Possibly basic question- topography

[system]

Hello,

I am a master student of sculpture, but who has no experience with 3D programs, but have recently reached a problem in my work which I think can be solved with zbrush, though I haven’t been able to find out how to do it.

I have downloaded a sample 3d scan of a bust, and opened it in Zbrush. What I need is a clear z axis topography, which would show depth by color in a 3d model, similar to the way topographic maps work. I’ll keep playing around with the program, but if someone could guide me in the right direction, I’d very much appreciate it!

Josef

[nstine]

Hello,

I am a master student of sculpture, but who has no experience with 3D programs, but have recently reached a problem in my work which I think can be solved with zbrush, though I haven’t been able to find out how to do it.

I have downloaded a sample 3d scan of a bust, and opened it in Zbrush. What I need is a clear z axis topography, which would show depth by color in a 3d model, similar to the way topographic maps work. I’ll keep playing around with the program, but if someone could guide me in the right direction, I’d very much appreciate it!

Josef

I believe what you are referring to is called zdepth in zbrush. Correct me if I’m wrong but you want something like the bottom half of the image on post 3 of this thread: http://www.zbrushcentral.com/showthread.php?69857-Zdepth-Grabdoc-not-working!-HELP!

To do this all you need to do is:

1. Load zbrush
2. Change the document size to the size that you want your image to be at(for large images you may need to use the zoom document button on the mid to upper right half of the screen so that you can see the entire image at once)
3. Load in your model and press T to enter edit mode and rotate/position your model the way you’d like (turn on or off perspective by pressing P depending on what you need)
4. Under the Alpha menu -> Tansfer click GrabDoc
5. Hit Export and save it out. By default it should be a 16bit greyscale image.

[system]

thanks for the answer, nstine!

What you wrote is close to what I want, except I would like to have visible lines showing depth/z axis. So while the greyscale object does show depth, it doesn’t show any exact parameters. I have tried approximating this by rotating the bust 90 degrees, drawing thin, parallel lines, and then rotating back. This shows some sort of topography, but it’s not exactly an elegant solution.