ZBrushCentral

Positioning Objects and Multi-Marker

I am struggling with aligning multiple 3D objects in ZBrush and I am hoping that someone can help me. I have created a fictitious dino head and I created a horn in another software. I then imported the OBJ file in ZBrush and I have both the head and the horn as a Multi-Marker object. I then draw the object(s) on my fresh document and now I want to properly align the horn and rotate it a bit. When I move the mouse cursor over the horn a red dot appears telling me I can edit that object. Rotating the object is a pain, though. I cannot properly control it. I cannot seem to bring up the Gyro tool either on only one part of a multi-part object. Am I missing something? Is there an easier way to work with multi-part objects as far as aligning all the pieces?

Thanks in advance!

BTW - Moving and scaling are fine. I am just having problems with accurately rotating a part of a multi-part object.

The gyro is not available on individual pieces with an MM object.

The best approach is to work from the planar angles. For example:

Draw the head while holding down the Shift key to keep it snapped to one of the planes.

Now draw the horns. Rotate them to be correct for the head so that you don’t have to mess with that while in MM mode.

Use the MM tool. If you need to move any parts, hold down the shift key while rotating the group to snap it to the appropriate plane. Now move the parts or scale them. Just don’t rotate them.

If you need to rotate something, press Tool>Modifiers>Reposition Markers. Then exit edit mode and clear the canvas. Use the markers to bring back each object, and activate the gyro for any part that needs to be rotated. Be sure to remove the existing marker, and replace it after you’ve finished rotating the object. Now you can return to the MM tool and continue working on a group level.

Thanks for the very quick response! I really appreciate it.

I’ll say this, though. This seems like a really complex way to put together various parts of a model :wink: .

Hi Dan I see that you have right now the excelent explanation from Aurick¡¡ so this minitutorial about MM and Polimesh will be redundant or insuficient but here it is¡¡
MM and Polymesh Minitut.TXT
Hope this help and thanks for your attention
Andreseloy

I am very new to ZBrush.

I need to align the horn from both the side and front views. I originally did what you stated at the beginning of your post. I brought in the dino head as a ZTool that I had previously saved. I used the SHIFT key to position it so that I saw a perfect side profile. I then imported the horn (an OBJ) and used the GYRO tool to move, scale and rotate it into position. But since I am working on the horn, the head is snapshotted to the canvas. So how do I now align the horn to the front view of the head?

Do I clear the canvas once I align the horn to the side profile, bring in the multi-marker object, use SHIFT and rotate the head to the front view and then use the Reposition Markers command?

Sorry for sounding so lost (I am :slight_smile: ), but I just want to get this right.

Thanks again for any help.

Thank you, everyone! I’ll get this right yet!

While I am here, how do I use the GYRO tool to move an object “in and out” (along the Z axis) and not just up/down or side to side?

Also, I sometimes get distortions in my multi-marker objects and ZTool objects when I initially create them on the document. It is if they have been scaled along one axis. Is this something I am doing? I end up deleting the object and redrawing it and it appears fine when redrawn.

  1. Yes, it is snapshot to the canvas. That’s the purpose of the MM tool: to be able to redraw them as a group and rotate them to a new orientation.

  2. Run the Primers tutorial ZScript included with ZBrush. There is a section on the gyro, including how to change depth. It’s also covered in the manual.

  3. When you draw a 3D object, the stroke away from the starting point sets the object’s depth. If you then move your stroke back toward the starting point, the XY will scale down and the Z will remain the same. This is meant to make it possible to reshape your objects as you draw them.

Hi Dan I made this other script for you, only have to press in script panel the bottom “show action and notes” to see step by step the tutorial. Each objet that you put in the canvas in the right place you want press markek object position AND THEN clear the canvas and pic MM tool.
In the script i show it very clearly. Please let me know if you see it and if this help you¡
Thanks for your attention
Andreseloy
MM AND HORN.TXT

Once again, thank you for your quick replies and help. I finally think I understand markers … at least a bit better than I did before :slight_smile: . I did not realize really what a marker was and the power of how they work (clear the canvas, re-draw the object over the marker, etc.). I think I can finally position my horns the way I need to :slight_smile: .

Hopefully I will have screen shots soon :slight_smile: .

Something I do insted of Multimarkers sometimes…

I would Export the head, and place the horn in the other 3d application… save the Constructed OBJ, then open it in Zbrush and re-AUV tile the completed mesh…

I only do the above when I need to be realy precice…I have the Zbrush Controls Down now, and dont do it as often… but sometimes I just find it easyer to stick things to gether in other applications…

Thought I might an alternative way to do things…

Hope it helps…

Try the method I outline in the annotated zscript in this thread (third post down).

It is THE easiest way to align, combine and edit different parts of polymeshed objects in ZBrush. It’s incredibly simple too.

In the case of your dino, not only will you be able to align the horn accurately, but you will also be able to sculpt the head around the horn for a perfect fit while the polymesh is fully editable and rotatable (something multimarkers can’t do).

I’m really surprised it hasn’t caught on more :confused:

Hi Bonecradle,

The method you describe looks very promising! Thank you so much for sharing it! I played a bit with what was generated from your script and I noticed that if I offset the sphere and then rotate it using the rotate slider that the center of rotation is the center of the entire polymesh (including the masked section). This makes sense since the “objects” are really one polymesh, but it makes it a tad difficult to position some objects … unless I am missing something … which is normally the case :slight_smile: .

Yes, that is the case. I tried to think of the things people might come across when using this method but missed that one (and probaly others).

All you have to do is go to the Tools palette>Preview window and move the red cross to the position where you want the centre of rotation to be.

The red cross governs the centre of the object for all manual rotations and deformation sliders - it is thus quite powerful. Read the manual for further info and to find out how to store/restore positions easily.

Hope that helps.

Bonecradle,

That, my friend, is incredibly powerful! I like this method and I will give it a try right away. Thank you so much for you help!

Hi Dan,

I feel your pain. It’s part of the ZBrush learning curve that most all of us have been through.

A few months ago I wrote a ZScript called MOLDY that was designed to make modeling and Multimarkers a little bit easier. The last posted version was (I think) 1.7a. Here is the ZB Central link.

MOLDY Modeling Tool

The zip file is towards the bottom of that page. Just press the help button to get a quick orientation as to what each of the other buttons does.

The downside to using a tool like this is it removes you somewhat from learning the ZBrush interface functionality. The upside is that it streamlines the modeling process, especially being able to store views and to rotate the model on 90 degrees axes. The MM buttons are elementary but I find them to be helpful.

Another, more comprehensive ZScript is called ModelStation by Cameyo. (An earlier version of Cameyo’s ZScript inspired MOLDY.)

Here is the ZBCentral Link:

ModelStation by Cameyo

Svengali