ZBrushCentral

Needed: Advice for belts, clothing, armor, and other accessories

ZBrush Artworks
#1

I think I’ve got the “organic” models squared away pretty well, but I am still having a few issues with sculpting belts, armor, and some general clothing or even hard surface tools.
For instance, I attempted to make a belt strap for a ninja model I’m working on at the moment. I started by masking a central line on the body mesh and extracting to a subTool. Seemed logical.
But once I tried to even out the edges, the overall look turned out quite “blobby” and, frankly, rather ugly.

Is there a fast and efficient way to go about this within Zbrush? Any tips would be greatly appreciated!:smiley:

#2

I dont claim to be a zbrush master (or even that much of an intermediate) but I found that by increasing the lead on lazy brush and using the layer brush in single strokes makes good edges when making smooth surfaces, you might also look into creasing the area you want smoother (a belt for example) and dont forget about smoothing after you have added a stroke (saved me alot of blobby bother) I would say take a look at the hard surface video in zclassroom too (thats if you have 3.5 R2 that is)

Hope it helped :slight_smile:

edit: why oh why is the x key so close to the z key?

#3

Well, I’m on a Mac. So, unfortunately I am still waiting on 3.5. :confused:

What about getting the tool to begin with? Is starting with the extract a bad idea or… how should I set this up? Thanks!

#4

I’m on the Mac myself, so patiently waiting. Using the extract, first off make sure your mask is hard edged, really take time doing your mask it first (it gets easier but as with everything in zbrush practice ect.) So turn the focus up. Unfortunately I’m in work at the moment and dont have zbrush working so I cant show you examples but I’m making the mask for extract, if you want a definitive hard edge make sure and have the lazy brush set up so you can make those straight edges. I may have gotten some terms wrong here as again I dont have zbrush here… Another place to look is cannedmushrooms tutorials on the tutorials link here on zbcentral, you’ll get some great tips there! Again hope it helps!

#5

Terrific! I’ll check that site out and try playing with the focus and really spend a bit more time on the masking bit. I had actually just tried drawing a selection for the mask; didn’t work as well as I had hoped.

I see a lot of really great models out there with gun belts and straps. I’ll mess around with it, but do you know generally what a good thickness is for extractions of that sort?

#6

It really depends on the size of the model, but I would generally only have a slight thickness, then the layer brush in conjunction with masks is your best friend. Also the beauty of digital art lies in the ctrl-z keys :wink:

#7

Not sure whether this might be of any help. For me, in 3.1 when I want to create a controlled pieces like straps/ belts etc I’d use Retopology with thickness turned on. the result for me is more predictable that mask/extract.

> Like for this character, pretty much everything’s retop from the base mesh except the horns and such.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=8578625&l=3cc0cc3e06&id=734230720

#8

I would have never thought of that solid - going to give that a whirl when I get home

#9

Wow! That’s amazing! I haven’t tried the retopology at all. What’s the process? I’m in 3.2 for Mac.

Any advice on how to create shoes over bare feet with toes?