)

[SNARK]

Hi. How can we save this video to our hard drive? Thanks! ~S.~

[sasquatchpoacher]

Didn't know that. ;) ...Thanks Paul great tip!

[Turchik]

awesome!, Thanks

[Sebcesoir]

Neat... Thx for the tip man!

[cbostjan]

nice Paul love this one. This is very handy


Thanks C

[Beneto]

nice, nice, nice! Thanks for sharing!

[hockey14]

Hey paul
I was wondering when you would release another video. Very awesome man and very helpfull. I will definetly keep this in mind.

[Aberrant]

I love this thread! I am glad to see it updated. Thanks so much!

[MASTERSHOKHAN]

This is so great! Why are we just finding out about this???!!!!!!

[marciani]

Thx man
Leo

[HellGrind]

Very nice thread, i'm bookmarking this. :) Thanks for sharing tips !

[earthtriber]

Hi. How can we save this video to our hard drive? Thanks! ~S.~hi snark saw a question you asked earlier..... you can save vids to your hard drive using flashgot which is a plugin which allows people to save youtube videos with firefox browser

http://flashgot.net/

great thread thank you amazing tips!!

[Frenchy Pilou]

...tool in the fog of the selection Art ! :cool:

[Etcher]

TY Paul! :cool: :tu:. I completely overlooked this added functionality... gonna' use this one a lot!

[Moni-Poroni]

Ccccccoooool!!! For some reason I didn`t see those great functions before. Thank you so much for posting this video, Paul! :)

[dsoellbuster]

You da man Paul. Using it all the time now :tu::tu:

[nickz]

Thanks Paul! This is a great feature for creating polygroups. Thanks for the video.

[Morph Division]

very informative...keep it up :tu:

[slashpot]

Well done Paul! I'll be using this all the time...


...just as soon as there's a version for Mac that is... :cry:
<pulls out few remaining hairs>

[slashpot]

Oh, I forgot to mention this: Paul, as this is possibly the most useful thread at ZBC (which is saying something!), and as I often find myself looking for that useful tidbit I saw here a few weeks ago, do you think it would be possible to add a 'contents' post on the first page so we could just click to go to the vid we were looking for rather than trying to find it again?

Come on mate, you've got nothing better to do have you??? ;)

[andreseloy]

All have been say fot this masterpiece:tu:
can you put a lnk for the video? for unknown reason to me i cant see it or download probably my extremely low connection
Thanks ina advance
Andreseloy

[vedanta]

Brilliant tutorial Paul

[KHALLUS]

Thank you so much for this tip,It is going to be used always by me and I am so grateful for you sharing your workflow :D

[Rumi]

Hello, hope someone can help me with an ordeal I'm undertaking as practice with Zbrush.

I want to carve the inside of a short tube so it looks like a star-shaped gun-muzzle instead of a plain circle. Kinda like this:
kaczl3.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27185478%27,%27kaczl3.jpg%27,1,0 %29)
But obviously a little more wider so it fits near to the borders of the cilinder (and so, you can see through it).
This is more or less the shape I want to make down the tube:
gun-muzzle copy.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27185481%27,%27gun-muzzle%20copy.jpg%27,1,0%29)

I thought by using an Alpha I could do it, but clearly the polys are being strained when I reach the other side, and what I want to do is to "cut" a shape into the cilinder while preserving a clean topo and a hollow from side to side. I don't have any idea of how to cut down the shape, hence my question. Sorry if it sounds noobish and hope someone can help me with this :o

[Turchik]

if you have r3 you should be able to use a boolean operation

[SpiritDreamer]

I was just reading this thread yesterday..Might be what your looking for in this sketcbook thread..I think..:qu:
Link is right below.

http://www.zbrushcentral.com/showthread.php?p=666622#post666622

[Vancross]

Or you can hit it with topology and use the deformation features on it? I am on a Mac so I do not have access to 3.5 myself. Boolean would definitely be something to try. I have to wonder however; how hard it would be to clean up something like that afterward?

[spaceboy412]

super simple.
circle3d tool
initialize settings:
iradius1+2 =32
hdivide=10
vdivide=3
make polymesh3d
mask all
using lasso unmask 5 points in center to make star
deformation size, turn off z, size up about 30
you now have a circle with the star cut out of the center.
clear mask
store morph target.
offset in Z -100
morphtarget createdifference
you now will have a new tool that is a cylinder with a star shape in the middle

[Etcher]

I'd follow Spaceboy's tip (gives a nice clean lopoly mesh), alternatively, you can also experiment with the Initialize settings of the Gear3D tool. Gear3d.jpg

[dustinbrown]

Another solution would be to start with a Cylinder3D. In the below example I gave it an inner radius value of 30. Once you have your cylinder with a hole in the middle, do this:

- make polymesh 3d
- make sure perspective is disabled and snap your view so you're looking down the "barrel" of the gun.
- mask all
- use the lasso tool to unmask every OTHER inner point.
- deformations>scale, disable Z, scale to -60
- unmask all

That will give you your star. Now hide the polys for the length of the barrel, so only the caps are showing, and use Geometry>Crease so when you subdivide, your cap edges will stay nice and sharp. You could take this a step further if you want and crease the edges for the star going down the length of the barrel. Alternatively, you could use Edge Loop with Crisp enabled. Your choice.

boolean.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27185513%27,%27boolean.jpg%27,1, 0%29)

[Rumi]

Wow, I hadn't any idea that Deformation Subpallete was so versatile and that I could apply masks to primitives without turning them into polymeshes first :o *had ingrained that primitive tools weren't that editable at first*

Precisely, I was experimenting with the Gear3D for a long while before posting here, because I couldn't create the indentations within the Cylinder3D nor into the roundish one, but I never ended up with the square shapes that Etcher made :(

I also applied what dustinbrown and spaceboy advised. I think my question wasn't enough clear as I wanted to make a "star" shape like down the cilinder like the first gun-muzzle (in reality, a M4QD Knights Can for flash suppressing) but with the shape of a gear, like on the photo below the first one :o Anyhow, thanks because now I have an idea of how to make any kind of shape down a cylinder without making use of complicated alphas to mask and unmask the mesh :)

:idea: Thanks Etcher for posting the settings you used for your gear :D I was like "hell, I want the indentations SQUARE not pointy *face desk*" but then you shown me that I could modify the shapes by editing the curves (I think I couldn't see that panel first because I needed to click those narrow buttons with orangey patterns first to make it to pop up).
After experimenting, I got what I wanted and used Deformation Size Z to stretch the cannon and get the basic shape to work later with the polymesh.

One thing I couldn't understand is that after I CTRL+D to give the mesh a little more of res, the sharp borders of the tips collapse inwards and I don't know how to prevent this :o
no-collapse1.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27185804%27,%27no-collapse1.jpg%27,1,0%29)
After I hit CTRL+D once:
no-collapse2.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27185805%27,%27no-collapse2.jpg%27,1,0%29)

I thought it would add more res to the borders so I could smooth them later to make them more roundish and blunt and less sharp, but in this state I can't smooth properly because the topology isn't even enough for this task.
I was curious as how to prevent this collapsing to occur, because I have no idea why it happens :qu: (I saw the tooltip for the Crease tool inside Divide but I couldn't understand what it really prevents or if it was for any use on my problem)

Also thanks again for the later inputs. You were quite insightful :)
After playing a little I ended up with this, even if I cannot make the tips roundish still it looks nice enough for my render:
cannon-hipoly1.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27185812%27,%27cannon-hipoly1.jpg%27,1,0%29)

[wasa]

you'll need to do a poly edit, hide all but the end cap faces, then create an extrusion without moving, for a nice crisp edge
if you want to prevent the teeth from doing the same you'll need to do similar on them as well to create edges that are very close or on top of each other

cheers

[enochian]

thanks so much for share all this great info

[Rumi]

you'll need to do a poly edit, hide all but the end cap faces, then create an extrusion without moving, for a nice crisp edge
if you want to prevent the teeth from doing the same you'll need to do similar on them as well to create edges that are very close or on top of each other

cheers@wasa - As hard as I try to select just the end polys of one side, I always end with this kind of "echelon" just behind the flat vertical polys of the face of the hole, kinda like this:
close-up1.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27186079%27,%27close-up1.jpg%27,1,0%29)close-up11.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27186080%27,%27close-up11.jpg%27,1,0%29)
I rotated the second photo just to show from behind how these extra polys are forcely selected even when I just select the other ones.
Also, talking about how to extrude as you commented... I'm still working with an "initialized" primitive and I don't know how to add those extra polys to the face by extruding it when I have limited tools at this point.
I know what you mean by extruding it of course. Just... I really don't know what tool I should use in this situation, since it is a pre-polymesh primitive :o *feels more noobish now* I'm thinking about adding some sort of Edge-Loop or something like that to add some quads from the outter rim to the inner rim, thus preventing the collapsing by adding new geometry to the face, but... as I said, I don't know how to translate this thought to Zbrush operations. It is the typical "I know what to do but I don't know how to do it." /orz

[grey32]

Rumi.

To avoid the end-cap selection problem, crank down the 'SDivide' value
(in the gear tool) to something small before going to polymesh.

Then you should be able to select just the end-cap.

(Also check out the use of the 'Crease' and smooth buttons before sdivide?)

G.

[Aberrant]

This thread is awesome! Thank you gabo1991 (http://www.zbrushcentral.com/member.php?u=46557) for starting such a helpful thread. I have an issue that some artists may have already come across and battled. I was hoping by putting my question in this thread (instead of questions and troubleshooting) it might actually be seen and answered :lol:


Does anyone know a way to utilize displacement with many objects in a scene without crashing Maya?

I am crashing Maya 2010. I have about 26 or so objects I would like to apply displacement maps to.

I already reduced the size of all the maps (except one, character itself) to 1024, the one larger map is only 2048.

Also, I am using the Mental Ray Approximation Editor. My settings are set to spatial, with 1 minimum and 5 maximum subdivisions. Fine is checked.

I found that lowering the max subdivisions will get it to render, but the details are not fully there.

I could un-check the 32 bit displacement and just use 16 bit.... Not sure if this will make it work but its an idea.

Any help is greatly appreciated!

[Extra Dimensional]

Rumi, you can unpress the SMT button in the Geometry tab before you subdivide your model and it will retain crisp edges.

Unpress SMT, divide, maybe divide again, then press SMT and divide again if needed. Should retain the crispness of the shape.

Basically it creates creases for you (from what I gather) automatically using the base geometry. When you have SMT pressed, it applies a smoothing group with or without creases or edge loops depending on how you've built your model. If you don't have any edge loops or indicated any creases, then you'll get typical smoothing group...smoothing. If you unpress SMT, you get Zbrush happily making some "auto creases" for you and you can keep your nice mechanical hard-edge shapes if you didn't bother to create edge-loops and creases manually.

Regarding extruding your initialized primitive, just select the faces you want to extrude, hide the rest, then click "Edge Loop" in the geometry palette (to create nice edge loops), then use the deformation palette and inflate in the xyz axes. This extrudes selected faces in the typical fashion you would consider as basic extrusion in any other modelling app.

Oh and last thing, check out the video in post #197 of this thread about 3 minutes in where he talks about selecting the Outer Ring using the visibility palette for that problem you're having with that little selection issue, that may solve it easily.

[pankajchoudhary]

thanx a lot :)

[markcasias]

I'm just browsing for some good and informative stuff and i found this thread interesting. Thanks to all for sharing it with us....

Keep it up......

[lucaswschmidt]

omgomgomg this is great!

[rolilli]

great tuts, thank you Gabo :tu:

[AVBN5000]

What the word on doing cavity maps with ZB4? I havent heard of doing something like that anymore since 3.1. I feel like i must of missed something.

Thanks!

[calum5ZB]

Anyone know why zproject mesh details in zb4 isnt working?

[gabo1991]

Anyone know why zproject mesh details in zb4 isnt working?Are you saying Project All is not working? It is working fine on all of my systems.

Paul

[calum5ZB]

Hi Gabo,
I was talking about the zproject brush to transfer depth information.It worked in versions 3 and 3.1 but it wont in 3.5 or 4.
I was wondering If something had changed that Im not aware of..
Thanks cal.

[gabo1991]

Hi Gabo,
I was talking about the zproject brush to transfer depth information.It worked in versions 3 and 3.1 but it wont in 3.5 or 4.
I was wondering If something had changed that Im not aware of..
Thanks cal.Hey Cal

If you have the texture or sculpt in line with you want to project then the brush will work. Right now the only thing that is not working with the ZProject brush is using the action line to define the areas.

Maybe Spotlight will be able to solve your issue as well.

Can you give me a description of what you are exactly trying to do and I may have a workflow for you.

Paul

[calum5ZB]

Hey Paul,

Yes the action line...That's how I used to work it so I'll try your suggestions and let you know how I get on.
Thanks very much for your help,you should be on a premium number !
Have a good weekend,
cal

[gabo1991]

Hello Community

The rigging tools with in ZBrush are an extremely useful tool that will not only allow you to pose a character but you can also use the rig to make large changes to any mesh.

This video is Part 1 of a multiple part video section on Rigging in ZBrush. This video will walk you through how to create a rig in ZBrush quickly, efficiently, and as easy as it can get. Part 1 will start with rigging a single Subtool with other videos to follow on rigging with multiple Subtools, using layers and using the Timeline feature.

This video also demonstrates how you can capture the highest level of detail from the sculpt onto the rigged version of the sculpt.

These will be an exciting serious of videos that I know will open up your imagination on how to rig with ZBrush.

YouTube Video


cmury2eT_io


Veoh Video


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Download a high res version of this video HERE (http://www.pixologic01.com/zbc/didYouKnowThat/Rigging_Part1_HighRes.zip)

Thank you for visiting DID YOU KNOW THAT




Paul



DidYouKnowThat.jpg (http://%3Cfont%20color=%22#9A9A9A%22%3EDidYouKnowThat.jpg %3C/font%3E)

[dargelos]

Nice. I think rigging in Zbrush is not as popular as other features but i love it. I just miss the ability to draw weights with masks... If you havent i recommend that you try to delete some connecting zspheres in places where you dont need them. Rotating the neck and soem other things become a lot better and the rig doesnt look so complicated... It actually changes how the rig behave.

[SpiritDreamer]

Great demo.Thank You :tu: :) .I'm not an animator, but you deffenitly got my interest going with your tutorial..:D

[amph]

Amazing!!!! THNX

[Woodys3d]

Very interesting tutorial, can't wait for the next ones. How does that kind of rig works with extreme movements, like raising the arms over the head, or bending the knees or elbows as much as a real body can?

[zayacoon]

Thanks for showing all this usefull tuts. ihope you will show more:tu::tu::tu::tu::tu: