Hey, I’m interested in knowing how this was done.
yeah! retopology is the key to lots of stuff in zbrush.
i never did hands before… so ill have to try myself for the first time... but one things for sure: i`ll use retopo!! great tool!!
chem!
Good job!
Keep going buddy!
EDIT:
I AM VERY INTERESTED IN KNOWING HOW YOU DID THIS!!! 
How did you avoid the holes in mesh, wich often happen while retoplogizing
thin objects like fingers?
Hi Slosh, I have been trying to work with Zspheres to make hands with five fingers but haven’t had much success with it. In fact ,there is a lot of discussion within ZBC over Zspheres and making hands using them. I haven’t been able to pull out five fingers( Zspheres ) out of one Zsphere ( palm ). the ZSphere which is a cube needs to have more quads on its side in order to add fingers to it without the mesh becoming jumbled up. There is a plugin designed specifically to adjust the polygon distribution on a ZSphere such that it allows branching into more Zspheres. How you have done this amazes me, unless you used some kind of plugin. I would be grateful if you could elaborate on your technique or post a zscript for a better understanding of the same. thanks and waiting.
Hi to everyone who responded to the hand business. To be honest, I’ve tried and tried to do hands in the past, with the same frustrating results as the rest of you. This was originally intended to be a unified skin that I was going to then retopologize. But the resulting number of polys and their distribution was daunting to me in the retopo (it’s hard to get between the fingers, etc.) So, just for the heck of it, I hit “adaptive skin” and made a few adjustments in the membrane and I-res settings, plus turned on MC (minimal skin to child). The result was a surprise and a happy accident.
Anyway, I will recreate this entire process with zscript recording. If it works out properly, I will post the script later today.
I’ve done this only a couple of times before, also happy accidents, on full body models (my Cruella Deville, for one), but couldn’t remember how. Anyway, I’ll give it a try. No plug-ins were used (although I know which one maverick is referring to). As for the fingertip holes in retopo, you will see in the script that I used the existing mesh in retopo and simply deleted and moved only a few key points. So the finger mesh was already present. Also, setting the “Max Strip Length” to 16 helps fill in the gaps.
Slosh,
Thanks for the honesty in your last post :lol: . I was beginning to think everyone but me could get ZSphere hands to magically turn out 
! Your approach makes loads of sense to me. Formally, I’d just make a hand in Lightwave and just bring it into ZB so I would have enough polys for the knuckles and nails not to mention the skin between the thumb and the palm. Bottom line, your tips, scripts and tutes are a real boon to the community .
OK, I decided that, since my original mesh was created 3 weeks ago, and I didn’t document steps, that I would make a new mesh. This one is not highly detailed because the body will be covered in clothing in each case. When I do Frankie, I will of course add more details because he will be scantily clad.
I modeled it with the mouth open because all the monsters will have their mouths open. Each one will get much further head modeling as needed for each monster. So, this is quite, quite basic right now. I’ve saved the zsphere model and the original adaptive skin, to be posted later.
Now on with the fun parts! I think I will start with Dracula, since he is the star of this show.
any luck with the hands script? don’t worry if you’re busy with this project, we obviously don’t wanna distract you from this.
I’ve messed around allot trying to get it to “accidentally work”, not perfect results so far.
Anyways, when the deadline for the comp has passed perhaps we can slug out how to get it to make a nice meshed hand, eh?
The hand looks nice, but why making a hand with ZSpheres first and make a new retopology after it. Looking at the easy shape of a hand, there is a faster way to make a hand by blockmodeling with ZB or another program using the extrude tool. Making a new retopology is not something new in 3d world, but working backwards seems to bring a lot of ‘open mouthts’ these days. If you know how a hand looks like, you could make a base-mesh easy and bring it to ZB, or make it in ZB if there were better sculptingtools.
That’s very true. But, you’ve got to remember ZB3 might be the only 3D program that some people own, and while box modeling with ZB3 is not hard, new users tend to start out with ZSpheres. And, a few weirdos, like myself, find it interesting to make the hands from ZSpheres just because you can 
.
while box modeling with ZB3 is not hard
I’m a new Zbrush user… I like to box model in other software, but didn’t know you could do it in Z…
So, how do you?? (is the process outlined in the wiki, or other documentation?)
Thanks
@Nate & Hyper, I am just a stupid Mac-user and I am still waiting how to use ZB3. This because we are F@** and demanded to use a F** windows-computer to use ZB. But in ZB2 I moved the polygons in the directions I wanted and made an edgeloop. Do it by hiding the other polygons and use the move-tool to move the polygons into the direction you want. Press the edgeloop tool and you extrude a plane. Just a lot of work to extrude something… Just use ZB to make the details and learn how to use other programs to make the base-mesh. Wait for the moment ZB will be an adult program with adult programmers who can bla, bla, bla also for other systems.
Take care, this thread will be closed and i will be kicked (like the first moment of ZB3) from the forum. Grrrrrr.
Good points all around, guys. I made the hand and retopo’d it, but in my full figure, I did not bother with the retopo. As Baz said, it’s not really necessary to do that. I think the hand I ended up with will suit this project just fine. As for making it in another app and bringing it into zbrush, I am trying to do the entire project in ZBrush. Thought it might increase my chances for a win if I can demonstrate as many ZBrush functions as possible. Maybe not, but it can’t hurt, right?
Dustbin…I forgot about the hand script. I will work on it soon, I promise. I won’t wait until after the contest…it’s not too difficult and I should be able to do it in an hour or two (with notations in the script).
That is what I usually do. Didn’t know about the method you mention.
Might I sagest we open this discussion on hands up to the main ZBrush forum and then keep this thread focused on Brian’s work? I think he would prefer that?
Thanks for looking out for me, dustbin…I don’t mind the discussion in this thread, though. However, when I record the script, I will post it in the general forum, because I think future searchers might find it easier that way. Thanks for the suggestion.
Anyway, I am having some troubles working out this concept and designing the costumes. I’ve had some new thoughts and would appreciate some feedback:
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Wolfman’s costume might be a cheerleader instead of a bunny. Thought it might be funnier to have him in pigtails, and the sweater will keep me from having to do so much fur.
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Also thought of another image concept: A kid (or two) is standing outside of Dr. Jekyll’s house, preparing to throw eggs and toilet paper (always a Halloween prankster somewhere, isn’t there?). A shadow falls across them and they realize that Mr. Hyde is looming behind them, arms crossed and looking angry.
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A little girl has somehow managed to trap the werewolf and is playing dress-up with him. She has him dressed in a fairy princess costume and is standing behind him, putting bows in his hair.
I love the idea! 
Edit: Ideas!
OK, I still am not sure if I will go with my original idea, or one of the other two. But I did start the wolfman today. Here is the main sculpt, more details to follow, but my arm is tired from mousing…
This was made from the same zsphere rig as my previous full model (not the one in the first image), except that I added some spheres in the arms and took out the nose, moving the chin upward for a snout. Anyway, this wolf might look good in the little girl tea-party/dress-up image. I might go for that one, I think. The rules didn’t say it has to occur at Halloween, just that a monster should be in a funny situation.
Please give me some feedback…should I change my entry to the tea party? I think 3 monsters and costumes might be too ambitious for me, especially since I have trouble recreating things once I’ve done them…most of the time I am operating on pure luck. 
Also, any suggestions on this wolf would be appreciated. Thanks!!!
the wolf seems pretty ok but i cant really see it in this perspective. i also think u should give him some big lumps of muscles. theres a reason why the clothes burst apart in the transformation. waiting for more!