ZBrushCentral

C4D - ZBRUSH // prepping mesh for animation

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

hi everyone,

first of all i want to let you know that i am kind of new to advanced modeling and character animation so please be easy on me :slight_smile:

also. i am not a native english speaker. please excuse any spelling mistakes.

i just want to ask the more experienced users out there some basic questions concerning the workflow to avoid redoing my zbrush work over and over again.

  1. the basic mesh

from studying this forum and reading the zbrush c4d workflow documentation i learnt that i should create a low poly model. then make the edge cuts on the bending parts like the knee, elbow, fingers, neck, etc.

anything i need to care of? any advise in general to this issue?

  1. facial expressions.

i plan on animating the face entirely with morph tags. is that a technique you guys can recommend when using zbrush? in particular i am worried about the eyelid and the mouth.

will the displacment and normal map from zbrush deal with such a deformation?

for demonstration i quickly created a screenshot of the closed and open eyelid.

low poly screenshot
hypernurb poly screenshot (just for previewing) i am not using hypernurbs of course

i would be grateful for any recommendations, hints and tips.

thanks a lot
best
flo

#2

Deformations, such as open and closing an eye or mouth are typically done by bones (or bone systems) or by morph targets (which I think are your morph tags). The morph targets can be prepared in Zbrush and then linked to a slider.

I have done it both ways. Morphs are generally easier; “fan-bone” systems are often a little more realistic.

Cactus Dan (C4D plugin developer) has done some stuff with eyelid rigs: http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=112744

Take a look at Jason Osipa’s book for some hints on facial animation technique. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0471789208/

-K

#3

thanks a lot kerwin!

great forum!!!

#4

This tut

http://library.creativecow.net/articles/hauth_sven/sun.php

is about bone systems in C4D, just to give you contrast. Posemixing (e.g. using mophs is usually easier for beginners. (Doing bones in faces often requires more tweaking of bone strength-maps to give precision emulation of facial muscles . . .)