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Best way to achieve detailed layered fabrics?

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So I’m using this image above as a reference for a piece that I’m working on. I have used ZB off and on for years, but I’m at a point where I want to get serious and learn the best practices. For my current project it requires me to create the look of layered fabrics stitched together like above. I don’t want to just freehand sculpt some stitch brush onto a flat surface, as I feel that’s the least efficient method. How would one suggest that I was to go about creating this look of layers and stitches that come out so clean? Are there curves involved, perhaps mask extractions? Is there a tutorial online for doing things such as this?

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Hi @CD_Legasse ,

The first thing you’ll need to embrace when working towards ultra fine surface detail is the need to work with multi-resolution meshes. You’ll need quite a bit of detail potential for the surface, and the highest detail potential in ZBrush requires a base level mesh with clean quad topology, subdivided multiple times. Working at a single level of subdivision is great for establishing form, but once your form is stable you’ll want to transition into a mesh in this form. Quality of topology is important when working with high res detail.

Noisemaker or Alphas can be used to create or stamp ultra fine surface detail onto the surface of a mesh.



Maybe! Those are very useful tools for clothing detail. Extracts can be performed as Mesh Extracts., or with the Mesh from Mask brushes. Panel Loops may also be of interest. Topology brush is another option.



I’m not sure what you’re looking for here. If you control your topology and polygrouping, you can use the polygroup borders to define curves with the Stroke> Curve Functions> Frame Mesh function. From there you can apply an IMM stroke to the entire curve at once.

However, don’t underestimate the appeal of “hand-worked” fabric. Adding stitching by hand introduces minor imperfections to the piece which can enhance realism. Overly automated approaches can sometimes look “too perfect”.



I imagine you could find quite a few with some amount of searching. Here are some relevant vids from the ZBrush classroom:


Good luck! :slightly_smiling_face:

I want to thank you for leaving such a thorough reply, I think the things you’ve mentioned can be a great help to me and others.

I did a good deal of research yesterday before your response, into things like polygroup it to layout panels on my suit, zremeshing to create clean quad topology in my groups, as well as extracting and panel loops to create the actual paneling geometry.

This is where I managed to get with my Earthworm Jim suit as far as getting clean polygroups, and a couple of panel loop tests. I really like how his over-the-pants skivvies turned out.

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I’m going to take some time to go through everything you’ve written with a fine-tooth comb and learn what I can about the best practices to take this to the next level.

I’m making an assumption here, that I should create the clothing panels before I start detailing them with things like wrinkles. Feel free to correct me if that’s not the best practice. While I feel I have an eye for the creative process, my inexperience with ZBrush really shines through lately, so I’m putting a lot of energy into learning the best ways to make my visions come to fruition.

I tend to think so. It depends on your output needs, but in ZBrush it is helpful to develop the discipline to establish the form of your mesh before moving onto fine surface detail.

The tools designed to help you quickly shape form in the program often require a single level of resolution, and can create sub optimal topology for other purposes in ZBrush. This kind of topology frequently needs resurfaced with tools like Dynamesh or ZRemesher to reshape and redistribute the polygons over the surface to improve sculpting results. These tools are fast and powerful for shaping form, but limited in their ability to capture fine detail.

However, at a certain point your form is mostly stable (doesn’t need to be changed often), at which point tools like ZRemesher and Dynamesh become less useful. It can then be useful to use ZRemesher to create a new low poly base mesh with clean topology, that can be subdivided for the purpose of creating high res surface detail, posing, painting, UV unwrapping, and texture creation and export.

It can also be useful at this time, depending on your needs, to consolidate the mesh, fusing sections together and removing overlapping geometry. The more efficient your mesh is, the higher it can be subdivided, and the higher detail potential it can achieve. Redundant geometry that doesn’t contribute to your surface resolution only serves to inflate the polycount towards your system limit.

It may be necessary to use detail projection to project the detail from the previous version of your mesh onto the new multi-res version, using one of the various methods.

:slightly_smiling_face:

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