Technical Modeling

[Monkeyfarm]

I wrestling with the best way to create less organic objects.

The reason is that it seems to me that zBrush would work very well as a replacement for clay modeling for things like automotive design. However, whan I'm finding is that it's hard to get a degree of control of ZADD's etc. so that things like fender flares, etc. don't look "lumpy".

Perhaps this is the reason that I have not seen much in the way of mechanical design in any zBrush galleries on the net?

Does anyone have pointers on how to do more mechanical modeling in ZBrush? I'm sure over time I'll figure it out, but if there's something out there that will help me jump start, it would be appreciated.

Thanks!

[aurick]

I find that the most control when it comes to mechanical-type stuff is done through masking and deformations. For example, with the fender you can paint a mask onto just the fender area, invert the mask, and then use an inflate deformation to create the fenders. From there, it's pretty easy to tweak the mesh.

The advantage to masked deformations is that they apply equally to all unmasked areas. So you get perfectly smooth results.

You can also get some interesting results using the Stencil instead of a mask. The Stencil will not affect deformations, but it will restrict sculpting