hello, i was messing around with posing, and i couldnt work out how to mask select along a arm, ofcourse i could just paint it in, but there are some occasions where its difficult to select the area you want.
is there some way to select a mask along the topology work flow.
if you do not know what i mean, then please tell me.
Switch to TransPose by pressing W. While in that mode, masking operates by topology.
thats not what i mean exactly, im talking about selection not the tools to manipulate your selection.
if you have a closed fist, and you wish to select one finger to transpose, then its impossible to select the finger using the masking tool. what im asking is if there is a way to select the finger? perhaps, by masking the tip of the finger and the pressing some key so the selection automatically moves up along the finger??
thanks for your help.
This frustration you have with masking I can emphathise with. I think the masking in ZB needs a lot of work to improve it. I find it particularly challenging with the non-organic forms I have to create on a daily basis!
The tool you are talking about I think is called “Grow” in 3DS Max Edit Poly, and Maya has something similar. This would greatly improve ZBrush by having this.
Sometimes it is very painstaking masking areas in ZB, I usually hide areas of the mesh at low level, then go up to high, fill with mask then unhide again. The problem is the hiding of the faces is tricky as there’s no backface cull when it does it, also often it misses the face you want to hide. It would be nice if there was an option to toggle hide faces by touch as well as hide faces by surround, with your marque.
Also being able to have greater than 1024x1024 mask map. while on that subject, there is bleeding when you load a mask map back into ZB, even with well laid out UVs, rendering this method useless in my experience. I don’t save masks out anymore, it’s a waste of time, as with the cleanup you might as well re-select the mesh…
Lastly, even if you select a constant mask, there is still ghosting and faint masking in areas you didnt select! This requires cleanup, eating into production time!
Lets hope for ZB 3.5…or 4…
i did some intense googling, and i came across this video
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=SB9-jNuz8zg&feature=PlayList&p=4C847983C1F57C3A&index=0&playnext=1
it shows exactly what i wanted, and i hope it helps trackZ aswell.
That video is EXACTLY what Aurick was describing in his post - once you go into transpose mode you can use the masks and views to select an item by its topology.
Increasing or decreasing the subdivision level and ctl-/ctl-alt-clicking the mask will also increase/decrease the edge sharpness of the mask, if you have enough subdivisions.
If needed please correct me Aurick…but generally speaking, large transposes should be done on low subdivision setting and fine transposes should be done on higher subdivision setting.
You could also mask the finger you want to transpose with lasso, the standard box, or brushes, invert the mask, then go to Transpose mode and then use transpose line/controls to rotate, scale, move, etc, with as much detail/fidelity as your poly count allows.
ZBrush is actually excellent at doing masks. With all due respect…it sounds like the detail of your question was what came up a bit short.
I don’t agree with you at all. ZBrush masking is like the freemasons magic handshake and doesn’t suit me at all - and I use it for a living. I hope 3.5 or 4 improves these tools.