ZBrushCentral

total newb needs help

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

I’ve been messing with zbrush for a grand total of about 2 months now. It’s only the second 3d application that I’ve had any dealings with (123D Design being the first). I’ve been pretty successful at consulting Lord Google in my times of need, but this…

How I got here:
I had an idea that I could separate part of my mesh to work on at a higher dynamesh resolution while leaving the rest of the mesh alone. I created a polygroup of the section i wanted to work on (with symetry on, to work on the eye section). I then used the groups split button to separate and create a new subtool. I then duplicated that subtool to have a “save spot” in case I didn’t like what I came up with. When I tried to re-dynamesh the separated section, some weird things happened (see video). I eventually merged one of the separated sections back to the original mesh, but was still getting some unwanted results.

I’ve tried this before with a helmet I was working on and wanted to add thickness to the new subtool but couldn’t figure out how to do that either. I believe my lack of knowledge of the jargon/terminology is what is hindering my Google quest…

//youtu.be/YPm9UMIyc9U

#2

You’re going about your process a bit wrong. Basically you’re not working low enough, and when you’re trying to combine your two meshes it is closing the hole of the head.

Try this instead:
-Duplicate your head and eye
-Combine your two new meshes (eye and head).
-dynamesh this to a fairly low resolution (hopefully this closes your holes without trying to close the hole in the head, make sure groups is turned off)
-Zremesh to a fairly low res, 10k or so.
-SubD up one level and do a project all (make sure the old head and eye are visible)
-repeat as needed to capture your details.

Should fix your problem.

#3

Thanks for the reply. I’ll give this a try later.

Im under the impression that the project will try to copy the details over from the old mesh to the new lower resolution mesh???

Also, what if (on a different project) I wanted to keep the new mesh separate and editable. Saw a guy making helmets on YouTube doing something similar. He would cut parts and somehow make the parts thicker, then sculpt on them some more. I added the video so you can see what I’m talking about. Everything is sped up so fast I can’t see all the steps to it. At around the 13:40 mark is where the visor is cut out.

[video=youtube_share;xGg_fvDHCW0]https://youtu.be/xGg_fvDHCW0[/video]

And again, thank you very much for the reply.

#4

lso, what if (on a different project) I wanted to keep the new mesh separate and editable. Saw a guy making helmets on YouTube doing something similar. He would cut parts and somehow make the parts thicker, then sculpt on them some more. I added the video so you can see what I’m talking about. Everything is sped up so fast I can’t see all the steps to it. At around the 13:40 mark is where the visor is cut out.

In this video, he was was:

  1. masking the part he wanted to separate
  2. Used Tool: Polygroup: Group Masked to turn it into a new polygroup (he played with its polish setting)
  3. Use Tool: Subtool: Groups Split to turn each polygroup into its own subtool.

At this point he used Tool: Geometry: Panel Loops, isolated the front group so that he could mask it, and then used the deformation sliders to create thickness. Depending on what you’re trying to do, you may find it quicker to use Tool: Subtool: Extract after step 3 instead.

Hard surface models tend to give you a lot more freedom. When you look at an object in real life, it’s actually made out of several different materials and objects. So when you’re modeling something that is man-made, you can keep each piece as a separate subtool so that you can quickly isolate and subdivide each part; the polygons don’t have to be connected because the actual objects aren’t actually connected.

With organics however, you generally don’t see natural seams and so its better to keep everything connected unless you can find places to hide these disconnected vertices (like under clothes). Instead of using dynamesh to get more geometry into a local area, you can subdivide while masking instead. This will give you more vertices where you need it, without actually disconnecting anything.

#5

@Cryrid, thanks for the reply.

As it seems, the panel loops you mention seem to be under tool: geometry: Edgeloops, unless i missed something. I guess I’ll have to play with those initial settings to get it where I need it to be. I learned a lot from you and Beta_Channel over the last few days. I’ve played with both of your suggestions and am amazed further still with what this program is capable of. I came in to it only knowing about the sculpting aspect. Having no formal training in any 3d applications, it’s a bit difficult to grasp some of the techniques and terminology involved. I really do appreciate your responses.

I’ve been going through the videos on the pixologic site to try to help me learn… I just haven’t had a whole lot of time. I imagine all this information is in there somewhere, I just have to get to that part. Taking it one part at a time whenever I can you know.

Well after doing some repairs to my sculpt, this is where it is now. Once again, thanks for the assistance.

I know it isn’t much, but here is what I have so far.

//youtu.be/9_0D9hRrguA

Untitled-1.jpg