I created a new subtool by appending a ZSphere. I can move, scale and build onto the Sphere, but rotating seems to move it. Am I doing something wrong, or does rotating not work?
-Sterling
Rotating ZSpheres is a bit different. Here are your options in Edit>Rotate mode:
- Click and drag on a ZSphere. This will spin the ZSphere and its children around the ZSphere’s Z axis (the line connecting it to its parent).
- Click and drag on a linking sphere. This rotates the parent ZSphere and all children around the camera’s Z axis, centered on the parent.
- Alt+Click and drag on a ZSphere. This rotates the ZSphere (but not its children) around its ZAxis. This is used to correct twists in the mesh. Children will also rotate around their ZAxes in order to compensate for the parent’s new orientation.
Thanks for your post. I do know how ZSpheres work, but I can’t seem to get the base sphere to rotate when it is appended as a subtool.
Basically, I haven’t drawn any chidren yet. I just want to rotate the base sphere so that the axis is positioned correctly and that things line up for when I draw with symmetry on
-Sterling
I don’t believe that there is a way to rotate the root ZSphere. There are basically two options.
Option one is to just deal with the ZSphere model having a different axis of symmetry active. This isn’t a big deal because ZBrush remembers which axis is active on a subtool basis. So all of your subtools can have one axis active while the ZSpheres can have the other one active and you would never know the difference. The only time it would come into play as something you need to think about is if you have to change symmetry for some reason.
Option two is to rotate all of the subtools that you already have so that the Z axis faces the camera. This is as easy as opening the Tool>Preview and rotating the little window. Hold shift when you get close to the right angle, which will snap it. Then press Tool>Preview>Store. Of course, this isn’t necessarily a good option if you need to export the models to another app later on.
Clearly, we have revealed something that should be addressed.
Normally, when you create a base ZSphere, it can be rotated upon creation until subsequent zspheres are added, but when appending one, you have no control how it is created. So, using a different axis may not solve the problem if none of the axis lines up with your other subtools. In my case, I will always want to export, so your second idea, while a good one, doesn’t apply to me.
-Sterling
Actually, when you create your root ZSphere as an independent object (not a SubTool) you CAN’T rotate it however you want. All you’re rotating is its orientation on the canvas (world coordinates). There is no way to change its local coordinates to be a different orientation.