Initial Idea:
Wouldn’t it be cool if you could label certain zspheres with proper names and these zspheres are the ones that are only allowed for posing? Then, later, convert this zsphere skeleton to a biped skeleton with yr model already exported out and vertices already assigned? Now, that owuld really rock, don’t you think? Improve on the animation system i feel…'cause currently morph targets just don’t hold much water compared to the use of biped. If pple could work in the comfort of Zspheres to use as a biped and have proper IK constraints between biped and keyframing, it would really rule big time!
Dream Program idea:
Maybe in the future, could have a seperate program called Zbrush Layout (which would have be similar to Zbrush) that does the job of real animation instead. It should have the ability to export/import your ztools, zmaterials, zlights, displacement maps, uv, texture, alphas and other related zbrush stuff and maintain zsphere-biped integrity for zsphere type .ztls. Wow! Even better, you could model your character in Zbrush and then assign regions of the model to various zspheres of the skeleton zsphere. Then, export out your model .ztl that already includes an underlying zsphere skeleton structure. So, for character animation, if you exported out your zsphere constructed .ztl (which would already have an underlying mesh), everything from animation constraints, default pose, saved poses, textyre, mesh, subdivision levels, etc. can be called/recalled from within the Zbrush Layout program. Man, that would be revolutionary! Maybe can even do muscular physique stuff as well to define those areas that flex accordingly thru control-mask-clicking or precise selection on the canvas thru face, vertex, etc. sublevels. With a system like this, you can even prototype various poses in Zbrush first thru the ease of zspheres, save them as morph targets that you intend to use later, and save everything into the .ztl. Bringing the .ztl into the Zbrush Layout program, simply call those morph targets from the loaded ztool to automatically pose those models at the apprioate keyframes in the timeline with those intended poses done earlier. Then, make adjustments to the imported poses and fine tune them. So, the morph targets are simply a way of storing the various saved biped poses you intend to use. You can even do the adjustments of the biped arrangements in Zbrush layout and re-save them into the .ztl if you wish! Works both ways. Man…that would be a dream program. However, I know an animation program is a very big undertaking though, especially with special effects and so many other stuff unmentioned here. It might not exactly work…
