‘Afternoon all . . .
OK, first open Zbrush - choose “Tool / Sphere3D” - go to “Tool / Modifiers / Initialize” & slide Hdivide & Vdivide to the Maximum / then go to “Tool / Modifiers / Deformation / Rotate” & rotate 90 on the “X” axis / now draw the object on the canvas.
Set the “Draw / DrawSize” to 5, & turn “RGB” on / turn off “ZADD, ZSUB & ZCUT”.
Go to “Tools / Modifiers / Symmetry” & select “Z - M - R” set the “RadialCount / 35”.
Now draw a large circle on the sphere to represent the outline of the iris & a small circle to represent the pupil.
Go to “Tool / Modifiers / Texture” and select “TXR>COL” to make a texture of the circles you drew on the sphere.
Go to “Textures / Inventory” & select “Export”, save the texture as “Eye Outline”. Close Zbrush.
PhotoShop Portion Of Tut:
Open PhotoShop & load the image “Eye Outline” & zoom-in on the image so the large circle fills the work area.
Select the “Elliptical Marquee” tool / draw a selection while holding down the shift key to match the size of the large circle, move it around to place it on center of the large circle.
Create a new layer above the image.
Select the “Radial Gradient” Tool / Select “Window” pull down menu & select “Show Options”, that will open the options for the Radiant Gradient Tool.
Click the “Edit” button & the “Gradient Editor” will open / select any of the “3 color combination” choices in the window / as you do you will notice that the color bars at the bottom will change, that’s where you edit the colors & percentage of gradient coverage.
Now, select the little box underneath the top colored bar & you’ll see that color appears in the box below / left click on that box & the color palette will open / choose a color that you want the outer area of the iris to be & click OK / you’ll notice that the chosen color now appears in the first area of the blend / do the same thing for the 2nd middle iris color & 3rd inside iris color. Also make sure that the 1st box is far left, 2nd box is in the middle, 3rd box is far right. When finished click OK & you should see your Gradient choice & colors in the color bar at the right.
Click “New Layer” in the Layers Palette & make sure that layer is selected or active / with your “Radial Gradient” Tool still selected, start from the left edge of the selection & draw a line to the very center of the circle selection you created / you should now see the gradient color blend going from the center to the outside edge of the circle.
Now choose “Filter pull down menu & select Add Noise” / set Noise=50 / Gaussian / Monochromatic / you should now see a lot of noise in your colored area.
Choose "Filter pull down menu & select Blur / Radial Blur / set Amount=35 / Blur Method=Zoom / Quality=Best, you should now see the actual pattern & blend of the iris.
Click the little Eye next to the top layer to make it invisible & remove any selections / now make a selection around the small circle for the pupil / click the little Eye again to make the top layer visible again & select the top layer & click New Layer, now you should have a new empty layer on top of the stack.
Make sure the Foreground color is black & choose the “Paint Bucket” Tool / click anywhere in the small circle selection you created, you should now have a solid black filled circle in the center & on top of the gradient color circle, remove the selection.
Go to “Filter pull down menu / Blur / Gaussian Blur” / set Radius=1.5 Pixels & click OK.
Select bottom layer & select “New Layer”, reselect the bottom layer, the original layer you first started with & delete it.
Make sure Foreground color is white & choose the “Paint Bucket” Tool / click anywhere on the canvas to fill it with white, making sure that the bottom layer is active or selected.
Now select “Layer pull down / Flatten Image” & you should have your “Eye Texture” created / Save your image as “Blue Eye Texture” or what ever color you choose, & close PhotoShop.
Reopen Zbrush / choose “Tool / Sphere3D” - go to “Tool / Modifiers / Initialize” & slide Hdivide & Vdivide to the Maximum / then go to “Tool / Modifiers / Deformation / Rotate” & rotate 90 on the “X” axis / & draw the object on the canvas, & enter “Edit Mode” or press the “T” key.
Select “Material / ToyPlastic” / open “Texture / Inventory / Import” & select the saved “Eye Texture” you saved from PhotoShop / you should now see an Eye Ball, with your “Eye Texture” on it staring right at you.
Go to “Tool / Modifiers / Texture” & select “TXR>COL” to color the polys with the colors from the texture / you can now remove the texture you loaded.
If you have followed everything as you should, you will now have a “Textured Eye” on your screen??? This object when saved will keep all the colors & Materials you assigned to it, for use in another project. You can also use the “GelShaderA” Material to paint on the iris area only to get a glassy or cornea look to it, by selecting “Draw / M” & turning off “ZADD - ZSUB - ZCUT” / select “ToyPlastic” & click “FillObject” / Then select the “GelShaderA” Material & paint on the cornea area, you might want to place a mask on the outside of the iris to get a neater Material boundary.
I hope this has covered everything needed in creating an “Eye Texture”, I don’t think I forgot anything??? If you have any problems or questions, please let me know, I’ll be glad to offer any help that I can. You can always choose to create different shapes & sizes for the iris & pupil in PhotoShop, but the procedures will still be pretty much be the same.
Have a good one & I hope some of you get some enjoyment out of this . . . Mark.