ZBrushCentral

basic zbrush workflow

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

Hi!

I´ve been trying to figure out why I´m not getting anywhere in my 3D efforts. The short answer is because I never actually buckle down and do some 3D.:rolleyes:

However I think this is mainly due to the fact that even though I have a decent(ok,I know what a zsphere and subtool is ;)) theoretical knowledge of different aspects I don´t have a basic workflow.
I know how to sculpt. I know about subtools. I know about textures. The problem is that I have no clear understanding of how to translate this theoretical knowledge into practical use inside zbrush.

I have read and watched tutorials and still feel very lost once I actually start Zbrush. I usually mock around with some zspheres and then sculpt to a certain level until I just scrap it and start over. So, what I would like to ask is, if anyone has the time to put down in some sort of list form a good workflow.

I realize workflow differs some depending on what you model, but what I´m looking for is a sort of general cheatsheet I can look at whenever I feel lost in zbrush. If anything characters/creatures are my main focus. Say I was going to do a girl and maybe some clothing(as subtools?). I want to texture, pose and light her before I render an image of her.
So, just to be clear I´m not really after a tutorial on how to make this, but rather what workflow I would use and in what order I´d be best of using the different tools. EDIT: Well, I guess it sort of gets into being a tutorial on how to make it as I wouldn´t really know what to do with “make texture in projection master”. But as I say below; as elobarate or simple as you feel like. I can always learn how to use the projection master once I know when in the process I need to worry about it. /EDIT

I appreciate any help with this so however simple or elaborate you have time for is great.

Thank you.

#2

Hi there,

I totally get where your coming from and why your asking. These bits of the forums don’t seem to we high enough trafficked to get a decent answer - I have even bookmarked this forum as I have no clue where it is :slight_smile:

Anyway, I’m in the same boat and I think the answer on workflow would be to begin your model with either a base mesh from some other 3d app or begin building from Zspheres. That at this point save your zBrush document using File > Save As. This saves EVERYTHING, zTools, sub tools, lighting, the lot:) It also means you can stop working, have a break and revisit without loosing the focus on finishing your model in one sitting.

After you have created your base in Zspheres use save morph target from the morphs menu before you hit preview. This allows you to return to Zspheres without loosing your sculpt work and starting from scratch.

Not sure about texturing and colouring as this point as I’m still learning and so far I’ve used GOZ to modo to texture and render as I haven’t worked everything out yet.

But the crucial thing I would suggest is saving out the Zbrush document so you can experiment safe in the knowledge you can revert to a saved copy. You can learn a ton more this way.

Hope my limited knowledge helps a little. It would be nice if there was a newbie area that people could go to chat but I haven’t found that bit of the forums yet.

Enjoying Zbrush though and looking forward to Sept 20th where things are going to get a whole lot more exciting!

Chris

#3

I recently picked up Scott Robertson’s Gnomon Workshop video of ‘Introduction to ZBrush 4’ and it answered a lot of questions for me:
The Gnomon Workshop - Introduction to ZBrush 4

I also found this video on ZClassroom quite helpful as far as workflow:
GoZ Setup for 3DS Max

There is also ZBrush Workshops which I’m looking forward to joining. In addition, I’m working through Ryan Kingslien’s book “ZBrush Studio Projects: Realistic Game Characters” which covers all of the things you mentioned about modeling/posing/rendering & getting subtools out of your girl.

#4

Just to follow up, you’d mentioned a kind of quick reference. I created one for myself that still has some holes, but it might be of some use to you. Its based on that ZClassroom GoZ video I mentioned, I just omitted the dmap section that I didn’t need.

This is how I’ve made props in Max2012/ZBrush4 for CryEngine3 - This is just for props, I haven’t tried this on deformation objects or characters yet, that will be covered as soon as I get to it.

  1. Create your base mesh in max/maya - all quads, even distribution, etc.

  2. Go crazy with the sculpting

  3. Paint your model- I’ve been using the Spotlight tool for stenciling textures in from photos.

  4. Select & isolate the subtool you want to export, or just select the model if you have no subtools yet

  5. Lower your subdivision to 1 - Decide if this is good enough for your game mesh, you may need to go to subdivision 2.
    (You might also retopologize at this point but I’m not sure about how to transfer maps over to the new mesh - this is
    likely something I’ll need to figure out for characters so I have decent edge loops - I’ll write that up next.)

  6. If you decided to go with subdivision 2, click on ‘Delete Lower’

  7. Under the ZPlugin menu (top row) select the UV Master Plugin and dock it. (UV Master is free from Pixologic)

  8. Important! Open up the UV Map rollout and select what resolution you want your map to be. The default is 2048 so
    so I set it to 512. Its better to work at 2048 though and resize the textures later in Photoshop. My copy of
    Photoshop is fubar so I couldn’t test this.

  9. Under the UV Master rollout, select Symmetry and Polygroups

  10. Under the UV Master rollout, click ‘Unwrap’ and think about all the time you’ve ever wasted unwrapping UVs

  11. Scroll down to the Texture Map rollout and click on ‘New From UV Check’ - Hover over the image to see how your UVs
    are laid out. The object I used to test this out (bag of quickcrete) had pretty sane non-overlapping UV islands.

  12. Turn off the UVs by clicking on the image and selecting ‘No Texture’

  13. Set the object to highest subdivision

  14. Under Texture Map rollout, select ‘New From Polypaint’

  15. This has created your diffuse map

  16. Go to the lowest subdivision of your model

  17. Go to the Create Normal Map rollout tab and turn on Tangent and Adaptive on.

  18. Click on ‘Create Normal Map’

  19. Drop to the lowest subdivision level

  20. At the top of the Tool pallete, click on the GoZ button - it should help you setup your prefered application.

  21. Max/Maya should start and it should include your low-resolution mesh as well as a shader network with your maps.

  22. I use GoZ with Max, so texture maps will appear in:
    C:\Users\Public\Pixologic\GoZProjects\Default

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