ZBrushCentral

Methods of 2D Sketching in ZBrush (UPDATE: new setup script)

ZBrush Artworks
#1

Hi everyone,

This is an example of 2D sketching in ZBrush.

In this example, I captured a rough texture from a bump material, and turned it into a Stencil. I turned the stencil invisible and used it as a “paper texture” for the sketch. I used a medium color for the ‘paper’, and used black at low RGB intensity to sketch, white to highlight, and the medium background color at high RGB intensity to erase. The stencil gave an interesting multicolored texture effect sometimes. With a helper script, I think sketching like this in ZBrush could be very fast and easy.

:ex: I invite anyone to post sketching tips or experiments on this thread. :slight_smile:

#2

that looks Good :+1: top Bolt 2D bottom Bolt 3D. used (Plane 3D) With Texture Master http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/zbc_uploads/user_image-1035360691fxl.jpg

#3

But that’s not ‘sketching’ EZ!

My Pig -

#4

An interesting technique to say the least. What about using it to create drawing and paint styles such as charcoal, watercolr, pastel, etc?

#5

i can’t free hand very well :confused:

#6

hey Jay !!! great tip’s !!! I like it! :+1: :+1:

#7

Beautiful Sketches!! :eek: Hey jay, can you post a zrb file or the alpha for the stencil or something. This is a very cool technique and I would like to try it though I cant understand it at the moment. A tut would be better but whatever time will allow. Thanks a ton!!

#8

Mentat: Thanks; Yes, that is the kind of thing I am thinking of. A series of techniques that allow an artist to produce sketches that appear to be pencil, charcoal, etc. These techniques could be made easier to use with a script that assists in the selection of brushes, etc. Concept sketches could be created within ZBrush for ZBrush projects.

I started out trying to create a pencil sketch look, but my first drawing has more of a charcoal or conte crayon appearance.

Mahlikus & Fouad: Thanks.

Here is a more charcoal-like sketch. The texture created by the stencil is much ‘finer’ in this picture:

[img]http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/zbc_uploads/user_image-1035565432tsh.jpg[/img]

  1. With material set to Noise Bump (51), (EDIT: default white works pretty good as well.) and color at a mid grey, create a plane that fills the layer.

  2. Use the MRGB grabber to get this ‘texture’.

  3. There may be a better way to create the alpha with a different process, but for now I just use the Create Alpha button in the texture panel. This creates a better alpha than the MRGB does by itself… (EDIT) …in this particular example. (/EDIT)

  4. Clear the layer and fill with the desired paper color.

(EDIT)
4b. The texture selected earlier should be deselected.

4c. Bake the layer.
(/EDIT)

  1. Turn on the stencil.

  2. Before the new stencil is created, adjust Blur in the Alpha palette to suit. Negative blur can have a beneficial effect on the original texture.

  3. Press the Make Stencil button in the Alpha Palette, and select the Actual button. The ‘paper texture’ stencil should fill the layer. You may want to invert it for a different effect.

  4. Deselect the Show button in the Stencil palette to hide the stencil overlay.

  5. Select the desired drawing Alpha. For the above picture, I used Brush 03.

  6. Select the Simple Brush tool.

(EDIT)
11. Select the Freehand Stroke.
(/EDIT)

  1. The Material I used was the flat shader.

  2. Draw sizes of 3 to 24 were used the most in the picture above, but large areas can be quickly shaded with much larger brush sizes.

  3. Set the Draw palette to RGB only, and ZAdd and ZSub OFF.

  4. I use an RGB intensity of about 10, more or less, for both shading and highlights. However, there is one time to switch to RGB intensity of 90-100, and that is when erasing. Select your background color more quickly by moving your cursor to an open area and pressing ‘C’. Then set intensity to 90-100. Now you can ‘erase’ back to the base paper color. Low RGB intensities while erasing can give you an ‘incompletely erased’ look, which may be desirable sometimes.

  5. Only 3 color settings were used in the drawing above: the ‘paper’ color, solid black, and solid white.

NOTE: The above was done with a plain mouse. The previous two drawings above where done with a pen and tablet, which gives better control in certain ways, but the mouse can still work very well with this technique, I think.

(EDIT)
I have included a setup script that also includes a short demonstration that can also be played as an option after the setup is complete. I hope to add notes throughout the script soon.

SketchSetup.zip

Here is a 1.23b version:

SketchSetup123b.zip

Unfortunately, the demo part only partially works, and I will have to do something in 1.23b and add that onto this script.

(/EDIT)

#9

Very well done and useful too :ex: Thanks for sharing these techniques. I know I will make use of them.
DeeVee,
Joe.

#10

if i was a sketch artist this would come in hand… thanks for the tip.

#11

Hey, nice pics - that’s a very effective and clever technique! Now if only I could do decent freehand sketching… :+1: :wink: :+1:

#12

Super Technique Jaycephus! Thanks for the step by step. Now we just have to get EZ to make a script for this. :wink:

#13

I’m just taking my lunch now at work, and I am working on a ‘Sketch Setup’ script. Just in case anyone else thought of working on a similar script. I still have ideas for a more advanced ‘Sketch Palette’ script, especially with the examples available from Ken B and Kaz-g. :slight_smile:

#14

Here is a Setup script for Charcoal Sketching. This is the same file used in the previous post above. It is not a different version. It includes a short demonstration that can also be played as an option after the setup is complete. I hope to add notes throughout the script soon.

SketchSetup.zip

Here is a 1.23b version:

SketchSetup123b.zip

Unfortunately, the demo part only partially works, and I will have to do something in 1.23b and add that onto this script.

#15

thx for you sharing !! :slight_smile:
nice technique :+1:

#16

You’re welcome, Fouad.

:qu: Anyone: I thought about a way to create a custom colored paper and use a duplicate to 'erase back to' with the cloner brush. Is there a way to use the cloner brush to erase at a given spot on one layer and reveal the same spot on a second layer?

The problem I ran into trying this was that the second layer would be cloned to the first, but the top-left corner of the second layer would become the starting point for the clone. Therefore, the ‘background’ layer can only be used to ‘erase’ from the foreground layer if you are careful to start your stroke at the top-left corner of the foreground layer.

Here is a script to demonstrate my ‘problem’:

SketchClone_Jay.zip

#17

Hi Jay
Your script Sketchsetup don’t work on the 1.23B !
The loading is a “real” loading text :slight_smile:
Some adjustment should be neccessary for mix the new and old version :slight_smile:
Pilou

#18

Hi Jay,

Your script works well for me and is fun to use. It’s a great script and I enjoy this kind of sketching.

I made a script a while ago that shows a technique for blending two different layers with the cloner brush. It’s very longwinded and uses a bad visual example, but near the end it shows some things about two layers and the cloner brush like you were asking about. Maybe it will help you. :slight_smile:

layerblending.txt

#19

This is great Jay! If you come up with variations on this technique be sure to post them.

#20

Zoid: I’ll be checking into your script, but I was at Six Flags over Texas all day today riding the Titan.

I did sort of fix the script for 1.23b users. Unfortunately, there is a problem that appears to be unfixable by simply editing the recording. I will have to do a different demonstration recording in 1.23b.

Here is the 1.23b version:

SketchSetup123b.zip