ZBrushCentral

Can you merge ztools in a scene and keep subtools..?

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

Is it possible to have multiple character ztools, each with multiple subtools, in a scene? I tried multiappend under subtool master, but it appends subsequent ztools as single meshes, without their subtools… if so, can you also use transpose master on each individually to pose them…?

#2

If you use SubTool Master to MultiAppend a ZTL from disk then all the subtools should be appended. You would then have a single ZTL with all the subtools from both characters. You could use Transpose Master to pose them either all together or separately. For separately you’d have to make sure only the subtools you wanted to pose were visible. It would also be important that all subtools had unique names.

#3

Thanks for the reply, I think I have it figured out… if I tpose all the characters, I can mask them off and move them roughly into the position I want, then tpose/subt to get their subtools back… then, mask a subtool to pose it… but now I do notice that my characters’ symmetry is totally gone… is there an easy way to fix that? Posable symmetry doesn’t work… neither do smart resym or resym.

#4

Try turning on Local Symmetry in the Transform palette.

#5

turning on local symmetry only worked when I changed the axis of my symmetry from “x” to “z”… which i guess makes sense, since the ztool i’m working on is not standing. It’s still off a little, but better than no symmetry at all…

#6

Can mannequins be used to pose ztools, or are they just for compositional layout and reference?

#7

Not directly, but you can copy the zsphere setup like this:

  1. Load the mannequin you want to use and put in Edit mode.
  2. Press the Transpose Master>StoreTM Rig button. This will copy the mannequin zsphere arrangement.
  3. Load the model you want to pose. If it has subtools, turn on the Transpose Master>ZSphere Rig button and then press the TposeMesh button. If it doesn’t have subtools, set up your mode for zsphere rigging with a single zsphere.
  4. Press the Transpose Master>PasteTM Rig button. This will paste the stored zsphere arrangement.
  5. If the rig is the wrong size use Tool>Deformation>Size to adjust the scale before moving the limbs to correspond with your model. Then bind the rig and pose your model.