ZBrushCentral

ShadowBox - (answered)

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

After making a shape using ShadowBox
Make PM3D

Masked > Move
This stretches the mesh to the desired shape but the polygons are not evenly spaced.

I want to keep the mesh hard edged.
What is the procedure to get the stretched polygons to have to evenly spaced quads?

Attachments

ZB4_UniformQuads.jpg

#2

Hi sadicus i was playing with other mesh to test your point …of course not sure… but the lenght of the transpose tool and also the circle you use to move the poly (probably?) is modifiyng the space and get the distortion you show
quads.jpg

#3

I don’t think there is an easy way in Zbrush to fix this and get the results your after. You could retopologize, but I don’t think that is an easy way. You could use ‘Equalize Surface Area’ in the Geometry submenu, but that won’t give the results your expecting either. Personally, if that was the shape I wanted to end up with, I would have done it like that right from the start in Shadowbox. If I absolutely had no choice and had to fix it, then I would export it and add edge loops in another app then import it back into Zbrush.

#4

You could try creating the mask half way between the bit you want move and the bit you don’t want to move, then blur the mask a few times then try the move.

#5

I was trying all kinds of ZB4 settings, but to get the result I edge looped in another app.

This was done on purpose to try and have a workaround in case something like this comes up when it’s too late to start over. Thanks for the suggestions, I’ll try them out.

#6

You can do it this way:

  1. Hold Shift+Ctrl and select the Lasso selection brush.
  2. Shift+Ctrl click on one of the edges of the loop you want to add quads to. Just the loop will be hidden.
  3. Shift+Ctrl+drag the background. This will reverse the mesh visibility so that now just the loop will be visible.
  4. Press Tool>Geometry>Edge Loop.
  5. Shift+Ctrl+click the background to show the whole mesh.

Repeat 1 - 5 as necessary.

#7

Thanks Marcus, thats good to know! Even though it doesn’t add evenly spaced loops, it’s still better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick and is definately going in my personal ZBrush Tips and Tricks file.

#8

There’s another method that can be useful if it is essential to have the loops spaced as evenly as possible but there must be no subdivision levels. This example uses a cube:

[attach=220401]Edgeloop2.jpg[/attach]

  1. With perspective off, position the model in one of the ortho views and snapshot to the canvas (Shift+S). Hold Shift+Ctrl and drag the green rectangle over a portion of the mesh. This will hide the rest of the mesh although you won’t see this because of the snapshot.

  2. Using the Tool>Deformation>Offset slider move the mesh portion so that it is just one polygon loop to the right.

  3. Press the Tool>Geometry>Edgeloop button. A new loop is created.

Repeat 2 & 3 as necessary.

The snapshot is only used so that the distance can be judged - it isn’t part of the process.

For more complex shapes you can use the Lasso selection. Snapshot after hiding the part you are going to offset, then reverse the visibility by Shift+Ctrl+drag background.

[attach=220402]dog_edgeloop.jpg[/attach]

Attachments

Edgeloop2.jpg

dog_edgeloop.jpg

#9

Thanks again for taking the time to do this Marcus. Much appreciated. :+1:

#10

Good stuff :slight_smile: !

#11

That is great! thanks for the tutorial!