ZBrushCentral

Locked Light placement? ( Don't understand how to keep light in one spot )

ZBrush Artworks
#1

Hi, I’m really not understanding how or why lighting works the way it does in zbrush. I’ve been trying to figure out for the past two hours how to put a light in a particular spot, and always have it shine on the same part of the model without changing when i rotate the model. ( in other words, i guess i want the light to rotate with the model ) instead of being fixed off scene.

For example, say i modeled a face and wanted a light pointing at the front of the face as if there was a flashlight there. I don’t want the light to suddently be pointing at the side of the head once i rotate the model around. How do I fix the light so that it always points at the face no matter how i rotate?

#2

There’s not really a standard 3d environment in zbrush where things like lights and cameras have their own coordinates in 3d space. Instead you have a model floating above a 2d painting canvas (document). As such, it helps to realize that you’re not orbiting a camera around the model to get your view of it, you’re rotating and manipulating the model itself.

Materials are based on matching a polygon’s normal direction (in screen-space) to the same point on an image of a sphere, and using whatever pixel it sees in that image. Light direction is also screen-based in order to work with this system, so they are fixed in place relative to the screen/document while the floating model is manipulated.

#3

That’s not possible with the standard lights in ZBrush. The lighting possibilities are limited and it doesn’t have “free” lights.

The only way you can get the lighting to not rotate with the model is to use a LightCap, either by creating it from scratch (in the Light>LightCap sub-palette) or by using an Environment map in the Light>Background and then pressing the Light>Background>LightCaps button. Make sure you start with a standard material and turn off the Lights in the Light palette!