ZBrushCentral

a couple of questions from a beginner ...

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

ok i am totally new to Zbrush, and its verry unlike other 3D modeling programs that i have worked with, which confuses me!

first of, the tutorials here seems more like a video documentation, than video tutorials! i mean, you get a detailed discription of all the tools, and features, but you dont see it come together or learn some basic techniques (spell?) you can use.

secondly i dont think i really understand the tool thingy :S
its like everything you make something with a tool, what ever you have created pops up in the tool panel as a new tool!
also the convert to polymesh thingy, is kinda wired … sometimes it wont let you edit it, (or even enter edit mode)… it really confuses me!

and last question:
when i use symatry for spheres it seems like it mirroring over a diagonal line, instead of the x axis, and i have to rotate it around to make it fit (by eye)
this only happens to spheres though!

but i was hoping you couldt explain some of this stuff to me, and maybe point me to some better learning material. i prefer video tutorials, but text will do too!
hope you can help me!

in advance: Thanks :smiley:

-Craksy

#2

Spot on, ZBrush is very different from other software. The sooner you set aside all of the jargon you learned in 3ds max or Maya or whatever you’re used to, and open your mind to the way ZBrush works, the faster you’ll move forward.

I know, the “tool” thing is confusing at first. When you think of a tool, you think of a hammer or a chisel or something utilitarian like that. You don’t natually think of your model as a tool. But it is. A “tool” in ZBrush is like geometry on crack. It has subdivision history, polypainting, subtools, layers, and all the other goodies that make ZBrush so fun.

Just keep plugging away at it. Your eureka! moment will come soon enough.

-Dustin

#3

thanks for the reply :smiley:

but now i have made some crappy looking character (Bob) with Zspheres, converted it to a polygon mesh, and started to sculpt on his face.
now i want to add some eye balls, and i thaught i would do that with spheres!
but if i select my sphere tool, it just give me a blank canvas to draw it on… how do i do this?
you cant build tools, using other tools? you have to sculpt it all with your brush?

thanks in advance xD

#4

sorry for double posting, but i got new question:

if i have a mesh done, how to i export it to a maya supported file format, for rigging?

hope you can help me :smiley:

#5

OBJs work best. Be careful how many polygons you’re trying to bring into Maya.

#6

yea, but its just a basic mesh…
now i just got another problem: how to export it from maya as .x file…
but of cause that question doesnt belong here… ill take it to the maya forums.

thanks for the help :smiley:

#7

I’m having similar problems with the manuals and tutorials. It’ll be so helpful if there is a tutorial for creating a simple figure from beginning to end. There are a couple of complete video tutorials in the classroom, but they are are creating inanimate objects like a vase and a sword. ZB’s strength is in creating organic things. But there is no tutorial for that!

Some time ago I saw a tutorial about sculpting a head from a sphere. But I can’t find that anymore. Also, the advice I’ve been getting is never to use something as simple as a sphere as a base mesh for a head. That’s understandable enough. But then how about a tutorial about how to do it the proper way, from scratch?

I have no prior experience with using 3D graphic programs, other than simple experiments with Blender (it was so difficult to use!). Sculpting in ZB is easier, but still requires so much more knowledge than making something with clay or carving wood.

#8

if you want figures do a search on veoh. tons of stuff.
Nickz has a lot of tutorials on organics as well.

#9

i posted a link to the tutorial in another post (“zbrush beginner” or something like that) but i am too lazy to find it right now…
see if you can find it :wink:
42 min tutorial on you tube sphere to head, from start to finnish :smiley:

anyway last question from me(for now at least): how high does your post count have to be before you can post without check from the admins? its getting kinda anoying to first wait for your post to be accepted by admins, and then waiting for reply