Hi all,
Total newbie here. I’m learning ZBrush to be able to design chocolate bars. These will be 3D-printed and then later be made into molds.
Can anyone advise me on the best workflow and technique to do this? Designs will always start from a 2D sketch or illustration.
Should I be looking into relief techniques and tutorials? Any recommendations on what skills to learn first or which tutorials to look for?
See image for reference.
Thanks!
Hi @jvanaken
There are at least a half dozen ways to approach something like this, and it really just comes down to preference.
The first thing you should do is familiarize yourself with basic Zbrush concepts–how to edit a live 3d mesh, subdivision levels, navigation, how to save your work, how to work with polygroups and selectively mask and hide parts of your mesh. A lack of comfort with basic stuff like this is going to make anything else you try to do in the program more difficult. The Pixologic Classroom is a good place to start.
Here are some tools and concepts that may naturally lend themselves to what you want to do, and may help direct your research when looking for tutorials:
Alphas are 2d greyscale images used to define the shape of a brush stroke. There are various ways to draw out or apply a 2d greyscale image to a sufficiently subdivided mesh in order to displace the mesh in the shape of that alpha. Also understand the difference between the various stroke types, and the different effects that can be achieved.
Spotlight, in particular the new snapshot 3d feature. Sort of as above, except the image is converted into actual 3d geometry.
Dynamesh and ZRemesher–two general purpose tools critical to many modern workflows.
When it comes to reliefs, there are also competing artistic philosophies. You may want to read up on artistic discussions surrounding relief to decide if you want to use “flattened” versions of 3d shapes and models, or to sculpt the relief directly onto an object in a more deliberate fashion. Opinions on this subject vary, and I’ll leave it to you to decide how much you want to care about this.