Hello,
I was following the Subtool Hair Sculpting Tutorial found at the following link.
I found it useful but when I get to the “Adding Strands with ZSpheres” section I cannot fully follow it. When it says to “Convert to Main” under “Topology” I do not see it on my version of Zbrush, 4.0. Is this a feature that is no longer part of Zbrush? If so is there a way to paint Zspheres onto a mesh’s surface as was being stated in the tutorial?
Tht’s a really old tutorial. Might even be from ZBrush 2.
Just Append a ZSphere to the tool , select the ZSphere and start drawing on the surface of the tool.
zber. 3 is that tutorial. It also is using rapid UI and zspheres are always a dead give away.
*Deleted post due to duplicate, but didn’t show up till 2hrs later.
@goast…what was rapid UI anyway? I started at 3.1 and I googled and saw they did away with that in 3.1.
sorry to hijack your thred Serihon.
Hey zber, thanks for the input. I didn’t realize you could use normal zspheres to follow the surface of a tool. Thanks!
Question though, is it possible to subdivide the mesh from zspheres? If so how do you do so? I have been using the “Make PolyMesh 3D” to make a new tool and then delete the old tool and append the new one.
Thanks again!
In the Tool menu, you will see a submenu called Adaptive Skin. When you press the A key or press Preview button, you will preview the skin of the ZSphere chain. If you want a smoother, more flowing skin then you would turn on “Use Classic Skinning” which is also in Adaptive Skin submenu. When you are satisfied with the skin then you would click “Make Adaptive Skin”. This will put a new skinned tool in your Tool palette and the name will look something like Skin_ZSphere_1. Click on this new tool to put it on the canvas, then click “Make Polymesh 3D”, then you can subdivide it and sculpt on it.
Hey Zber, thanks again for the helpful reply. No worries about hijacking my thread, I dont mind. :lol:
Anywho, your suggestion of using classic skinning is exactly what I was after. It appears when using classic skin and changing the density it should work fine and making it an adaptive skin shouldn’t be necessary. In this manner you can keep the zsphere base and thus the ability to move the mesh around easily, correct? Well that is how it seems to me at this moment.
Thanks again!
the rapid UI was a set up for 3.0 that had some good points and some bad. Gave quick access to different brushes and some settings within them on a single bar. I prefer the new method over the rapid UI. I’m guessing the peeps at pixologic felt the same way, hence, the no more rapid UI.
At some point you will have to commit and make it a polymesh 3D though, if you want to sculpt and paint on it. Don’t sculpt on the skin. If you make a shape you want then click Make Adaptive Skin which will put that skin in your Tool palette that you can make a Polymesh3d and sculpt and paint, but don’t forget that your Zsphere chain is still there and you can change the shape again then Make Adaptive Skin again etc. Also, don’t forget that you want to maintain a low subdivision level to start with so upping the skin density is not a good idea. You can subdivide it more after it’s a Polymesh3D. I can see the road you are going down and I wouldn’t advise it.
Thanks goast!
You don’t have to make a pm3D if you make an adaptive skin or a unified skin. Doing either of those operations is the same thing. pm3d is for basic start up 3D meshes inside of Zbrush. It removes the mathematical creation method and turns it into pure point data, which can then be manipulated inside of zbrush.
I will have to play around with what you are suggesting above as I am not sure I totally understand it. Are you saying that the Zsphere chain will still be there as a separate tool that you can rig the Polymesh3d’d tool too to change it? Or are you saying that the Zsphere chain will still be part of the adaptive skin? When I made the Polymesh3d’d tool I lost the Zsphere chain to modify how it is positioned.
Hm. I would be interested in hearing what road you see me going down that is inadvisable so that I may avoid it. I believe though that you may be referring me over subdividing a mesh and then trying to sculpt basic features on that? If I am mistaken as to what you were referring too I would definitely appreciate redirection onto a more proper course. 
Thanks again for your help!
Originally posted by Serihon
It appears when using classic skin and changing the density it should work fine and making it an adaptive skin shouldn’t be necessary
This is what I was referring to. To put it simply, don’t make a high density preview then click “Make Polymesh3D” because you can’t lower your subdivision levels after you do that. Not only that, but you will find that you will run into more troubles further down the road if you leave it as you suggested.
Originally posted by Serihon
In this manner you can keep the zsphere base and thus the ability to move the mesh around easily, correct? Well that is how it seems to me at this moment.
Are you saying that the Zsphere chain will still be there as a separate tool that you can rig the Polymesh3d’d tool too to change it? Or are you saying that the Zsphere chain will still be part of the adaptive skin?
You don’t lose the ability to continue editing your ZSpheres when you Make Adaptive Skin. It merely places an editable skin in your Tool palette (like I mentioned in Posts #8 and #12), then you can carry on with your ZSphere chain. goast666 was right though, you don’t have to make the editable skin a Polymesh3D. Even if you click on the editable skin and put it on the canvas, your ZSphere chain is still in the Tool palette and all you have to do is click on that to put it back on the canvas. Sorry, but I don’t know how to be any clearer than that.
I am merely making suggestions, you are however free to pursue any method you wish.
Originally posted by goast666 in Post#4
and zspheres are always a dead give away
goast, could you please explain that. I’m not quite sure what you meant by it. Always a dead give away to what?
Many thanks goast and zber for yalls help with this. I believe I have a better understanding of how to approach using zspheres and adaptive skin now and will apply it the next chance I get.
Zber, I am always open to suggestions as I admit that I know very little and am always open to learning more. I hope you do not feel I was trying to snuff your suggestions with any comments I made, if so then I apologize as that was not my intent. I enjoy learning how other people work as it may help me work better in turn and avoid the road that I should not travel down. 
I am also curious to hear what goast meant when he said…
zspheres are a dead give away to what version of zbrush is being used in that tutorial. It couldn’t be in 2 because zspheres weren’t around until 3. It also couldn’t be 3.1 because the rapid UI was only in 3.0.
Anyway, I was just commenting when you said it was zbrush 2. it doesn’t really matter since that version is what? 6, or 7 years old now I think (could be wrong on the numbers though).
goast…have a look at this. Granted, your probably right about it being 3 though, because the ZSpheres are the new color in the tutorial.