In this tutorial we will look at how to use a few well-suited tools in ZBrush 3.5R3 in the creation of a cliff wall. We will cover creating the basic shape, the natural striation and surface texture of a rocky surface. We will use the Clay Tubes brush, hPolish brush, PlanarCutThin brush and Surface Noise. We will use most of the tools at their default settings with one exception, the PlanarCutThin brush.
We begin with a basic poly sphere. I use a PolySphere because its there when I start ZBrush and because I prefer working with closed surfaces. If I was to use a plane then I may end up having to deal with the polygons on the outside edges of the surface which always behave differently than other polygons.
Select the ClayTubes brush and change the stroke to Spray. Using Zadd and Zsub block in the general shape of a cliff wall.
Next we will smooth out our polygon distribution using Reproject Higher Subdiv. Lower the resolution of the PolySphere and smooth out the areas where you want to adjust the polygon distribution. Then press Tool: Geometry: Reproject Higher Subdiv. Please note that you must press Reproject before you change the subdivision level.
Our next goal is to refine the planes of the cliff wall. Select the HPolish brush and use it to establish strong planes in the cliff. Note, the HPolish brushes uses the normal of the surface you first click on to orientate the rest of the stroke. Choose the angle carefully and you will be able to create natural striations in the surface. Selecting an area that is perpendicular to the rock wall will work best for this.
Another tip when working with HPolish is to set the orientation of the brush manually. Open the Picker palette, click on the arrow next to Once Ori and drag it to a blank spot on the canvas. Rotate your model so you are looking at it from a three quarters perspective and establish more planes.
To further the natural striation of the rock wall we will use the PlanarCutThin brush with the Spray stroke. It is also useful to adjust the Outer and Inner Depth slightly. In this case I have adjusted them to .5 and -.5, respectively.
Be careful of the direction of your brush stroke and the orientation of the surface your brush strokes begins on. You may also want to set Stroke: Placement to .9 and Stroke: Flow to .1 to spread out the striations.
Finally, add some surface texture using ZBrush’s new Surface Noise feature. Try to match the curve you see in the image. Note, NoiseScale is set to 80.
Hello! I have created a new tutorial that I have uploaded to YouTube the shows me creating facial anatomy using a base skull from Freedom of Teach and ZSpheres. I used the Clay Tubes Brush and masks for sculpting.
The movie is sped up and there is no audio at this time. This movie builds on the process that I developed in the Sculpting Facial Anatomy post at Sculpt.Paint.Create and in Scott Spencer’s book ZBrush Character Creation
Recently I had the oppurtunity to tech edit Scott Spencer’s new book, ZBrush: Character Creation. During the process Scott featured two workflows I developed in ZBrush while working as Product Manager for ZBrush 3: Constructive Anatomy and the Rake Brush.
The Rake brush is one of the things I am most proud of contributing to ZBrush 3. It is a fantastic brush for building on the power of the clay brush but it is important to bear in mind that it IS a modification of the Clay brush.
The amazing development team at Pixologic did the artistic community a world of good when they developed Clay brush and many of the custom brushes that ship with ZBrush are simple modification of it. The Rake is only one example.
Having studied traditional sculpting I was always looking for ways to incorporate traditional clay-based workflows into my digital art workflows and once they handed me this beautiful gem of a brush I was able go in, make several modifications and come out with some really cool brushes.
Recently I upped the anty on the Rake brush by increasing its alpha repeat and lowering its Brush Mod slider to give it a sandpaper like behavior. Check out the new Rasp or Sandpaper brush.
I have created a tutorial on sculpting a beautiful female head using ZBrush 3.
There are 4 chapters to this tutorial as well as the final ZBrush model.
Chapter One: Blocking in Your Model Starting with a simple ZSphere base, chapter one focuses on blocking in the main forms of the shoulder, neck and head. Using SubTools, the hair is also added and blocked in. The following tools are demonstrated: Clay Brush, Standard Brush w/ Pinch, Reconstruct Higher SubDiv, EdgeLoop, SubTool, Transpose
Chapter Two: Massing Internal Forms and Sculpting Features In chapter two, we focus on massing the internal forms, sculpting the eyes, ears, nose, mouth and the basic anatomy of the shoulder girdle. We also spend some time discussing the difficulties of sculpting beautiful women. Then explore one way to help us the softness of the feminine form without losing structure. The following tools are demonstrated: Clay Brush, Masks, Standard Brush w/ Pinch
Chapter Three: Sculpting Flowing Hair In chapter three, we focus on massing and detailing the hair. We utilize the Move brush to establish the overall shape and then refine that shape by modifing the Slash 2 brush and utilizing the Clay, ClayTubes and SnakeHook brush. We spend time The following tools are demonstrated: Clay Brush, ClayTubes Brush, A Modified Slash 2 Brush, Standard Brush w/ Pinch, SnakeHook
Chapter Four: Details, Details, Details In chapter four, we finalize the details of our sculpt. We further refine the features and spend some time texturing the hair. In this chapter, we look at how you can use the morph brush to bring back form that you have previously erased. Our goal, at this stage, is to make sure that our sculpt has a combination of hard and soft edges that guide our audiences eyes around the model. The following tools are demonstrated: Clay Brush, ClayTubes Brush, Rake Brush, Slash 2 Brush, Standard Brush w/ Pinch, Morph Brush
Recently while working on the sculpture to the right I ran into the one obstacle that we, in the visual effects and games industries, waste millions and millions of dollars in lost productivity, frayed nerves, sick days, dwindling eye-sight and murdered inspiration: TOPOLOGY.
Those people who have taken a class with me know that I loathe Topology right up there with Peanut Butter. I mean Peanut Butter isn’t butter and its no longer a peanut! How can you trust something so openly dishonest about its true nature?!
Well topology is right up there with it. First, topology is something that has been foisted upon us by the limitations of those who make our computers and the software running on it NOT necessarily the hardware or software itself!
If ZBrush 2, proved anything then it was that the book is not closed on innovation and new ways to think outside of the box and by box, I mean box modeling!!!!
Imagination Runs Free
Let’s imagine that we were given this amazing, shiny plastic box by an alien society. In this box, we could paint and sculpt anything we can imagine. In fact, all we had to do was think about it and it would appear on the box.
If we had this kind of power then I ask you, “Would you spend your time thinking about topology?” Would you sit there and visualize arbitrary lines all over the thing you just imagined and try to find ways to connect the dots like some 3rd grade picture book?
I wouldn’t!
Think Outside of the Box
Well, ZBrush 2 was from an alien society. Everyone knows that the main visionary behind Pixologic is actually from the future. How do we know? Meats Meier told us, of course, and if you have seen Meat’s work then you know that he alone is able to see the future!
Is Pixologic the only company capable of thinking outside of the box? Well, first, I admit that it is not an easy problem to solve. I have researched the problem myself and poured over many thesis filled with mathematical symbols that looked more like Mayan writing than the math I remember from College!
A quick google search reveals Afra Zomorodian’s Computing and Comprehending Topology: Persistence and Hierarchical Morse Complexes and Robert Glenn Scharein’s Interactive Topological Drawing thesis for a sense of the complexity behind it all.
A 3D Artist Charter
All of the above said, however, it must have been a touch more difficult to get someone to the moon, no? I know I risk sounding like a naive 3D artist to all the software programmers out there but I have been in the development community. I know it is possible to automate topology. It is simply a matter of will power meeting resources.
To date, resources have not been meeting with will power. So I propose that all 3D artists join me in creating a charter, based on the UN, for all digital artists!
WE DIGITAL ARTISTS HAVE DETERMINED
to save succeeding generations from the scourge of inhumane technology, which many times in our lifetime has brought untold workarounds to artists, and
to reaffirm faith in humane technology, in the dignity and worth of digital art, in the equal rights of all software applications and of artists large and small, and
to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the perspectives and humane workflows of all artists can be maintained, and
to promote humane technological progress and better software standards for the larger artistic freedom,
AND FOR THESE ENDS
to practice tolerance in all forums and live together in peace with all 3D and 2D application as good neighbours, and
to unite our strength to maintain inter-application peace and security, and
to ensure, by the acceptance of univeral hotkeys and the institution of humane technology, that work-arounds and insanely complicated technicalities shall not be used, save in the common interest, and
to employ inter-application machinery for the promotion of the artistic and personal advancement of all digital artists,
HAVE RESOLVED TO COMBINE OUR EFFORTS TO ACCOMPLISH THESE AIMS.
Till Then
Till then, I have created another free tutorial on how to adjust the topology from a sculpting perspective. This tutorial shows you how to use ZBrush 3’s topology controls to adjust edge-flow for your model and recapture difficult areas.
Sculpting Topology (link)
Welcome to Sculpt. Paint. Create where we will look at all things ZBrush: sculpting, painting and designing.
For my first post, I’ll explore the anatomy of the human face and a constructive approach towards sculpting. To the right is the final sculpt created using this approach. All sculpting was done with the ClayTubes brush. To learn how I painted with materials see the reference section at the bottom of this post.
The above image shows the three main stages I went through while sculpting the face. First, I began with a skeleton, sculpted the muscles onto it and then added the flesh. The movie below shows the entire process.
Reference Section:
Click here to download a starter mesh to try this out yourself.
I have included reference for those wanting to learn the specific forms and their names. This is not an all-inclusive reference but covers most of the muscles I sculpted.
Making Of Notes:
The process of making the muscles and, later, the skin is done by painting materials onto your model while you sculpt it. Its as simply as activating MRGB on the shelf. See below for more information.
First the skull has the MatCap Skeleton material baked into it. This provides a foundation for the other materials to add to. Follow the steps below to do that:
1. Select MatCap Skeleton in the Material Palette
2. Press MRGB on the shelf
3. Make sure no texture is active in the texture palette
4. Press Fill Object in the Color Palette
To begin sculpting the muscles do the following:
1. Select MatCap RedWax in the Material Palette
2. Make sure MRGB is selected on the shelf as well as ZAdd
3. Select your brush in the Brush Palette. I used the Clay Tubes brush with the Brush Mod slider set to about 20.
4. Sculpt
To begin sculpting the skin:
1. Select MatCap Sculpy in the Material Palette
2. Make sure MRGB is selected on the shelf as well as ZAdd
3. Select your brush in the Brush Palette. I used the Clay Tubes brush with the Brush Mod slider set to about 5 because the skin isn’t as thick as muscle.
4. Sculpt
Flickr Photos