ZBrushCentral

am i on the right track in making lizard skin?

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

So im trying to make a skin similar to lizard or dragon, with alphas in zbrush. I have started making the alpha in Photoshop and finished them in zbrush. Then i have been using “mask by alpha” in zbrush, cause if i tile the alpha with dragrect or dragdot there is always overlapping or seams… I combine “mask by alpha” with increasing the tiles in the alpha dropdown menu…

However, when i use mask by alpha, the resolution of the mask become
jagged, and it seem to be more jagged the higher i set the tiles in the alpha menu. But when i use dragrect stroke, for example, the alpha looks pretty nice.

So i have this problem in making nice “mask by alpha”, at the same time i dont know if this is the best way to reach my goal, which is to make something similar to lizard skin. My plan was to use mask by alpha to fill most of the model, and maybe mask out some small areas, for little different tiling.

Could anyone please give me some advice on this? Am i on the right track? In that case does anyone know how to solve the jagged mask in that case?

#2

Is it your mesh density? Have you tried blurring the alpha a bit? Can you post an image of the problem you’re getting?

#3

Hi there, it´s kinda hard to provide you with any tips without being sure what you would know about mesh density and a UV approach.

So i´ll try to give you some tips.

  1. the brush your using has an impact on how the alpha gets transferred…
    Clay brush would behave different than the standard brush or the elastic brush

  2. Keep your brush alphas 512x512

  3. Try using the radial fade (rf) option in the alpha palette to get rid of hard edges on your alpha

  4. If you´re model has UV´s layed out, you could generate a black and white scale pattern and
    distribute it on your layout in Photoshop…
    Then you would load that as a texture in Zbrush and hit “Mask by Intensity”

There are certainly more ways of doing it, maybe check this thread for some scale alphas
http://www.zbrushcentral.com/showthread.php?114935-55-Dragons-design-quot-Marathon-quot

If all of that doesn´t relate to your problem try posting a picture of your problems…