ZBrushCentral

Answered: Couple of Questions

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

A couple of questions. I’m working on a hand study to better
familiarize myself with the available tools etc in ZB.

Started off with a base form of Zspheres and worked up into higher
mesh subdivisions for finer detail in my model, deleting lower poly
divisions as I go.

First question: Is it important that I keep the lower poly divisions
if I have no intention of ‘going back’ to work in broader strokes?
Or is there another reason to keep them?

Second question: In ZB 3.1, when scaling or zooming, does the level
at which you’re zoomed have a direct effect on the intensity
level of the brush you’re using? It seems that the closer I am zoomed
into my model, that the less effect the intensity of the brush has.
Scaling likewise (but I understand this).

Thanks!

RP

Win 7 Pro 64
8 GB RAM
ZB 3.1

#2

1) It hurts nothing to keep the lower levels. You never know when you might decide that the fingers aren’t long enough or spot something else that needs changing and could best be done at a lower level. Why be destructive and linear when you don’t have to be? Also, if you’re going to be exporting the model to another app you’re likely to have a mesh with too many polygons for the other program to handle. For that you need a displacement or normal map, and that means you need to have the lower resolution model available – both to create the map for and also to export.

  1. That one, I’m actually not sure about. I believe that the intensity is consistent, but the more you’ve scaled the fewer points the same brush stroke will influence. This has the effect of making the intensity of the stroke less relative to the model as a whole.
#3

Thanks aurick for both the answers and the move (never noticed this forum before…)

Guess it makes sense to keep a lower poly mesh or two just in case, which brings me to another question. I’ve been saving as I go along, the tool using
the ‘save as’ button and giving them consecutive names; hand v1, v2 etc.
This way I can try different approaches if I completely manage to mangle the outcome and wish to start back at a much earlier time in the model. Is there
a better way to approach this?

Thanks,

RP