ZBrushCentral

ZBrush to Flash? Help?

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

I’m a complete NOOB with ZBrush. In fact, I just finished watching Meats Intro to ZBrush from Gnomon and am stoked. Overwhelmed, but stoked.
Now, on with the background material leading to the question:

Some personal background - I’m a 2D (Photoshop/Illustrator/Traditional) biomedical illustrator - if you happen to venture onto Conceptart or CGSociety, I go by ‘redehlert’ just like I am doing here. So hi! if I know anyone.

Project background -
I have a client project that is going to need models of viruses as well as DNA and host cells with nuclei and organelles within the cell. These will be varied enough that creating models was the best solution. I like how easy ZBrush appears by comparison to 3D apps (which I’m not touching…not enough time). LOL.
So, when these objects are created and exported, I’m trying to keep in mind that they may need to be animated in a simplified method that is best suited for Flash.

This leads me to my question:
has anyone done ZBrush objects that are either exported directly to be used in Flash or go through Photoshop? I have limited Flash experience (I’m not doing the flash files, btw) and even less ZBrush experience but aim to learn quickly. I’m trying to figure out if
a) this a viable scenario having ZBrush objects for Flash
b) how to do this, and
c) any pitfalls to be aware of (polycount max, file size, etc).

I know this is kinda an odd request, but figured it’s best to go to the source to get the best information. Thanks in advance for the TLC.

Cheers,
Dave

#2

I’ll admit that my experience with Flash is a couple versions out of date, but unless it has changed a LOT then Flash doesn’t have the ability to import 3D objects. It’s strictly a 2D space.

It can work with vector images that it creates, or it can do 2D transformations on raster images. Photoshop is definitely strictly raster and cannot handle 3D objects.

What you could do is create a 3D object in ZBrush and then export it to an animation package. There you can create the animation that you want (including a QuickTime VR render) and then export that as a QuickTime. Flash can load the QuickTime and integrate it into the Flash movie.

#3

Hi Dave,

You could certainly create the objects and texture them in ZBrush, but Aurick is right. There is no way to import 3D objects into Flash. Even so, you can import static images and image sequences. That means you can use images from ZBrush to build your animations in Flash.

The 360 Turntable Plugincan be used to create image sequences that spin around your model. That gives you very limited animation capability in ZBrush. Depending on what you’re trying to do, this in conjunction with some static images (which you’d animate the position and size of in Flash) might be all you’d need.

For the record, I think you’d be better off spending an intensive week or two learning a program like Max or LightWave as these would give you great results with a lot more control. But if you don’t have the time to go that route, this may work for you.

#4

I’m in a similar boat. I want to draw a human heart, but I have not found a way to lower the opacity of objects as to make them look more realistic. I therefore have decided to export images from ZBrush into a 2d vector-based program like Illustrator, to further manipulate my 3d models.

The trouble is, I don’t know how to import static images into another program, as Steve suggested. Maybe it is simple enough that it does not need to be posted anywhere, but I’m unable to find a way…

Help would be greatly appreciated. :cry: