ZBrushCentral

Absolute brush size?

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

Sorry for the noob question, but is there any way to get an absolute brush size with respect to the model and not the screen?

I’m working on a model of a late Roman helmet from the 4th Century which had a lot of repeated embossed decorations. I’m using a stitch brush with a custom alpha to do this, and when I rotate the model to continue the pattern where I left off, the size is a little different, and I can’t quite get it back to the same size.

I looked through the brush and stroke pallettes but I couldn’t find anything that looked like a control for absolute/relative brush size. Does anyone have any pointers?

I’ll post some pictures soon. If you google “Deurne Helmet” You’ll see the kind of decoration I’m trying to replicate.

#2

I’m having a very similar issue. Did you manage to find a solution?

Edit: Turning off perspective seemed to help. It was a small cylindrical object and I was fairly close to it. Not sure if scale plays a part in this.

#3

Same deal here. I noticed that the perspective feature was causing about 75% of my problem. If perspective is on, the stroke tends to distort as the underlying geometry curves away from the camera.

With the perspective off, I still get a little bit of a size difference by the time I rotate, but it’s not as bad as before. I can just mess with the scale and brush size until it’s right. But still, it seems as if there ought to be a better way than having to fiddle with settings every couple of strokes.

#4

2 things I can think of,

First, have you tried saving your views using ZApplink, under the Document menu? This way if you over rotate you can just go back to your saved view.

Second, not sure if it will work better, but you could try using projection master at a fairly high subdivision, since it drops everything to canvas before you edit.

Also, lazymouse plus backtrack might help with keeping the strokes uniform. Good luck!

#5

Pale-Face, I messed around with the settings in the Adjust plugin and found something that works: If I draw the first stroke, then open the Adjust plugin toolbox and click Store DrwS it will save the size of the stroke relative to my model. Then whenever I scale my view I go back into the plugin menu and click Reset DrwSand everything matches up. I haven’t tried it yet, but I should be able to customize my UI so that these two buttons have shortcut keys, making them quick to use.

I’m still surprised that there isn’t a button hiding in a menu somewhere that changes whether the brush is scaled relative to the document or relative to the model.

#6

I’ve run into this nuisance as well and I believe it’s on the 5.0 wish list. The adjust plugin works but a simple on/off button right up front near the Zadd/Zsub/Zcut buttons would be even better. That way it’s less of an interruption to ones workflow.