ZBrush 3.5R3 Tips for Environment Artist
Creating A Cliff Wall
by Ryan Kingslien
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.
I hope you enjoyed!
Flickr Photos
December 15, 2009
I didn’t get a chance to comment on your Master Class thread… I just wanted to take a second and thank you for helping me unleash all of the new features in the new ZBR 3.5. Your tutorials where very helpful including the one above.
On another note, I finally made the leap and moved to LA, and will be attending several classes at Gnomon next month so I hope to see you in the gnomon halls or in the classrooms.
Thanks again…
December 17, 2009
Thanks for the modelling tips Ryan.
There are a lot of new brushes in Zbrush, so every little bit helps. Been loving the ClayTubes with Spray stroke for sculpting terrain – would have to be the best, yet simplest tip.
@ Christopher Parent! You would have to be the same Christopher I did the ZBrush CGWorkshop with Zack Petroc ;). Great to hear you finally made the big move down to where the action is – I think Zack’s advice was right. All the best with it and hope to see your stuff around on the web.
December 17, 2009
Thanks Christopher. Say hi when your at Gnomon. :)
Philippe – Glad it was useful. :)
April 13, 2010
Thanks for the tips on the rocks man, specially blocking with the Clay tubes brush.
on a personal note, I think 2 steps before the final result looks cooler.
Hope to see in the future another of the Master classes Christopher was talking about so I can join.
and also, I’d make the entries smaller in the main blog page so you can
navigate easly.
great blog btw ;)