ZBrushCentral

InsertMesh brush curve question

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

I know there must be a simple solution to this, but I’m drawing a blank.

I’m trying to create an insert mesh curve brush that does not use the Tri Parts method of repeating the middle polygroup and just stretches a single mesh throughout the curve.

Imagine stretching a segmented worm that has the exact same amount of segments every time you brush it on and all the segments bend with the curve and don’t behave like bunched up box-cars.

When you turn off Tri Parts, the brush just repeats the single mesh along the curve. Can it stretch one mesh without repeating it?

#2

Hello @chriswarden

In order for a single mesh to repeat like this the following things need to occur:

  1. The mesh segment needs to be oriented correctly in the viewport at the time of brush creation for the mesh to have the correct end to end placement with the curve stroke.

  2. The ends must match exactly, with the same number of points that perfectly align. If the mesh was not perfectly Shift-locked to the camera axis at the time of brush creation the ends may not be aligning correctly.

  3. In Brush> Modifiers, the “Weld” button must be pressed. You may also wish to disable “Tri Parts” to avoid any conflicts with any polyrouping you may have.

  4. In some situations, it may also be useful to enable “Stretch to fit”.

:slight_smile:

#3

I don’t think you understood my issue.

I don’t want a repeating mesh. I want one mesh to be drawn, snapped to a subtool and bent with the drawn curve shape.

If I wanted to draw the same worm or snake mesh (without a repeating mid-section) how would I do that?

#4

Forget that I mentioned a worm. Instead let’s use a human body as the example. I want to use the bend and snap functionality of the IMM Curve brush to draw a stack of bending bodies on a mesh. Each brush stroke would insert a single copy of the same mesh and the curve would bend each single mesh over the previous mesh. No repeated tri-parts, just a single mesh per brush stroke that bends with each snapping curve.