ZBrush 4R2 ZClassroom Movies. Updated to include 17 Movies.

[tyrellcorp]

yes , i too use curves and lofting in Maya but its not as intuitive as zspheres which is why i do most of my Vines/tubes/pipes/branches etc using zspheres.. i will still keep playing around to get the look i am after..!!

i just really like how the curvetube brush works as an orgainic way of " painting" branches as you go... i dont know , it feels more "artistic" and less techical if that makes any sense. its just a shame that you can only use it on a flat surface .

[Zeddicus]

yes , i too use curves and lofting in Maya but its not as intuitive as zspheres which is why i do most of my Vines/tubes/pipes/branches etc using zspheres.. i will still keep playing around to get the look i am after..!!

i just really like how the curvetube brush works as an orgainic way of " painting" branches as you go... i dont know , it feels more "artistic" and less techical if that makes any sense. its just a shame that you can only use it on a flat surface .

I completely agree with you. Creating vines/tubes doesn't really seem to be the problem here, which is what many of us have been focusing on. It's more about how much time one is willing to spend doing the work, and therein lies the rub. Obtaining the best results almost always requires more effort. We all hate it, but it's a common truth that often applies to all aspects of life, not just art. Setting up Zspheres is indeed time consuming, and I believe you mentioned that you hate doing retopo as well (me too). It's unfortunate, but until some much needed improvements are made to ZBrush, you're just going to have to bite the bullet, dig in, and get it done.

The fact that one cannot continue a curve where they left off is kind of odd really. Being able to do so seems like a very obvious and simple feature that's been overlooked. You may want to post it in the wishlist thread if it's not there already. There are other annoying things about curves that bother me as well. For example, editing them can get quite difficult sometimes. I'd love it if the start and end points could be locked so they don't move while doing so. I also wish we weren't limited to screen view alignment when drawing one. The ability to loft any polymesh would be welcome as well. I know similar results can achieved with zspheres, but a quick an easy means of lofting just makes sense, especially given how making the artists job easier (and fun) has always seemed to be Pixologic's primary focus. The list is long, and despite how good ZBrush is already, it can always be better. Hopefully they're listening and not resistant to friendly suggestions from the artists.

[tyrellcorp]

yes man. the above image is something else i am working on which is just an extraction which looks good but unusable , now if the curvetube brush could do this ....

[Zeddicus]

now if the curvetube brush could do this

I've been doing research on those 3dConnexion devices and came across this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIcZrxJLa4k

It dawned on me that this would be the perfect solution for the problem you're having with the curve tube brush. The idea would be to draw the curve while simultaneously rotating the mesh. In fact this could be a quick way to a number of interesting things I think. Unfortunately I also discovered that ZBrush doesn't play nice at all with the Space Pilot.

http://www.google.ca/#hl=en&q=+site:...al+3dconnexion

I really need the simplicity of this device so I'm probably still going to buy one. They seem pretty popular, hopefully Pixologic and 3dConnexion (or some other company that makes 3d mice) can work together on making these work harmoniously somewhere down the line, or at least add a way to continue a curve where you last left off (without the diameter constantly changing every time you zoom the view in and out).

Here are a couple more videos I found interesting, just in case anyone else is interested:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSUqY4NyGT4#t=33s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmgiW4z1vow

[MealeaYing]

Don't sell yourself short, MealeaYing

Thank you! It was a lot of fun.... especially adding the blue bit!

[tyrellcorp]

well.. i think i should really start another thread just about the curve tube brush...

but anyway i did the above extraction as a zsphere mesh , but as we know you cant "close" zsphere chains so you still have to use another package to connect them, unfortunatly this also seems to take ages.. so to get this mesh finished it has been almost a week , this is just far too long,...

[MealeaYing]

I realize this is a little less complex, or at least has less holes but it also took about 30 seconds to make in TopMod and export as a .obj, then less then 30 seconds to import and render after distorting slightly and rotating in ZBrush:



Posting it here was the longest part of the process.

[tyrellcorp]

thats the kind of nice topo i am looking for but i think topomod is for more mathematical shapes is it not? like this?

[MealeaYing]

That thing wonderful!
You did that with Topmod?
How???
That program is a never ending series of surprises....

Anyhow if what I made is the sort of thing you are after, then Topmod is the tool to use, it does some rather tricky things very fast, I'm serious when I say it took longer to upload the image here than it took to create it from start to finish.

Topmod is sort of for math related stuff but you can do all sorts of other things with it, its great fun and on top of all the obvious things like just making topology and screwing about with it you can also use 35 or more methods of subdivision and most of them are neat too.
What I made was a simple "soccerball" object, honeycomb subdivided and then framed at a low setting like 0.040 or something.

[tyrellcorp]

sorry to disapoint but that wasnt made with topomod..

i just had a look at topomod and unfortunately Maya pretty much does everything that topomod can..

but i think we are getting a bit distracted from the original question about the curvetube brush..

But thanks anyway man..

[chalkman]

Try this one in Maya .... about 30 seconds in Topmod, rendered in Zbrush BPR low poly count .

[Zeddicus]

I've never played with TopMod before. It's certainly a nifty little application that simplifies certain things. The video on Youtube showcasing what it can accomplish was interesting to watch as well.

I got my 3dConnexion mouse the other day and one of the first things I tried was the hypothesis I previously posted. Since ZBrush doesn't support them, I had to use 3D Coat instead. It worked perfectly! The only way I can describe it is that it made sculpting exactly like using a pottery wheel, which is fitting all things considered lol.

[jubala]

thanks for the videos helped alot

[yoogy]

thats the kind of nice topo i am looking for but i think topomod is for more mathematical shapes is it not? like this?

K3DSurf is a program to visualize and manipulate
Mathematical models in three, four, five and six dimensions.
K3DSurf supports Parametric equations and Isosurfaces.
A little bit difficult to use - i think you must have good Knowledge with Math.
There is a obj - export.
Than insert in Zbrush - Voila

Its Freeware

Have Fun -

Cheers

This is done with K3Surf
http://k3dsurf.sourceforge.net/

[intHiki]

just find thread very interesting , thx