ZBrushCentral

Need help with mesh extraction.

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

I am in the process of trying to make some clothing for a figure, and I am having trouble sculpting on the mesh extraction it is not letting me modify the mesh at all after extraction even after adding multiple levels of division the is the process I have been following to get the mesh.


  • Import figure V4 from Daz3D
  • Mask shirt area
  • On the sub tool menu I select mesh extraction
  • Then I hide the V4 figure so I can begin to sculpt in detail for the shirt
Can someone please let me know if there is something else that I need to do or forgetting to do. Also I would include a screen shot but I don’t know how to do that. Please don’t laugh but I click on the camera button in the menu but nothing happens.

Thank You in advance.
James

#2

After you do an extraction, your mask is still active. Go to Masking submenu and click Clear or Ctrl+Shift+A

#3

The mask is clear but I still have problem. Do I need to make the original model a polymesh and subdivide before masking the model has only 18,000 points?

Thanks
James

#4

I should have also mentioned that you can hold down Ctrl plus LMB click and drag on an empty spot on the canvas and that will clear the mask also.

Camera button?..what Camera button? Which menu?

#5

Its actually called snapshot its in the transform menu sorry I kinda new to ZBrush

Thanks

#6

If you import an obj., it automatically becomes a sculptable polymesh. You don’t have to make it a Polymesh 3D.

Here is a step by step procedure for what you want to do.

  1. Import the V4 obj. and place it on the canvas and click ‘Edit’ button.
  2. Depending on how fine your mesh is to begin with, you may want to subdivide it a couple of times. Keep in mind that the subdivision level that you extract at will be the lowest subdivision level of the extraction so if you extract when the mesh is on a high subd. level, you wont be able to lower the level on the extracted object.
  3. Put your mesh on subd. level 2 or 3. (Eventually, with experimentation, you will figure out what the best level to extract on will be.)
  4. Paint your mask then click ‘Extract’. You will now have 2 subtools, the main and your extraction. Mouse over the 2 subtools in the subtool palette and you will get a bigger picture. You will see the mask on both subtools. Note that if you mouse over the extracted subtool in the subtool palette after you clear the mask, it might still show the mask. Just click on the subtool again to refresh it and the mask won’t be visible.
  5. Click on the extracted subtool to make it active. Hold down Ctrl key plus LMB click and drag on empty part of canvas to clear the mask.

You will now be able to sculpt on your extracted shirt.

Saving a screen shot

If you press the ‘Prt Scr’ (usually right above Backspace key) key on your keyboard, it will place an image of your desktop in the clipboard at which point you can just Paste into your 2D app. and edit it further there if you want.

PS: While in ZBrush, if you press Ctrl key while your mouse cursor is over a button, it will give you a description of what the button is for.

#7

Thanks it is working now is there a manual or tutorial that goes step by step for each tool because that would be of great help to us newbies Im a traditional pencil and paper man and have in the last year started into the 3D world. I seem to spend more time in tutorials than in the programs but they help.

Thanks Again
James

#8

Your welcome!

There is the Pixologic Wiki. It needs updating but there is still a lot of useful information to be gotten from it.

Also check out this link from cannedmushrooms.