ZBrushCentral

Adding a hand subtool/transpose problem/question

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

As far as I can tell, the process to add a subtool is to use the append subtool. Then, you use the transpose tool to rescale it.

There has to be some better way, though. First off, the transpose tool has got to be the most awkward tool I have ever used and scaling a hand down to the size of the body takes a crazy amount of time. I think it might be okish for fine details, but for simply moving and scaling in a way that keeps the proportions it seems utterly useless and there’s just no reason for it to be so frustrating. Worse, the hand is getting all wonky and has these weird spikes all over. This happens whether I scale it at the highest or lowest geometry settings (not that this should matter).

Is there some other way to do this that works in a more simple manner? Or at least some way to stop the distortion? Sorry to be so whiny, but I just don’t get how even after reading all the books and reading/watching countless tutorials and sculpting (or trying to) for weeks on end I still feel like I’m eating rice with rubber chopsticks.

handproblem2.jpg

#2

Were the body and the hand both created in another app? If so, was the hand created to scale relative to the body? If the answers to both questions are “yes” then there is a solution:


  1. Clone the body tool. (Tool>Clone)
  2. With the clone, go to level 1 and delete all higher levels.
  3. With the clone still seleted, press Tool>Import and load the hand.
When a model without subdivision levels is selected, the Import feature will replace the current model. Where this differs from a standard import is that the new mesh will inherit the original model’s scaling information. So if the hand was created on scale with the body, it will remain so after this import into ZBrush.

Regarding the problem you’re getting in TransPose with the points that don’t want to move right, it’s probably due to the scale of the model. Look at the Tool>Preview window. How big is the hand within that window?

#3

I made both of them in zbrush out of clay zpheres. Does that mean there’s just nothing I can do to fix this? Is the only thing zbrush is good for is detailing stuff from other apps? I’d really hoped to use it for much more than that.

In the preview, the hand looks gigantic, but scaling it on its own before I append it seems to do nothing to help the matter.

#4

Actually, the solution is very easy. Using transpose is not necessary at all. I used the rotate etc. sliders in the deformation area and it fixes the scal etc. fairly easily. In a way it makes it all the more baffling the normal UI doesn’t have these functions, but I have ceased trying to apply logic to it all.

I decided to post this just because I wasted days on this before and have read of others with the same exact problem but never seen a real solution to it, at least not via the searchs I performed. I hope this will help someone else as much as it helps me.