I’m creating an armor chest-piece for a character and I want it to have some real metal substance and thickness, but it’s as thin as paper, and any attempt to add thickness merely pulls both sides of the object in the direction that I’m attempting to add thickness to. Is there a way to give these paper-thin walls to this object some girth, or is it past the point of being able to do so?
Thanks! This is my first project in zbrush.
how are you creating the new piece or armor or whatever?
if you’re using the extract method then there is a thickness slider next to it.
tool>subtool>thick
If you’re using zspheres and retopo to create them there is also a slider for that = skin thickness
tool>topology>skin thickness
It sounds like you need to learn more about mesh extraction to make subtools that mold to an object, such as armor. It’s quick and fun. Here’s the online docs:
http://www.pixologic.com/docs/index.php/Mesh_Extraction
After that, learn creating subtools that fit aroun an object, without molding to it using retopology tools:
http://www.pixologic.com/docs/index.php/Creating_New_Topology
As far as your current chest piece, try this experimentation. I STILL suggest redoing the armor using mesh extraction, definitely, but this will be an experiment to learn from first. Using masking while sculpting gives you more control in several instances. Mask off the edges that you want to stay close to the chest, then sculpt on the armor. You’ll find that the masked edges will stay put.
However, the chest piece is paper thin, don’t keep it afterwards, it’s no good. Delete it. Use mesh extraction. All you do is mask off where you would like the armor to be, and hit extract in the subtool pallete. Raise the brush’s focal shift so that the masking is done with a hard edged brush. There are sliders that control what the thickness and smothness will be, they’re right next to the extract button in the subtool menu. You set them before hitting extract. It’s just an awesome feature of ZBrush.
Good Luck! Read the links and write back with any more questions.
I know mesh extraction pretty well at this point. The armor piece itself is a mesh extraction that I’ve been fooling around with, but it’s way too thin right now!
I’m not familiar with the topology tool. What exactly is it used for? Just that?
The first thing you need to learn how to do is control the thickness of your mesh extractions. If the armor is too thin, then you don’t know mesh extraction as well as you may think. It’s ok, it’s your first project. Just the fact that you know that there are mesh extractions is a great start.
There’s a slider right next to the “extract” button that controls the thickness and another that controls the smoothness. How sharp or blurred your mask is will also affect the extraction, as well as the subdivision level you’re on when you extract. You can get A LOT of different results. Thoroughly read through the docs in the links. You have some awesome info to learn here, this is a great opportunity. Creating subtools is the coolest function in ZBrush, study up! It’s easy, just experiment a little.
Topology is more complex. Topology is where you append a zsphere to the subtool pallete, then go in and create a new mesh around your current sculpture, point by point. You lay out your own mesh. It has two functions:
1)-Retopologizing a mesh to clean it up for even distribution of polygon faces. This is for when your sculpting stretches certain areas of the mesh, which happens a lot. It’s also for preparation before exporting to another 3d app.
2)-Creating new subtools that fit around the model without molding to it exactly like extractions do.
They’re two very different functions. Retopo is a totally different topic that you should learn after mastering these other functions.
The purpose of creating new subtools with topology is to make things fit to a model without molding to them exactly. For example a trench coat, skirt, or a hat. Something that will have it’s own shape, but still fit around the model. You can’t do some of these things with extractions.
Mesh extraction molds the model for things like shirts, helmets, straps, etc. My vote is learn extraction then tackle topology.
Good luck! Study the docs and forums. Please feel free to post any more questions as well.
you can attempt to do masking of the one side of the piece using transpose or backface masking and then pull it away from the backside to make it thicker. you can also try using Inflate in the deformation palette, you may get better/different results depending on which axis you choose(if you don’t want all of them).
personally i find that mesh extraction is messy and i rather draw out the piece i need in retopology, or fit an existing piece of geo to what i need. another way is to select the polys you want off your model as you would an extraction, store a morph target, hide what you don’t want, do a offset in the deformation palette and hit create difference in the morph target menu, this will give you better geometery usually compared to an extraction.
Yeah, extractions don’t come out clean, I usually smooth 'em out then use the move brush to tighten 'em up. For illustration, the results are nice. Retopology is cleaner, but more time consuming. I don’t export to other 3d apps, so for me, extractions are easy to clean up for my illustrative purposes. Spaceboy412, that last tip sounds really interesting and easy compared to retopo. Thanks for the tip.
Turn on Backface Masking in the Brush palette. It prevents the brush from going all the way through an object, so you can sculpt one side of a thin object without affecting the back.