Mealea, this is something I should like to do:-) It can be done with ZSpheres but that’s a bit complicated.
http://www.pixologic.com/docs/index.php/Joseph_Drust#Insert_Local_Mesh.2C_Insert_Connector_Mesh
THIS IS IT!!! I read this ages ago when I dident know ANYTHING!!!
Thank you so much!!!
Now I have something new to dive into!!
THANKYOU!!!
wow … it seems ive really started something here…
i just thought of an idea… when you make a clay pot on a spinning wheel … cant think of the name… its like when you were at primary school and you get to make those clay coil pots , the wheel turns as you lay in a tube of clay and build it up like that…
now with this method you could use the curvetube brush “around” any auto-rotating object… i am sure that would work…
You have!
And I think I know how to make the vines you want using masking, I just tried it and its fast and easy, all you have to do is draw your vines as a mask onto what ever object you want them on, then when you like your drawing use Extract in the subtool menu and set its thickness to roughly the width (in polygons) of your stems and branches (That part is obviously variable so you might play a bit with inflate and smooth or something later). Once you hit Extract go into Geometry and hit Group Loops, it makes things nice and smooth.
I did this on a cylinder in the first attempt and it worked very well, I did need to use inflate in the deformation pallet because I did not adjust for thickness.
I think from looking at your model you could do this dozens of times and use the Move brush to make things overlap how ever you like.
Does this make any sense?
One other thing, there is a feature like the potters wheel idea in Sculptris but I do not think its what you have in mind, it is however VERY fun!
Cheers!
Mealea
This took maybe five minuets from thinking of how to do it to getting it round, it obviously
could be better but its so easy and quick I think it might be just what you are after.
sorry but i never use the extract method , it just makes a mess of a mesh which is really unusable in Maya…
I have never seen Maya, how (and why) does it make a mesh unusable?
The extract mesh is one of the most popular features in ZBrush. There are two sliders that control smoothness. The extract is using the underlying geometry so if you already have good geometry you can use this in Maya.
Extract is using masking and is found at the bottom of the SubTool palette.
Paul
Bas
right now you can not do that. Still have to use ZSpheres.
Paul
extract is fine if you are staying in ZB. using the extracted mesh in Maya makes your scenes very heavy and the mesh has loads of un even topo/triangles especially if you do a intricately detailed mask extraction it just doesnt work. if i want to make cloth (for example) i just bring the mesh into maya to make the base mesh … i am always trying to avoid doing any retopo stuff as i cant stand doing it…
It might be easier to just export a low poly cage of the mesh your trying to wrap around, then model your vine around it in Maya seeing as you’re already using that. That is what I would have done if it were me anyways. Since I use 3ds Max, I’d create a spline that wraps around the cage first, then simply extrude a shape along this path. Then I’d create more splines to extrude along for the branches. I really don’t think it can be done any faster or easier than that. I’m no Zbrush master though so I could easily be mistaken about this. 
I think the reason it’s generated so much interest, besides the fact that a lot of people have some free time to spare because of the holidays, is because it’s an interesting challenge that can be accomplished many different ways. By trying to help, we too gain insight into elements of Zbrush we may have not considered or known about before.
Don’t sell yourself short, MealeaYing! I feel that what you’ve created is actually pretty cool. Thanks for posting the video, it was very much appreciated! :D
yes , i too use curves and lofting in Maya but its not as intuitive as zspheres which is why i do most of my Vines/tubes/pipes/branches etc using zspheres… i will still keep playing around to get the look i am after…!!
i just really like how the curvetube brush works as an orgainic way of " painting" branches as you go… i dont know , it feels more “artistic” and less techical if that makes any sense. its just a shame that you can only use it on a flat surface .
I completely agree with you. Creating vines/tubes doesn’t really seem to be the problem here, which is what many of us have been focusing on. It’s more about how much time one is willing to spend doing the work, and therein lies the rub. Obtaining the best results almost always requires more effort. We all hate it, but it’s a common truth that often applies to all aspects of life, not just art. Setting up Zspheres is indeed time consuming, and I believe you mentioned that you hate doing retopo as well (me too). It’s unfortunate, but until some much needed improvements are made to ZBrush, you’re just going to have to bite the bullet, dig in, and get it done.
The fact that one cannot continue a curve where they left off is kind of odd really. Being able to do so seems like a very obvious and simple feature that’s been overlooked. You may want to post it in the wishlist thread if it’s not there already. There are other annoying things about curves that bother me as well. For example, editing them can get quite difficult sometimes. I’d love it if the start and end points could be locked so they don’t move while doing so. I also wish we weren’t limited to screen view alignment when drawing one. The ability to loft any polymesh would be welcome as well. I know similar results can achieved with zspheres, but a quick an easy means of lofting just makes sense, especially given how making the artists job easier (and fun) has always seemed to be Pixologic’s primary focus. The list is long, and despite how good ZBrush is already, it can always be better. Hopefully they’re listening and not resistant to friendly suggestions from the artists.
yes man. the above image is something else i am working on which is just an extraction which looks good but unusable , now if the curvetube brush could do this …
I’ve been doing research on those 3dConnexion devices and came across this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIcZrxJLa4k
It dawned on me that this would be the perfect solution for the problem you’re having with the curve tube brush. The idea would be to draw the curve while simultaneously rotating the mesh. In fact this could be a quick way to a number of interesting things I think. Unfortunately I also discovered that ZBrush doesn’t play nice at all with the Space Pilot.
www.google.ca/#hl=en&q=+site:zbrushcentral.com+zbrush+central+3dconnexion
I really need the simplicity of this device so I’m probably still going to buy one. They seem pretty popular, hopefully Pixologic and 3dConnexion (or some other company that makes 3d mice) can work together on making these work harmoniously somewhere down the line, or at least add a way to continue a curve where you last left off (without the diameter constantly changing every time you zoom the view in and out).
Here are a couple more videos I found interesting, just in case anyone else is interested:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSUqY4NyGT4#t=33s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmgiW4z1vow
Thank you! It was a lot of fun… especially adding the blue bit!
well… i think i should really start another thread just about the curve tube brush…
but anyway i did the above extraction as a zsphere mesh , but as we know you cant “close” zsphere chains so you still have to use another package to connect them, unfortunatly this also seems to take ages… so to get this mesh finished it has been almost a week , this is just far too long,…
I realize this is a little less complex, or at least has less holes but it also took about 30 seconds to make in TopMod and export as a .obj, then less then 30 seconds to import and render after distorting slightly and rotating in ZBrush:
Posting it here was the longest part of the process.
thats the kind of nice topo i am looking for but i think topomod is for more mathematical shapes is it not? like this?
That thing wonderful!
You did that with Topmod?
How???
That program is a never ending series of surprises…
Anyhow if what I made is the sort of thing you are after, then Topmod is the tool to use, it does some rather tricky things very fast, I’m serious when I say it took longer to upload the image here than it took to create it from start to finish.
Topmod is sort of for math related stuff but you can do all sorts of other things with it, its great fun and on top of all the obvious things like just making topology and screwing about with it you can also use 35 or more methods of subdivision and most of them are neat too.
What I made was a simple “soccerball” object, honeycomb subdivided and then framed at a low setting like 0.040 or something.