Im just getting into zbrush and learning what it can do. I do a lot of graphic design and webpage design so i work a lot with text, usually illustrator takes care of all my textual needs. Recently however i was wondering what about text in zbrush, the stuff zbrush could do to text would just be awsome. I did find a great plug in that creates some wicked looking text but only in one font. The following is a method i came up with to get text in any font you like, it requires a photoshop package as well.
the blue line is to show that the 3 pieces of text have transparent backgrounds, so they could be used on the web as gifs or pngs and overlay other items.
the font used is comic sans and there is a japanese kanji thrown in to show that any font or text can be done.
- in PS create a file with a black background type your text in white, flatten and save as a jpg. This will be your alpha.
2.In zbrush select the plane 3D tool. In tool-initialize set the hdivide and vdivide to 512.
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hit make polymesh 3D, then draw the new tool on the canvas.
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hit edit, load your text as an alpha.
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go to tool-masking and hit alp. then inverse the mask and click hidept.
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go to tool-geometry and click delete hidden.
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go to tool-morph target and click store morph target.
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go to deformations and do offset Z -25
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now click on creatDiff in the morph target area and your new tool is created.
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clear the canvas, check out the text and decorate it.
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save it then load it up in PS. go to select-select color and click on the grey background, inverse the selection and drag the text to a new open window where it will now be background free and can be used on the web or for whatever.
Some fonts work better than other for this, also the text created is kind of jaggardy on the top and sides, but this can be covered up pretty easy. If anybody can improve on this or has a better technique post it up here as i would love to see it, this is the best i can come up with for now.
I just like the idea that zbrush can be used for little things too. Imagine some kick arse zbrush text at the top of your webpage! sweet.
D