ZBrushCentral

How to animate Zsphere rig? (answered)

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

So I have my zsphere rig binded to my mesh, and when I pose it and preview adaptive everything is good. But I saw in a video where you can actually animate using this method. How can you do that? Do you store a morph target or use layers with the timeline or what?

It’s great for posing my char but I would love to see some transitions in the timeline using a zsphere rig.
(just fyi I made the zsphere skelly after I sculpted the model)

So is this possible?

Link to vid:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVDgfIl0i0c

#2

Okay figured it out,
Movie -> timeline tracks -> zsphere
Then create a new layer for the rig as well as the adaptive and it should animate.

Now to my next question, Is it possible to export this for smoother playback? :eek:

EDIT: Well blendshapes in maya sure do work, just goZ out each mesh. I’m not sure if this is reasonable to actually animate with, seems more like a claymation procedure, but for pre-viz stuff its freaking sweet if you wanna skip the retopo / weighting process.

If anyone else has experience with this workflow or if you have used zspheres for animating please let me know how its working for you!

#3

The ZSphere track of the Timeline is simply for switching the skin preview on or off. To animate zspheres use the 3D layers track (in zsphere not preview mode).

You can export a timeline animation as a MDD file. I don’t know whether that can be used by Maya. Using blendshapes won’t work for all situations because there won’t be proper rotation (each vertex will move in a straight line instead of an arc).

#4

Thanks for that, good to know! Found the magic MDD button!

Question- When using this method though, must you create a new layer everytime you move another zsphere? I’m not sure how to directly control the z rig with the timeline, only by using layers.

Also, guess im gonna have to buy Point Oven for maya, unless another software can read mdd?

#5

This project file shows you how to animate zspheres (it’s very basic!).

I’m afraid I don’t know what software handles MDD files.

#6

Thanks again! So I guess it Is like I mentioned before, you must create a new layer for each new movement. I’ll let you know how the results are with mdd.

Now if I could only find something besides point oven to get around this. Ahhh why can’t they at least offer a trial! Maybe mdd -> LW -> obj sequence exporter mmmm if anyone has a suggestion please tell

#7

Heyy Marcus if you’re still here, do you think animating with zsphere rigs is actually practical? I mean should I invest in point oven? From what I have seen so far, you really can fully animate within zbrush, although you are somewhat limited. I will just take any route I can to get past retopo / weighting / rigging a new character every week in Maya.
(I’m doing strictly video no game engine work)

#8

You’ll have to experiment to see if ZBrush will do what you want. I wouldn’t spend money on more software until you’re sure that you need it. I can’t advise beyond that as I have only scratched the surface of what’s possible.

For exporting MDD, click the Movie>Timeline>ExportName button to set the output name, then Ctrl+Shift+click the Timeline cursor to record the movie. The MDD will be exported at the end.