ZBrushCentral

Low Poly Fred

ZBrush Artworks
#1

Well today I knocked up a low-polygon game model as I’ve been meaning to do this for a long, long time!
I’ve always known ZBrush would be a great tool for making and painting models for games and with texture Master its a breeze!

Download my wee model I dubbed Fred (54 KB) Fred.ztl who is a poor-mans poser model!!

It should work fine with Texture Master as it is set up to unwrap to a flat plane in several parts.

Reduce the Draw-Move or Draw-Scale and carefully reshape the human form around to what ever you want and then fire up Texture master and paint on it. You’ll lose the ‘blockyness’ of this model when you paint on it. … example …

and here’s some examples I played around with today. They are all the same model!

I’ve still got to work out how to stop the seams becoming visable, but I’ve got a better model to work on which I’ll pass on later. Please download the model and have a play. I’d love to see your low-poly results!
Chow.
Upham :slight_smile:

Ps. Try modeling with the “dots” on, and don’t try to Divide the mesh!!!

#2

to hide the seams…make fewer parts Upham. also…try painting beyond the actual borders of the Uvmap and change the white color to a dark color as a suggestion. try to weld the UVs of the head to the the neck to the torso to the legs and hide the seams by putting them in the back of the model. Also…minimize the the empty space on the UVmap…cuz it is just wasted memory for the game engines. The model looks great! The game companies are telling me low poly models need to be between 500 to 1000 polys(triangulated)and i am betting the texture maps have to be 256x256 or 512x512.

#3

Great stuff ! I will certainly give it a try.

#4

Thank you for the generous gift…I will give him a try…might be a bit on the scary side with my limited knowledge…but hey it’s all about having fun… :+1: :+1: :+1: :+1:

#5

Low Poly work is an artform unto itself, and you’re doing great, Upham! I’m downright awful at it.

The E.T. and monster are done very well, too!

Are these for a company, or are they just stuff that you’ve been playing with for the love of it?

#6

Thanks guys. This quick model was just an experiment to see if low-poly game models would work within ZBrush made in Max. You’ll see my model is pretty nasty and has a couple of holes in the back and legs.
It was a good experiment in making models for games but I didn’t follow the golden rules about the unfolded parts layout. (your right there 2byts!! Thanks for the tips!) Next time I’ll do it all different but I want to get onto a different human model I made eons ago.
A “script-idea” I had a while back was to embed several markers into a model at the joints that was acompanied by a script that controled the rotational directions of each joint … kinda like a miny Poser within ZBrush!
Upham :slight_smile:

#7

i dont have anything to post you yet Upham…but for me i love the work flow of zbrush when doing the basic body parts of low poly…i then go into another 3d app to weld the parts and make the UV…zbrush is just so much better for picking up those single vertices and moving around…it is the actual FEEL of the interface that makes it better i found. Also, Pixolator…any info in the future for boolean and or extrusion features for the future? We could really start sculpting some amazing things with those features in Z

#8

Hey thanks 2byts!! Hey I’m really glad someone agree’s with me on low-poly modeling in ZBrush. It’s so much easier - espesially with X-symetry on (TOOLS>MODIFIERS>SYMETRY) as well as Dots (wireframe) - found at the top of the Preferances palette. That’s why I gave this humble model away, so people could at least try it out themselves.

:b4: Just a wee tip about painting closeups with Texture Master on such a odd shape ... Use the SIZE slider in the TOOL>DEFORMATION palette to "zoom" into the area you want to paint detail on and then use the wee red cross in the window above to *GENTLY* place the model's center of rotation point into the part you want to paint and zoom in a little more if needed, (via the size slider). Moveing the cross takes a little getting use too! Be very very gentle with it!! The black-document window will need to be clicked on in order to be updated. [img]http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/zbc_uploads/user_image-1010396189xqy.jpg[/img] :b4: ALSO, paint the body first and the face last as Texture Master dosn't seem to like being dropped and picked up too many times. You'll see the detailed paintwork get blurry after a few "drops".

Also I recently found this model being given away free at the 3dCafe Free models section. Click here to download him! Modeled by Jonathan West for non commercial purposes!

[img]http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/zbc_uploads/user_image-1010396235nfz.jpg[/img]

He is PERFECTLY modeled. He is called “MAN9” and he is a .obj and .LWO file formats! I’ve named him JAMIE after one of the Pixologic-lads. So grab JAMIE now!!!
I was hopeing I could take him apart and assign UV maps on him, but I’m busy until the end of the week. (this would be for my own non-commercial reasons and I legaly couldn’t share him) :smiley:

As for the extrusion feature, I’ve asked for that myself …in this early thread which was useing ZBrush version 113.
Unfortunatly there isn’t a big enough demand for it … yet, so we’ll just have to wait and see what the next version brings. There has been the odd hint dropped about better distribution of polygons over models in this years ZBrush release, but we’ll have to wait until then. I would personally love to get a tool that creates “limbs” better such as an extrusion tool, but until then we’ll stick with lots of floating heads!

Anyway, do show me any results. You’ll be a pioneer in this development!

Until then
Upham :slight_smile:

#9

muchas gracias, upham! :+1: :+1: :+1: both fred and jaime come in very handy for a nonposerposessor and a modellingidiot like me :smiley: say, i gave fred a try yesternite and tried to move his arms towards a more natural gesture in edit-move mode - and spoilt it within seconds. how would you do that?

TIA

  • juandel
#10

Upham,

the little grey guy is a dead ringer for a picasso painting. In fact the face looks very much like the great man.

#11

Thank you upham - your explanations help me a lot.

Paul

#12

Upham…that thread was what got me started in the first place!! Cheers for your info:

texturing lowpolys
And the other bloke responsible for helping me out is Drawingtroll…so give him a holler.

#13

Hey thanks for trying this out guys/gals.

Juandel - you could try being INCREDIBLY gental and move each vertex by hand, but the main point of this exercise is to really only import and paint models, and export them for animation in another app. You can reshape the body, but you really want to keep the arms straight for applying bones for animation purposes. As I mentioned above I would LOVE to be able to embed multimarkers in the joints and have a script that rotates each marker - kind of like Poser.

Thelonious: Thanks for the picture! Hee! :smiley: He’s a bit square isn’t he!
I hope the cold isn’t biteing too hard over there! I’m enjoying summer at the mo! Hmmm…

Hey Pinhead, I wanna see some examples from you!! (Or I’ll be shoot over to that 3D commune with some choice words!)

Thanks for the compliment 2byts. I hope Pix reads that! Ahhh, what would Pix know about games?! Oh well, I’m off to play Sonic Xtreme! (and not read the credits!) :smiley:
(in-house joke there)

2byts - by any chance is that “ZTY58D” character you?? I’m annoyed I missed that thread! Drawing Troll has a way with words doesn’t he (lots of words!)
Upham :slight_smile:

#14

yeah…you and drawing troll really got me started on this. I had to do a lot of online tuts to teach myself. I want to use zbrush in combo with other apps…i figure it can be extremely powerful if done correctly.

Upham, here is a another advice i figured out. Try painting using a material as well…then use a screen grab with materials and shaded turned on and put back onto the low poly character textur map. Now…not only do you have zbrush texture but a zbush material which you can use in other 3d apps.

This technique is perfect if you want a shiny metal or slimy skin affect with bump mapping…that you can use in Max or whatever and is still just a simple color map

#15

Haha :smiley:

Drawingtroll here. Yeah, all my friends tell me, I use too much words.

Well…I have improved a little more since that time… That of welding uvs is really useful. I think I read it in some tut…

Another tip in case not mentioned: If one does model (the way I do now) using simetry (whatever the 3d package or freebie u use) later on can weld UVs not only for seams. You also weld simetric parts.(unless u want them different!) So you will only have to paint half the pixels, and also will be able to put more texture detail as you’re needing less parts in the UV space. Remember if u want a scratch on left side of the face, this will produce also on the right!

I don’t want to use more words, so I hope u’ll understand the trick :wink:

eekks…I did it again… :wink:

#16

Gonna post again…well, I never post, so I hope u’ll sorry me :wink:

Upham
er…also…maybe the arms (modelling) are a bit thick when they get joined in the torso…Also…Maybe turning some edges (ur Max can do) at the knees would be good (to avoid some non-roundness there) too.Not sure. I don’t know if those would be seen with smoothing (let’s say 60, or 80º) normals activated. Ahem…Could someone already activate smoothing normals on an imported OBJ? Please tell me how…Not smoothing (the best known in zbrush) adding faces, you two now what I’m referring to…Smoothing normals view on objs imported it is by now the only thing I see that needs Zbrush to blow up the other great low pol 3d painters in the market…well and a way of rotation which allows rotation around y axe, using right mouse button, or left plus a hotkey whilst pressed. Er…hehe, that’s a suggetion for the team. Sorry, just an opinion.

Upham, yes, torso should be one piece. You may use cilindrical mapping for this (setting the seam on the spine, max can do)…also avoid very u-stretched uv map areas…one pixel will fill 1/3 of the belt (for example)

head is a bit small (modelling)I hope I am not repeating something already said.

Looking at my 1200 polys model, in facet view, and not smoothed like in engines, makes it difficult for high quality skining; as u know texture is used to hide sharp low pol edges, corners. (helping the works made in modelling stage (turning edges, etc))

2byts
my main purpose was a while ago to be able to import an obj (uv mapped carefully in Lith) skin it and export the skin…was succesful with Texture Master, although had a little problem with smoothing (the typical in Zbrush terminology, that which adds lots of faces and soft-deforms) cause it became 1 once hitting “drop” or “pick”…I realised that not falling into panic and just setting it again to smoothing 0…well, problem ended. Once rotated and hitting “pick” or “drop” sometimes it came again to smoothing 1. But 2 or 3 times and zbrush learned that I wanted 0 value. Always I do that and no problem.

Just in case u find this problem also.

#17

Thanks for the post Drawing Troll. I hope you didn’t take the “wording” comment too personal. Write as much as you like, it’s all good!
I think it was mentioned that an upcomming version of ZBrush will have normal-smoothing in it, but have you tried the SMOOTH slider just below the TOOLS>MODIFIER>Object Preview window, which I thought WAS the Normal Smoothing???

The Fred model was just a tester and it is pretty nasty. As they say - “learn from your mistakes”. Hopefully other people will download it and have a play which was the objective. Though, thank you for your tips! It will be great food-for-thought next time!
I’ll buy you a beer sometime.
Upham :slight_smile:

#18

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR> Thanks for the post Drawing Troll. I hope you didn’t take the “wording” comment too personal. Write as much as you like, it’s all good! <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

hey, no…I was joking :slight_smile: Everybody tells me that and they’re true… :wink:

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR> I think it was mentioned that an upcomming version of ZBrush will have normal-smoothing in it, but have you tried the… <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

hey! that’s absolutely great, I did not know it…! Well…i’ve been away for a while…

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR> …SMOOTH slider just below the TOOLS>MODIFIER>Object Preview window, which I thought WAS the Normal Smoothing??? <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

ahem…if that’s so I will feel totally…er…I spent hours searching it…(but for imported OBJ files, remember)Let me check it…

pant…no. It isn’t.phew…That’s the one I refer to when I say TextureMaster automatically puts it itself into ‘1’ value…If you put the cursor one second over that option, you will read: ‘Subdivision Smoothness Tolerance’. Well, it increases the mesh density, and make it rounder (adding unwanted polys and deformation).

So, it is not…There’s a little work-around I found…creating new lights all around to disminish the higlights/shadows contrast and faceted effect…And also sometimes set the rendering type to I think it call it ‘flat render’…I think It just puts the textures… no lights and shadows, no volume…Can use it in extreme situations, in case the sharpe edges are messing you while painting. But smoothing normals is the solution for any low pol thing. I understand why it is so: I think Zbrush was intended as a highend tool, but if we can do low stuff with it, that proves its versatility.

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR> The Fred model was just a tester and it is pretty nasty. As they say - “learn from your mistakes”. Hopefully other people will download it and have a play which was <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Those were small details…is a rather useful low pol model. :slight_smile:

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR> the objective. Though, thank you for your tips! It will be great food-for-thought next time! <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

:slight_smile:

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR> I’ll buy you a beer sometime.
Upham <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

:slight_smile:
If I’m not wrong,your tuts were among the first ones for me to see, previous to buying Zbrush, those and others about texturing (Pixolator and others) convinced me. :slight_smile:

#19

Oh! (slap forehead) I forgot to say that you should load your model and adjust the smooth slider down to zero - then SAVE IT as an ZBrush tool and then reload the same tool! It’s a tiny hassle, but … hey! It should stay as a zero-smoothed (or whatever you set it at) when you drop it with Texturemaster.
Upham :slight_smile:
PS. The flat render is a good idea! I’ll give that a go! Though I don’t think you need to go to all the hassle of setting up the lights.

#20

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR> …then SAVE IT as an ZBrush tool and then reload the same tool! It’s a tiny hassle, but … hey! It should stay as a zero-smoothed (or whatever you set it at) when you drop it with Texturemaster. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

hey!! Thanks a zillion! :DD I didn’t know that!

Well…My other way seem also to work, but yours is more confortable. :slight_smile:

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR> PS. The flat render is a good idea! I’ll give that a go! <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

yes, although…remember sometimes it can be worse to not see any volume…