Day 2 results

Again mostly refreshing things I already knew, but finding the hidden tools in the Lightbox will be very useful for future tutorials eg hard edge modelling. Some useful tricks with the interface, especially the see through slider which I didn’t know about before.

I’m hoping that taking the time to learn about the interface thoroughly will pay off later down the line when I start other more advanced tutorials.

I wasn’t aware that saving a model as a Ztool didn’t save the materials or subtools, so that is a handy thing to remember, and warrants always saving as a project at some point when modelling.

The Initialize panel when drawing primitives was new to me and extremely useful. The Gear3D and Spiral tools in particular have a lot of potential for modelling small details to use as subtools and detail meshes for bigger projects.

Day 2 Part 2

Introduction to Zbrush Digital Tutors

Working with files

– Document > Save As saves just the image on the canvas as a .Zbr file. The image is made of pixols so retains depth, colour and material information so can be edited with 2.5D brushes but the 3D model can no longer be sculpted.

– if selecting to save the document a warning box will pop up asking to confirm whether to save the document or the tool.

Use this option to save a 2.5D pixol image that can be painted. The 3D model can no longer be edited in this document.

– Tool > Save As saves the 3D model as a .Ztl Ztool file that can be re-loaded later for continued sculpting. The Ztool will lose all subtool and material data and become a single 3D model.

Use this option to save the 3D model as a tool that can be later opened and further sculpted..

– File > Save As saves the project as a .Zpr file, which includes all tools, materials, sub-tools and history.

Save the entire project including all subtools, materials and history.

– file sizes decrease as .Zpr > .Ztl > .Zdoc.

– information saved decreases as .Zpr > .Ztl > .Zdoc.

– Quicksave (9) creates an incremental project save that won’t overwrite manual saves.

– Preferences > Quicksave palette contains options for quicksaves, including:

– Maximum Duration determines how frequently in minutes Zbrush will quicksave.

– Rest Duration sets Zbrush to quicksave after a set time of no activity in minutes.

– Skip History creates quicksaves with undo history included.

The quicksave palette contains settings for quicksave frequency and size.

– quicksaves are saved to Users > Public Documents > Zbrush Data and can also be found under Lightbox > Quicksaves.

quicksaves with thumbnails can be found under Lightbox

– Tool > Import allows for importing .Obj files for 3D models created in other applications as tools. The tools can then be saved as Documents, projects or Ztools.

Day 2

Introduction to Zbrush Digital Tutors

Basics of creating Geometry

– To view a wireframe on the mesh, tranform > PolyF or Shift + F or PolyF button on the right shelf.

Different ways to enable a polyframe

–Primitives can’t be sculpted but can be transformed while in edit mode. To see options go to tool > Initialize which will display options relating to that primitive eg initial size and resolution.

Initialize settings can be used to modify primitives before converting to polymesh for editing.

– Coverage is what angle the primitive is filled to in degrees.

– TaperTop and InnerRadius can turn a Cylinder into a hollowed flat cone.

– Twist can turn a Ring into a ribbed pipe.

– SweepProfile can create some interesting curves which are further modified in the Initialize palette.

–Helix3D can be used to create eg suspension springs that vary along the length.

– Gear3D has a lot of options and can create very intricate shapes and features for other models.

– Lightbox (,) is where you can find imported tools, projects, materials, alphas and brushes.

– if a tutorial uses a non-standard sculpting brush it will likely be found in lightbox eg TrimHole.

Lightbox provides quick access to lots of important items.