ZBrushCentral

Bringing zbrush files into the 'real world' (3d printing)

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

Hi everyone, I’m a brand new girl here so please forgive me if my questions are in any way stupid. I will get the hang of things as time goes on. But I’ve been thrown in the deep end with my first project and desperately need the advice of seasoned experienced types to make sure I don’t balls it up and end my new career before it even starts.

I’m a traditional artist/sculptor by trade and am hugely inspired by digital sculpting and the possibilities of 3d scanning and printing too. I’ve been given a very good opportunity to get going with it, but rather than a sipping my toes in gradually situation I’ve been flung right in out of my depth and have to make sense of things as I go along. Have only just bought zbrush, although have been looking at what it can do and lurking on the forum for many months now getting inspiration. Zbrush seems to be amazing at images and models that stay in the digital world, but I’ve heard less favourable things about getting models out by 3d printing into the real world. I know it can be done, as I’ve seen other artists on this forum whose work I recognise from galleries in the UK, but from what I’ve been told is there an issue with scaling zbrush models for 3d printing or has this been overcome in more recent updates? Or is there a workaround? Loads of tutorials seem to just export files into some other piece of software that costs more than I have right now, so what can be done quickly and simply within zbrush itself for 3d printing? Does anyone know a good expert in this particular field whose tutorials I should be following and who might not mind me posing the odd question as I get stuck? Or are there people on here who specialise in taking zbrush files and converting them properly to make seamless and successful 3d models as their ‘job’? Sorry to come over as a bit of a dopey female on my first post asking what are probably very naive questions. I’m normally very confident in my field and recognise these things take a long time to master and I have much to learn but I’ve actually got no choice but to dive in head first or miss the most amazing opportunity of my life so far. So all and any advice really welcome (but go gently on me, I’ve had a rubbish week so far LOL). Thank you so much for reading and even more in advance for any useful hints, tips, info or links. x

#2

People have done it. One thread here>> http://www.zbrushcentral.com/showthread.php?174142-Answered-Sculpting-for-3d-printing-question
Many more on the forums.

#3

Thanks Doug! I’ll check that out now. It’s reassuring at least to know in theory it can be done. x

#4

I print 3d models from zbrush all the time in my work, although will often do the final stl export from something like rhino to ensure it is at the correct scale. If you are determined to only use zbrush it can definitely be done using the 3d print exporter plugin. to make sure you are exporting something at the correct scale calibrate your transpose line to measure 1 unit based on zbrushes Cube3D which is generated at 1x1x1 to my understanding after comparing it to a 1x1x1mm cube from another software package. Then you can make fairly accurate measurements on your model while still in zbrush. I’m assuming you are just sending your model to a 3rd party printing service so they will want your models to be at the correct scale. It is possible in the 3d printing software to scale models on the fly however before you perform your slicing operations.
Another way to control your scale is simply to change the xyz sliders in the 3d print exporter to match your maximum dimensions in each axis. You could also look at getting a free copy of blender to try exporting at a specific scale. It will probably take a little bit of trial and error until you get a solid workflow, and there are definitely multiple ways of going about this.

Let me know if you need any more information.

#5

I haven’t had much issue using the scaling in print exporter.

#6

And there’s this link with a tidbit more info. :wink: http://www.zbrushcentral.com/showthread.php?172757-How-do-I-work-out-scale-in-Zbrush&p=982566&viewfull=1#post982566

#7

Wow! Thank you so much guys, you’ve been incredibly helpful. James especially thank you so much for typing all that useful info out but you’ve all been fab to help me and I so appreciate it. Off to absorb all of it now but no doubt I will be back soon with more questions xx