Ive seen this being done all over the place and I promised myself I would figure out alphas, so i guess the place to start is asking the peeple at the forum. I remember seeing people makin swords and all sorts of nifty 3d models with alphas. I understand how to change my brush stroke with alpha but thats about it… how do you use alphas to model?
David
Hi Zero
One possibility to use Alpha
1 Take the primitive “plan 3D”
2 Menu Modifiers Selection Alp select all
3 Deformation Offset Z
And you have your object in 3D 
Pilou
<font color="#949494" size=“1”> November 24, 2002 Message edited by: Frenchy Pilou </font>
hi frenchy,
I folowed your instructions as closely as I could, and I can see m alpha drawn onto the plane, but It isnt at all 3d ???
David
I’m not sure what you mean by alpha modeling , if it is a terain , follow the link in the post above and ignore what I say.
Maybe you meant starting with a base 3d model that was made through an alpha by making a grayscale map in any graphical program and then importing it into zbrush in the Alpha menu. After importing it , click on the little icon on top of the alpha menu to get the extra options and the button “Make 3d” should appear , set a density and depth and click the button which will make a 3d model from your imported alpha. Go into edit mode and start adding detail.
(Wings could be made with this technique very fast , there is a link to a thread that discusses this subject in the 1.5 Quicklinkssection)
Hi Zero
Sorry I was too speed
May be this is more clear http://www.pixolator.com/zbc-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=1&t=008596
You can take any brush with any alpha with any textures ! Technic is the same !
At the end you have a real 3D Object !
Pilou 
<font color="#949494" size=“1”> November 24, 2002 Message edited by: Frenchy Pilou </font>
Thanks Muvio, Pilou, and Namek all, until now for terrain I have been using a plane 3d tool and deforming it…
DAM alphas are useful… Ive accomplished just about everything I can think of withthem, except what I set out to do with them in the first place… Sory for my bad explination, but im sorta glad i did a crapy job the first time…
Heres what Im trying to do…
Take a brush, any basic brush
dram on the canvas with that brush
take the drawing I made and turn it into an object slightly thicker than plane 3d…
for like a sword or a fence…
tnx
David
If you have the full version you can press the “Make3d” button in the Alpha Pallette. If you have the demo, what you can do is mask a plane3d with the alpha and then use the offset slider on the ZAxis in the deformation pallette. Another alternative would be to use the 3d brush and press the “double-sided” button listed under “modifiers” for that tool. However due to the nature of the 3D Brush you can’t model it any further, since it’s shape is determined only by the alpha that it uses.
<font color="#949494" size=“1”> November 24, 2002 Message edited by: WingedOne </font>
tnx WingedOne. For demo, is there any way to crop out certain unwanted polygons? for example, I have the raised platform in the shape that I want, how do I get rid of the rest of the stuff?
David
Make sure that the unwanted polygons are unmasked and then click hide points in the selection sub panel.