My own 2 cents:
There are several very specific reasons why things are the way that they are in ZBrush. First off, ZBrush doesn’t behave like a 3D animation program because it’s NOT a 3D animation program. It’s a 2.5D paint program – bridging the gap between 2D and 3D with properties common to both and others that are unique to ZBrush.
Here’s the catch: when an object is snapshot, it no longer is made up of polygons. Instead, it is turned completely into “pixols” – these smart pixels record not only the color, but also material, depth, orientation, etc. This allows several interesting things to happen. First off, it allows ZBrush to operate in true real time rendering without you having to have some kind of supercomputer. Once an object is snapshot to the canvas, ZBrush no longer has to worry very much about the hidden faces. All it cares about is making what’s visible look as good as possible. The second advantage is that once the object has become pixols, you can now use all of the other 2D and 2.5D tools to paint more detail into your scene.
It’s these additional tools that give ZBrush scenes such amazing quality compared to other 3D programs. The rest rely on textures and lighting because if something doesn’t have geometry in a 3D app, it doesn’t exist. What ZBrush does is to allow you to take the scene even further, painting additional detail into the scene like a 2D program but doing so with the depth of a 3D program.
All of which brings us back to the fundamental hurdle; the fact that once snapshot it is very awkward to try and pick an object up again. Imagine this: you snapshot a sphere to the canvas and then use the Cone3D to add spikes to it. Next, you use other 2D and 2.5D tools to add additional details to this spiked ball. Now what would happen if you were to pick the initial sphere back up again? What’s the program supposed to do with all of that other stuff that you just painted on? It’s not a part of the geometry. It’s not a texture, either, since it has depth of its own. The processing power to move all of that other stuff in 3D while you work on the sphere some more would be horrendous – if your computer could even handle it, real time rendering would go right out the window.
So in the end, while it is inconvenient in some ways to try and get used to ZBrush’s unique way of doing things, those wacky methods are all there for a reason. They let ZBrush do what no other program can do. Along the way, they also happen to really benefit other programs (such as by making it easy to create morph targets, textures, or original 3D models). They also allow ZBrush to be a mighty fine rendering engine all by itself. And, of course, everything works together beautifully to allow artists to create amazingly detailed and realistic scenes from start to finish in ZBrush in far less time that it would require in another app.
It’s just a matter of “unlearning” a few techniques and thinking in a new way…
The particular approach that will work best for you depends upon what you’re trying to do.
If you wish to create a scene in ZBrush, the most common method is to create each of your main objects separately and place them on different layers. If you have a LOT of objects, then you can put multiple objects on the same layer so long as they don’t intersect with each other. When placing objects, remember to use the Transform palette gyros (move, scale and rotate) to position them as precisely as you want. Before you move on to the next object, place a marker (Transform>Make Marker). If you get part way through and realize that you need to change an object – whether it’s a matter of doing more modeling on it or changing its position – you can go to the layer that it’s on and clear that layer with Ctrl+N (or use the eraser brush on the object if there are other objects on the same layer). If you move your cursor back to the center of where the object had been, a funny-looking dot appears. This is your marker. Select the object again in the Tool palette (because when ZBrush snapshots one to the canvas, the original remains in the palette), and then click on the marker to redraw the object in exactly the same position, scale and orientation that it had been when you placed the marker. You can then use the Transform palette on it again to move it or model it some more. Only after all of your major objects are placed to satisfaction would you change to using your other tools and painting the details into your scene.
Now, if you wish to build a mesh for use in another program you can use an approach similar to this. Don’t worry about the multiple layers. Instead, model each of the pieces that will make up your complex mesh and choose the object’s longest axis to work from. As you place your pieces, be careful to keep them rotated along that axis (you can use Transform>Rotate and then with the gyro showing go to Transform>Info and type axial values directly into the sliders to get perfect orientation with ease). Place a marker for every piece as you go. Use the Scale and Move gyros to get their placement as precise as possible. Next, clear the canvas and select the MultipleMarker tool. Drag on the canvas (being careful not to click a marker), and the complex object will be redrawn with all of the pieces active at once. You can now use the Rotate gyro on the group of them and still use Transform>Info to keep the rotations along an exact plane. In Edit mode, you can then move pieces around in relation to each other. But because you are keeping the object’s orientation controlled, it is very easy to reposition them in relation to each other. When you have everything placed the way you want it from all directions, go to Tool>Modifiers>Reposition followed by Tool>Modifiers>Make Polymesh. Incidentally, that Reposition button can be used at any time to move the markers to match the current position and orientation of the object. This is useful if you want to change a particular piece. Reposition the markers, leave Edit mode, clear the canvas, click the marker for the object that you want to get rid of and then Transform>Remove Marker. Now select or create your new object, place it and mark it, and then you can return to the MultipleMarker tool to continue working. When you Make Polymesh, the individual objects will be combined together as a new tool in the Tool palette. You can select that object and texture or otherwise modify it to your heart’s content. Or you can export it to another program. The individual parts will be given group names according to what they were named in the Tool palette before being incorporated into the mesh. (So if you want to create a model with specific group names, simply save each tool with the name that you want before you start using the markers.) Don’t like the sharp edges where pieces come together? With the model active on the canvas, press Tool>Inventory>Make Unified Skin to re-skin the object and smooth the edges. The catch with this is that if you do so, any texturing that you have done and the object groupings will be lost. On the other hand, you can use the sliders next to the Make Unified Skin button to take considerable control over the mesh that will be produced.
Sound like a lot of work to create a single model for use in another program? It is. Don’t get me wrong – the MM tool is still extremely useful in certain places, such as modeling many mechanical objects. Especially ones with clearly defined edges. But for organic full body meshes, nothing beats the ZSphere. Be sure to run the ZSphere ZScripts that come with ZBrush 1.5. They are VERY educational. A couple of tips, though:
- When working with ZSpheres, don’t forget to change your Draw Size to 1 (press S to bring the slider up where the cursor is so you don’t have to go to the palettes).
- Shift+F is the shortcut to turn on Polyframe viewing. This lets you see the mesh with the polygons – sort of a combination of gourad shading with wire frame, and very easy to work with.
- Preview your mesh without skinning it by pressing A
- When you make your mesh, Adaptive Skins are usually best for exporting to other programs. They create object groupings and also have a low enough poly count to not kill the other app.
- When you make your mesh, the ZSpheres remain active on the canvas. A new tool appears in your Tool palette, however, which is the skinned (and exportable) model. This lets you continue to work with the spheres to create a new pose or something before going back to the Tool palette and exporting all of your meshes.
- An advantage to the Adaptive skin is that models created using the same skinning settings can also share the same texture. This makes it handy to create multiple variations without having to texture every last one of them. And with the upcoming release of the bonus upgrade, Displacement mapping will be available to further add detail to these meshes without having to do more modeling. A single low poly mesh can be given infinite variations! Displacement Preview
Finally, a couple of very useful tutorials are available here:
QuickLinks for v1.51
I’d recommend starting with Newbie Lessons One and Two to get a quick feel for both the interface and how the palettes work together.
It just would seem to make ZBrush an even more powerful tool than it already is. One that I could easily see myself using in production, for modeling characters for 3D animations. While still remaining a immensely powerful “paint” software.
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