ZBrushCentral

Curve Confusion

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

I’m only like a day or two into using curve brushes so a lot of the behavior just seems unruly to me still.
Right now my big issue is editing existing curves. Say I draw out a curve with the CurveStrapSnap brush for like a belt or a wrist band or maybe big leather stitches. Once drawn it may be twisted slightly in some areas (likely due to the surface I was snapping to) or too high or too low in places. I find it very difficult to move the offending areas without the whole curve going wacky for lack of a better term. If it doesn’t completely freak out and jump off of the target mesh completely and tie itself in a knot, it will twist to the point of being perpendicular in orientation to the surface.

Are there any pro-tips you guys can give or good resources you can show me? I’m using 4r5.
Thanks

#2

Mesh needs to be dense enough to ‘support’ the inserted item. You can disable snap to suface while editing.
Get this, if you don’t have it yet, as it’s quite useful>> http://www.zbrushcentral.com/showthread.php?161588-quot-Axis-quot-Plugin-for-ZBrush-4r2

#3

Thanks for the reply and link Doug. The plugin looks great but orienting my tool really isn’t the problem (at least I don’t think so). These are dynameshes between 128 and 256 resolution btw. I’m sure I played with a dozen curve setting to try and get it to sit still including ‘snap’ and ‘bend’. I’ll try again as there’s always a chance I didn’t catch something but it really feels like there is a trick or workflow I’m not grasping.

If I have time I’ll take a screen recording to show what I’m getting.

#4

Make use of the ‘Lock Start’ and ‘Lock End’ buttons after you draw your curve to keep the whole thing from sliding around on you. A bigger curve edit cursor radius makes things a little easier for moving. To adjust the curve edit cursor radius, while the cursor is the light blue color, press S key to adjust it. For adjusting really small areas, and after you have the curve generally positioned where you want, I would suggest that you delete the curve (Stroke>Curve Functions>Delete) and then use masking and the Action Line (W to move, E to scale and R to rotate).

#5

Thanks I’ve tried resizing my cursor but need to give it another shot. I didn’t know about the curve delete. I was having related issue with drawing one curve and then upon drawing a separate curve on the same subtool, the first curve disappeared. Pressing the 5 key before drawing a new curve seems to fix this. Is that the same as delete?

#6

If you wish to keep the first curve, click once on the model, then you can draw a new curve.

#7

No, the 5 key duplicates the curve. You will see this when you go to move it. Clicking once on the underlying mesh will delete the curve so you can draw the next one. You have to delete the first curve before you draw the next or the first one will disappear when you draw the next one (as you said). This is the same as the Delete button in the Stroke palette.