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Working from 3D scans advice please.

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

Hi Guys,
I posted this in the other support forum but only had one reply from someone who seemed a little unsure. Maybe you experts can advise me?

I am doing sculpture from the human form. My starting points are to 3D scan parts of the body and then work on them in Zbrush. So for example, working with the theme of metamorphosis, I scanned in my head and then want to insert the scan of another person’s head inside it. This would create a “shell” with the inner form of the other head, and the outer form of my head.

Just checking that this can all be done in Zbrush?

I am assuming that it is possible to rescale the inner head so that it fits, or enlarge the outer one. And anyway, in time i want to explore the whole body, and also look at where the body forms may intersect, between the inner and outer. I have some concepts I want to express.

I am new to Zbrush and don’t want to head up the wrong road. I can see how useful Zbrush with sculpting from digital clay, but working from scans? And building scans together?

I need clear answers to this before I invest my money - the purchase price is a lot to me as a student.

(Can Zbrush take in the .ply files or do I need to convert to .obj first?
I converted in Meshlab, but Sculptris fell over when trying to read in the .obj files.)

Thanks and regards, Jon.

#2

You would use SubTools. Each version of the head or body would be a different SubTool. You can then project from one to the other however you wish and each SubTool can be manipulated individually.

In fact, when ILM was working on The Avengers the artist brought in 3D scans of Mark Rufalo and of his life cast, then used the best parts of each scan, projecting them onto the digital double that they used for the movie. So when Banner turned into The Hulk, it was literally the actor transforming. Pretty cool stuff.

#3

Hi Aurick,

Thanks for your helpful reply. In fact I am exploring human metamorphosis in my art work, so that’s a great example.

Kind regards.

#4

I actually use 3D scan data on a daily basis. I’ll post my basic workflow here when I get the chance.

#5

Hi MentalFrog. Look forward to seeing your work.