Pixologic

I now have a good understanding about some of the basics of ZBrush but as recommended at the end of Chapter 3 in the 'Character Modeling with Maya and ZBrush: Professional Polygonal Modeling Techniques' book I went and watched some of the video tutorials on the Pixologic website. Below is a link to Pixologic's ZBrush tutorials:

Pixologic ZBrush Video Tutorials

Pixologic provides a lot of video tutorials on ZBrush as you may have seen from clicking on the link above. Despite feeling that I now have a good understanding of the basics of ZBrush I thought it was wise for me to still start at the beginning and watch the video tutorials in the 'Introduction to ZBrush' section. I thought that although these videos will contain some of the same information that the previous ZBrush tutorials from the book had taught me they may also cover some new ZBrush basics that I did not know. Therefore it seemed wise that I still watched them. In the 'Introduction to ZBrush' section there are 13 video tutorials. I watched all of them and learnt a lot of new information. I found these very interesting.

The first video in the 'Introduction to ZBrush' section is called 'What is ZBrush', this a short video that explains what ZBrush is and what it can do, it also shows some professional examples of work that are done in ZBrush. I found this very interesting because I recognised a lot of the examples, so I had seen a lot of ZBrush's work before without even realising. I personally felt that this video gave ZBrush a better introduction that the introduction in the book. The book kept its introduction to ZBrush fairly basic this  made it easier to take in the information. Where as Pixologic's introduction to ZBrush video goes more into the concept behind ZBrush. For instance the introduction to ZBrush video on the Pixologic website talks about how art can be created in two environments within ZBrush. The two environments that ZBrush has is a 3D environment which is used for creating, sculpting and painting on 3D models and a 2.5D environment which is used for illustration as well as many other forms of art. However I can see why the 'Character Modeling with Maya and ZBrush: Professional Polygonal Modeling Techniques' book does not cover this in its ZBrush introduction. I think the reason it does not cover it is because it is a book about 3D modeling, it would be covering unnecessary ground if it were to talk about how ZBrush could be used for illustration. Pixologic on the other hand are the creators of ZBrush so they need to explain all of their softwares uses in order to reach the widest range of audience.

The second video tutorial in the 'Introduction to Zbrush' section is called 'Initialize ZBrush'. This video tutorial explains that when following the ZBrush video tutorials your 'User Interface' is going to need to match up to the 'User Interface' in the video. This is so you can follow the exact process that is done in the video tutorials. You may have adjusted the settings and/ or 'User Interface' of your ZBrush so to get your 'User Interface' back to ZBrush's default 'User Interface' you need to initialize everything. To do this you click 'Preference' then click 'Init ZBrush', a message will then pop up asking if you want to initialize ZBrush you then click 'Yes'. You will now have cleared out the memory, the sub tools, and the tool palette. Everything will now be back to ZBrush's default form. This will also be very useful in future  if you can't locate a tool or a setting and it seems to be completely lost you can just initialize your ZBrush and everything will restore to ZBrush's original form. Below are images of each of the stages that you need to do in order to intialize your ZBrush.

The third video in the 'Introduction to ZBrush' section is called 'Review of the UI'. UI stands for User Interface. This video does exactly what it states, it goes through ZBrush's user interface. Most of the information in this video is information that I already know, I know this information because I have now used ZBrush several times, therefore I have started to understand how ZBrush's user interface works and were I can find the different tools that I need. One thing that this video taught me that I was not aware of is that you can dock any of the palettes from the top in the shelfs either on the left or the right. The images below show this process. 

In the image above I have chosen to take the 'Transform' palette and I am going to dock it under the 'Tool' palette on the right hand side. So I click on 'Transform' at the top I then click on the circle and arrow sign in the top left corner of the 'Transform' box. The image below show the circle and arrow sign that you click.

When you click on the circle and arrow sign you hold down the left mouse button and you can now drag that palette and position it as you please on either the shelf on the left or the shelf on the right. This technique allows you to speed up your work flow as you now have quick and easy access to the tools that you need. If there appears to be no shelf on the left hand side that is because it is closed. To open the shelf on the left hand side you simply click on the 'Divider' button on the left which allows you to open and close that shelf. You can also open and close the shelf on the right. The first image below shows the 'Divider' button, the second image below shows both the left and the right shelf's open. 

The first of the two images below shows me clicking on the circle and arrow button, holding the left mouse button and dragging the 'Transform' palette onto the shelf on the right hand side. The second image shows that the 'Transform' palette has now been added to the shelf.  

If you no longer want a palette in your shelf you can remove it from the shelf by clicking on the circle and arrow button in the right hand corner of the chosen palette holding down the left mouse button and dragging that palette onto the canvas or work area. This will remove the chosen palette from that shelf. It  will not permanently delete the palette you can still locate the palette at the top ZBrush's user interface. The circle and arrow button is shown in the image below.

This technique of added different palettes to shelfs in order to speed up work flow is a technique that I was not aware of. It looks like its a good idea that I am watching Pixologic's 'Introduction to ZBrush' video tutorials, despite feeling that I already have a good understanding of the basics of ZBrush there still seems to be some basic techniques that I do not know about that are very useful. Another technique that I did not know about was a keyboard short cut that allows you to make all of your shelfs ans some of the tools buttons in the user interface disappear. This means that you now have a bigger work area. The button on the keyboard that allows you to do this is the 'Tab' key. You simply press it once to make your shelfs and some of the tool buttons disappear and you press it again to make your shelfs and tool buttons reappear. This technique is also very useful. Below is an image of what ZBrush looks like when you press the 'Tab' key and your shelfs and tool buttons disappear.

The video tutorial then goes on to show how you can store materials and Alphas in a shelf at the top of ZBrush's user interface, in order to do this you have to change your User Interface settings to customizable. After the video explains how to do this it shows you how you can change the layout of ZBrush's user interface more and change the colour of the user interface. I'm not going to write about how to do this because despite watching the video and learning how to do it I have not incorporated it into my user interface. Another reason that I am not going to take the time to write about these two processes is because these techniques are about cosmetics and are down to personal preference, I'm here to learn what you can do with the software not how you can change its interfaces appearance. However I did not know how to do any of this before so I have gained some new knowledge.

The next video tutorial is called 'Move, Rotate and Scale'. The video tutorial explains about 2.5D and 3D and how you can enter the two modes. It then goes on to talk about the tools that you can use such as the move, rotate and scale. I had already picked up most of this information from the tutorials in the book and using ZBrush. However this tutorial solidified my current knowledge and I did learn some new things. I was not aware that you are in the 2.5D mode when you are not in edit mode. I also learnt some new keyboard shortcuts that allow you to scale and move in the 3D environment. I had already picked up the keyboard shortcuts of how to move, scale and rotate when your not in edit mode and allow you to move, scale and rotate parts of Zspheres when in edit mode.

The fifth video tutorial is called 'At Start Up'. This video starts of by showing how you can hide and show the light box. You do this by clicking the button that says 'light box'. The image below shows this button.

           

The image below shows the light box. The light box contains pre made 3D models that you can work on and practice sculpting. You can double click any of the models in the light box and that model will be dropped to your canvas and will automatically be in edit mode. 

This video also taught me how you can view your 3D model in edit mode front on and the side views. This is useful because when rotating around your 3D model it can be hard to get your model to be straight on and view it from an orthographic view. ZBrush works differently to Maya in ZBrush you don't have different cameras you only have one camera and you have to move around the model in order to see it and you have to scale it to zoom in. You look at your 3D model dead on in front view or any of the side views by rotating round to the side you want to see and you hold the 'shift' key on the keyboard until you let go of the left mouse button. The camera will then snap so that that side of your 3D model is looking dead on at you. Another technique that this video taught me about is the 'Local' button. If you have the local button then the canvas camera will rotate around the area of the model that you are currently sculpting on. If you have the local button off then the main focus of the camera is the whole model and you will rotate around that. Below is an image of the 'Local' button, when the local button is on it will be highlighted orange.

This tutorial taught me how to smooth when sculpting, it taught me the keyboard shortcut to turn on symmetry, where as before I only knew how to turn it on and off manually. A face get sculpted onto a sphere in this video tutorial. I decided that I would try and sculpt a face into a sphere below is a image of the face that I sculpted into a basic sphere. This taught me about different brush types, how the brush size and z intensity can effect sculpting and how smoothing effects what you have sculpted.  

The next video tutorial is called 'Polymesh - 3D Mesh'. This tutorials explains why you have to convert 3D meshes to a Polymesh in order for you to be able to sculpt on it. I had come across this message before but I was unsure why it came up and why you had to convert the 3D mesh to a 3D polymesh. The image below shows the message that pops up when you try to sculpt onto a 3D mesh that you have dragged to the canvas.

You convert your 3D mesh to a Polymesh by doing exactly what the message tells you to do. You click the 'Make PolyMesh3D' button in the tool palette. The two images below show where the tool palette and the 'Make PolyMesh3D' button.

Once you've clicked 'Make PolyMesh3D' your 3D mesh will now be a Polymesh and you will now be able to sculpt on it. The tutorial explains that you have to do this because the 3D meshes have a lot of powerful settings that edit the poly frame of the object. This prevents you from sculpting on the mesh so you need to convert it to a Polymesh 3D. This tutorial goes on to to show how you can use the settings that edit the 3D mesh's to create some interesting shapes that you can then sculpt on. You do this by changing the 3D mesh to the shape that you want and then press the 'Make Polymesh3D' button and you can then sculpt on it. The settings that allow you to change the 3D mesh mean that there are endless possibilities of the shapes that you can make.

The next video tutorial is called 'Help'. This video tutorials points out the different ways of getting help for ZBrush. The first technique is very helpful and is a technique that accesses information that is built into ZBrush's interface. You can access information of anything in ZBrush by holding the 'Control' key on the keyboard and hovering the mouse over the tool, palette, button, material etc that you want to know about. A paragraph will then pop up for as long as you are holding the 'control' key. The paragraph will have information inside it stating exactly what that feature is and what it does. Below is an image that shows how this Help feature works in ZBrush. 

The video then explains that the other place you can find ZBrush help is the Internet. Of course the Pixologic website provides lots of ZBrush help and contains all of these very helpful tutorials.

The next video tutorial is called 'Subdividing'. This video tutorial explains how you can subdivide the geometry of your model. The first new thing that this video tutorial taught me was how you can view the poly frame of your 3D model. This allows you to see the polygons that make up the model. You do this by clicking on the 'PolyFrame' button. If the 'polyframe' button is selected it will be highlighted orange and you will be able to see the polyframe of your model. You simply click the 'polyframe' button again to make the polyframe of your mesh disappear. The image below shows the 'Polyframe' button. 

The image below shows the polyframe of a cube.

The video tutorial then taught me that you can divide your model and add more polygons by pressing 'Control' and then 'D' on the keyboard. Just above the canvas there is a polycount of your model. When you press 'control' and then 'D' you can see the polycount of the model goes up. The two images below show where the polycount can be found.

The image below shows the cube with more subdivisions added. 

Every time you press 'Control' and then 'D' it adds more subdivisions (aka polygons) to your model. You can continue to keep pressing this keyboard combination and it will keep on building up the amount of polygons in your model. What you are doing each time you add polygons by press 'Control' and 'D' you are creating layers of subdivisions to the model. You can then go into the geometry drop down in the tool palette and look at the different subdivision layers of your model. This is shown in the images below.

   

You can then change the slider under 'SDiv' and can change to the different subdivsions of the model that you have now created. This allows you to view and edit the lowest resolution of your model. You can then also turn up the slider and this allows you to work on the highest resolution of the model. An example of you using this would be sculpting in high level detail. So 'Control' 'D' divides your geometry and gives you more resolution to work with. I also learnt that you can delete lower subdivision levels and higher subdivision levels. This is done below the 'SDiv' slider. The video says that for now I will not need to know about this but to make sure I am aware of it as it is information that is needed for future tutorials.

The next video tutorial is called 'Adjusting Your Brush'. This video tutorial gives a good detailed explanation of how to adjust your brush settings and clearly shows the effects of those adjustments. Most of the information in the tutorial I already knew from previously experimenting in ZBrush. Most of this video tutorial revolves around explaining how to change the draw size of your brush, the focal shift, the Z intensity, Z add and Z sub. So it is basically explains the tool bar above the work area. Below is an image of tool bar that this video explains.

The video first starts by explaining the 'Draw Size', I knew all about this and what it does from previous tutorials. However this video tutorial did teach me the keyboard shortcut on how to change your 'Draw Size' whilst sculpting or working in the canvas. The keyboard shortcut for this is 'S'. The image below shows what happens when you press the letter 's', unfortunately in order to take a screen grab I had to hold the command key which meant the help information of the tool also came up and is in the image below. When you press 's' this information will not appear it will just be the draw size slider and once you change the size of your brush on the slider the slider disappears and you can continue working. 

This video tutorial then talks about changing the focal shift of your brush and what this does. It explains how your cursor has two circles around it. It has an inner and an outer circle, by changing your focal shift you are changing the size of the inner circle, this changes the fall off of your brush. If your focal shift is in the minus numbers your stroke will have a very hard edge. If your focal shift is in the positive numbers your brush stroke will have a softer fall off. I already knew about changing the focal shift before watching this tutorial, but this tutorial gave a very clear explanation of what changing the focal shift does, this helped me to understand this tool a lot better. The image below shows the results that changing the focal shift has. The setting of the focal shift for the top stroke is -70 and the stroke belows focal shift setting is 70.

The video then explains about changing the Z intensity, and switching between 'Zadd' and 'Zsub'. 'Zadd' adds to the model and 'Zsub' carves into the model. I already knew about Z intensity and using 'Zadd' and 'Zsub'. I also knew the keyboard shortcut which allows you carve into the model without having to switch between 'Zadd' and 'Zsub'. When sculpting on your model if you hold down the 'alt' key it will do the opposite of the tool you are using. So instead of adding to the model when holding 'alt' you will carve into the model. This is a very quick effective technique that allows you add to the model and carve into the model whilst drawing one stroke. The image below shows this technique.

The video tutorial then explained something that I knew nothing about. It explained what the buttons next to 'Zadd' and 'Zsub' are and what they do. The image below shows these buttons.  

These buttons are mainly used for 'polypainting' which is covered in three tutorials time. The 'Mrgb' button allows you to paint with material and colour. The 'Rgb' button allows you to paint with just colour and the 'M' button allows you to just paint the material onto your model. You then have the 'Rgb' slider underneath the buttons, You can see this in the image above it is called 'Rgb Intensity'. This slider affects the strength of the material and colour that you paint onto your model. The tutorial then explains that these will be covered in more detail in the 'Polypainting' tutorial.

The tutorial then explains how the brush settings change with each brush, so each time you change the brush the 'Z Intensity' and 'Focal Shift' change to the default settings of that brush. ZBrush also saves the changes that you make to that brush's settings. For example the default 'Z Intensity' of the standard brush in my ZBrush is 25 but if I change it to 75 and sculpt onto my model and then change to a different brush and sculpt with that, then I return to the standard brush the 'Z Intensity' will still be 75. This is something that I did not know. I am grateful that this tutorial taught me this because it is something that you definitely need to know about in order to ensure consistency when sculpting. The 'Brush Adjustments' video tutorial was now finished. Despite this tutorial covering a lot of information that I already knew it was still vital for me to watch it as I also learnt some new information that will be very useful. It was now time to move onto the next video tutorial in Pixologic's introduction to ZBrush video tutorials.    

The next video tutorial is called 'Strokes and Alphas'. This video tutorial explains what strokes and alphas are, where you can change them and goes through some of the effects that you can create with them, although the possibilities are endless seeing as you can import your own Alphas. Firstly I learnt where I can change my stroke type. The stroke type effects how the stroke is created across the surface of the model. The image below shows where the different types of strokes are located.   

It was pointed out to me that many of the different brushes have different strokes attached to them by default, this is something I need to be aware of when sculpting. The video tutorial then runs through some of the different effects the different stroke types make. This tutorial showed me a stroke type that I think is going to be very useful. Its called 'DragRect' and is located in the strokes palette. Instead of drawing across the surface 'DragRect' allows you to draw the stroke out from the location where you first clicked. This is very useful for applying Alphas to the surface of your model. Below is an image of where you can find the 'DragRect' tool. 

The video then explains where you can find Alphas and how you can use the different strokes to apply them to the surface of your model. The image below shows where Alphas are located.

This video tutorial was very interesting. I did not know anything about Strokes and Alphas before watching it, so I have learnt alot of knew information. I think that knowing how to change your stroke type is essential for sculpting and alphas can be just as essential so its a good job I watched this video. 

The next video tutorial is called 'Masking'. Before watching this video tutorial I knew a little bit about masking but I think this tutorial will give me a much great understanding of how you can use masking and what it is specifically used for. Masking allows you to isolate pieces of your geometry. The reason you may want to isolate pieces of your geometry is because you may want to sculpt a selected area of your geometry without effecting the rest of the model and vice versa. You may also want to isolate pieces of your geometry when texturing so that you only paint the section of the geometry that you want painted a certain colour and the rest of the geometry does not get effected. You can create a mask by holding down the 'ctrl' key on the keyboard. You know that you can create a mask because the two circles around your cursor go yellow, for as long as you are holding down the 'ctrl' key you can paint a mask on the surface. The image below shows a mask painted onto the surface of my model, as you can see the area of the model that is masked is covered by a dark shadow.       

This now means that if I sculpt onto my model the masked area will not be effected, the image below shows this. 

To remove a mask you simply hold the 'ctrl' key on the keyboard and click and drag on an empty area of the canvas, the mask will now have disappeared. You can also invert the mask, this means that the masked area is the only area that you can sculpt and texture on. To invert the mask you hold the 'ctrl' key and paint your mask onto the surface of your model, once this is done you then hold the 'ctrl' key again and you click once in an empty area of the canvas. The mask will now be inverted. The image below shows an inverted mask.

As you can see from the image above the rest of your geometry is now shaded and the masked section is bright. This is how you can tell the mask is inverted and only that area can be sculpted or textured on. You do the same process to clear the mask, you hold the 'ctrl' key on the keyboard and click and drag in an empty area of the canvas. The tutorial then explains that you can draw out a mask using the different brush types, strokes and alphas. So you can mask out a section with 'DragRect' tool that I learnt in the last tutorial and an Alpha. You do this by using the same process you change your stroke, select an alpha and then hold the 'ctrl' key to draw the mask on the surface of your model. I can tell that this technique will be very useful. Another technique that this tutorial taught me is you can draw a mask by starting from an empty space in the canvas and dragging the mask over the model, this means you can pretty much mask any length of the model. You do this by holding 'ctrl' on the keyboard and in an empty area of the canvas click and drag, whilst keeping the left mouse button held down you can now drag the mask across your model. Again you remove this mask by holding 'ctrl' and clicking and dragging in an empty area of the canvas.

The tutorial then points out that there is a masking section in the tool palette. This is where you can carry out some more complex masking techniques. The image below shows where you can locate the masking section.

The video tutorial says that the more advance masking techniques will be covered in later tutorials but for now I should be aware of the 'BlurMask' and 'SharpenMask' buttons. The 'BlurMask' button simply blurs the mask and the 'SharpenMask' button simply sharpens the mask given it a very sharp edge. There  are also 'Clear' and 'Inverse' buttons in the masking sub palette but the tutorial has already explained how to use keyboard shortcuts to clear and invert your mask. Using the keyboard shortcuts is a much quicker way than having to continually keep opening up the masking sub palette and clicking the buttons. The tutorial then explains the keyboard shortcuts for blurring and sharpening your mask. You can blur your mask in the canvas by holding 'ctrl' on the keyboard and clicking on your mask once, and you sharpen your mask in the canvas by holding 'ctrl' and 'alt' on your keyboard and clicking on your mask once. The 'Masking' tutorial was now complete, this tutorial taught me a lot of new information. It  gave me a good insight as to what you can use masking for and it clearly explained how to create a mask, clear it and invert it.  

The next video tutorial is called 'Polypaint'. This video tutorial explains how you can paint on your mesh and then convert it into a texture. This is a subject area within ZBrush that I currently have no knowledge about, so I am going to be learning a lot from this video tutorial. The first new bit of information that this tutorial taught me was the difference between texture painting and polypainting. When you are texture painting you are painting directly onto the texture, a drawback to texture painting is you are limited by the textures size. When you are polypainting your are painting on each of the vertices. The amount of vertices the model has determines the resolution of your paint. The tutorial then explains how you can polypaint. You do this by clicking on the 'Colorize' button in the 'Polypaint' sub palette which is located in the tool palette in the shelf on the right hand side. The images below show where you can find the 'Colorize' button. 

Once you have clicked on 'Colorize' the button will now change to orange to show that it has been activated and you can now start to paint on the model. I can now chose a colour to paint with, I chose my colour in the colour palette which is located on the left hand side of the user interface. The images below show where you can find the colour palette.

The tutorial explains that for now we are just going to paint on the model and we do not want to sculpt on it, because 'Zadd' is currently selected it means we will be sculpting on the model so we need to deactivate it. You do this by simply clicking on the 'Zadd' button it will change from orange back to the colour of the user interface. Whenever a button is selected in ZBrush it is orange. You can find the 'Zadd' button just above the canvas. You also need to make sure that the 'Rgb' button is selected, this means that we are only painting in just colour. This is the second button to the left of the 'Zadd' button. If the 'Rgb' button is not orange then it is not selected. to select the button you simply click it once. The images below show where you can find the 'Zadd' button and the 'Rgb' button.

Now you can click and drag across the model and you can see that you are painting the colour that you have selected onto the model. Something that I discovered that was not explained to me in the tutorial is the more pressure you apply to your tablet the harder the colour comes out on your model. The image below shows this. The top stroke on the sphere in the image below was me applying only a little bit of presser on my tablet whilst drawing. When I applied a lot more pressure to my tablet I got a much darker stroke as is demonstrated by the second stroke on the sphere in the image below.

As was mentioned earlier the video tutorial again explained that the more subdivisions and vertices your model contains the higher the resolution of your paint will be. It is also explained that because in ZBrush you can divide your model into millions and millions of polygons and when you learn about HD sculpting which allows you to sculpt and paint on models with billions of polygons it means you can create paint on your model that exceeds texture maps. It is then pointed out that whilst polypainting you do not have to worry about UV's, texture maps require UV's but polypainting does not require the model to have a UV layout. UV's can be created later when you want to create a texture map.

If you want to stop polypainting and want to do some more sculpting you can click on the 'Colorize' button in the 'Polypaint' sub palette. Your model will now change to the colour that is currently selected in the colour palette. You can return the whole model to its original colour by selecting that colour in the colour palette and you can now continue sculpting. The polypaint that you have created is still stored on the model so when you click on the 'Colorize' button again the paint that you had already painted onto the model will appear and you can continue from where you left off. 

The video tutorial then explains that you can paint and sculpt at the same time. You do this by clicking on the 'Zadd' button as well as having the 'Rgb' button selected. You can now sculpt and the paint is applied to the sculpted area. The image below gives you an idea of the type of result that you get from painting and sculpting at the same time.    

You can control how much colour is being painted onto the model with the 'Rgb Intensity' slider. This is located right underneath the 'Rgb' button. The higher the value of the 'Rgb Intensity' slider the darker the colour comes out, the lower the value of the of the 'Rgb Intensity' slider the lighter the colour comes out. The images below show where you can find the 'Rgb Intensity' slider.

The next topic that this video tutorial covers is converting your polypaint into a texture map so that you can put your model with its polypaint into another piece of software such as Maya. In order for you to change your polypaint into a texture map your model needs to have a UV layout. You can see if your model already contains UV's by looking to see if the 'Delete UV' button is active in the 'UV Map' sub palette which is located in the tool palette. If the 'Delete UV' button is active then it means your model has UV's if it is not active then it means your model does not have any UV's. When I say active I mean that your are able to click on that button. The images below show where you can find the 'UV Map' sub palette and where the 'Delete UV' button is. 

You only need to click 'Delete UV' if you want to delete your current UV's and want to completely create a new UV layout. If your model has no UV's or you have clicked the 'Delete UV' button you will need to create UV's for your model so that you can change your polypaint to a texture map. You create UV's by first selecting the map size in the 'UV Map' sub palette. As you can see you have the option of '512', '1024', '2048' and '4096'. The tutorial says to click the '1024' button this sets your UV map size to 1024 x 1024. The tutorial says that you next click the 'PUVTiles' button in the 'UV Map' sub palette. You have the option of 'PUVTiles', 'GUVTiles' and 'AUVTiles' but the tutorial says not to worry about what each of these mean as they will be explained in more detail in a later tutorial. If your model has lots of subdivisions a message will pop when you click the 'PUVTiles' button. The image below shows the message that appears.  

The message informs you that in order to create UV's for your model you need to change you model to its lowest subdivision level. You do this in the geometry sub palette which is again located in the tool palette. You scroll the 'SDiv' slider to its lowest value. The tutorial taught me the keyboard shortcut for moving up and down subdivisions. The letter 'D' on the keyboard moves up subdivisions and you hold 'shift' and press 'D' to move down subdivisions. The images below show where you can find the 'Geometry' sub palette and the 'SDiv' slider.

Once you have changed your model to its lowest Subdivision level you can now go back to the 'UV Map' sub palette and press the 'PUVTiles' button. You have now created a new UV map for your model. Once this is done you can close the 'UV Map' sub palette and open up the 'Texture Map' sub palette which is located directly underneath the 'UV Map' sub palette. The images below show where you can find the 'Texture Map' sub palette.

The next step is to click the 'New From Polypaint' button which is located in the 'Texture Map' sub palette. You can see this button in the image above. Before you click the 'New From Polypaint' button you need to change your model to its highest subdivision level. The reason you need to do this is because your texture map needs to include the highest resolution of your polypaint, this is so your texture will look the same in Maya as it does in ZBrush. To change your models subdivision level to its highest value you can either go back into the 'Geometry' sub palette and turn up the 'SDiv' slider to its highest value or you can keep on pressing the letter 'D' on the keyboard until your model reaches its highest subdivision level. You can now click 'New From Polypaint'. As you will now be able to see you have now created a texture map. You will be able to see the new texture map in the little box inside the 'Texture Map' sub palette. The texture map may look confusing but that is due to the way that the UV's of the model are laid out. The image below shows what my 'Texture Map' sub palette looked like after I had converted my polypaint to a texture map. 

     

The video tutorial then explains that If you want to add more polypaint to your model after you have created your texture map and want this new polypaint to be on your texture map then there is a quick and easy way of doing this. As you can see from the image above the 'Texture On' button that is located next to the image of the texture map in the 'Texture Map' sub palette is orange, this means it is selected. As long as the 'Texture On' button is selected you will not be able to see what you are painting on your model as the texture is the only thing that is appearing on the model. So you need to click on the 'Texture On' button to deactivate it, as you will see the new polypaint that you have painted on the model will appear and you can now paint on your model. When you have finished painting what you wanted to  add to your model and are ready to add this to your texture map you simply click the 'New From Polypaint' button again and you will see that this new polypaint has now been added to the texture map.

Whilst explaining the whole procedure above the tutorial taught me a quick trick that allows you to select a colour in the colour palette from a colour that is already in use on the model. This is useful for when you want to over paint a colour and are having trouble finding that exact colour in the colour palette. So you hover your cursor over the colour on the model that you want, you then press 'C' on the keyboard and you will see that the colour in your colour palette has now changed to the colour that you had your cursor on. 

The last topic that the 'Polypaint' video tutorial teaches is how to export the model and the texture map. I already had an idea of how to do this because previous ZBrush tutorials that I have followed taught me how to import a model and export a model from ZBrush and Maya. You export the model by clicking 'Export' in the tool palette. The images below show where you can find the export button. 

When you have clicked 'Export' your computer directory will open and you can choose where you want to save the export of your model and texture map. You need to make sure you export your model and texture map as a .Obj file format. The image below shows this.

Once you have chosen where you want your model and texture map to be saved and clicked save you will now have exported your model and your texture map. If you were to just click 'Save As' in the tool palette then you will simply just be saving your model as a tool, which will be saved in a ZBrush file format, this means that it can only be opened in ZBrush. When you save a tool aka your model it stores all the data so the texture map will be saved with it. The 'Polypaint' video tutorial is now finished, I have learnt a lot of new information and can see how this is a very powerful texturing technique. I now have the urge to try and professionally polypaint a model to experiment and discover the effects that polypainting can create. I think it has inspired me to try and learn more creative ways of texturing rather than just sticking to texturing in Photoshop. If I have enough time I think I may look into texturing my character for my showreel in ZBrush.  

The next and last video tutorial in the 'Introduction To ZBrush' section on the Pixologic website is called 'Saving Data'. The video explains how you can load a tool aka a 3D object, how you can save your 3D object, and how you can import and export 3D objects. It also explains how you can open, save, import and export any 2.5D work that you have created. 

This video tutorial taught me that any loading, saving, importing or exporting 3D objects is done in the tool palette which is located in the shelf on the right hand side of the user interface. The images below show where you can find this palette.

The 'Save As' button that you can see in the image above allows you to save the current tool that you are using. This means you will be saving the 3D object in your canvas. Any polypaint or textures that you may have applied will also be saved with your 3D object. When you save your tool (aka 3D object) you will be creating a ZBrush file, this file format is a called .ZTL. You can only open this file in ZBrush.  The 'Save As' button allows you to save the sculpting and/or texturing progress that you have made with your 3D model, you can then open it up again later and continue working where you left off.

When you open up ZBrush and want to continue working on a 3D model that you have saved you simply click the 'Load Tool' button. The 'Load Tool' button is located next to the 'Save As' button in the tool palette, the image above shows this. When you click the 'Load Tool' button your computer directory will now appear and you simply locate the .ZTL file that you want to open and click 'Open'. Your 3D object will now be loaded in your tool palette. The next step is to carry out the procedure that you do with any tool to get it into your canvas. You click and drag in the canvas, your 3D object will now appear in the canvas, let go of the left mouse button and your 3D object will be dropped to the canvas . You then press the letter 'T' on your keyboard to enter edit mode. You will now be able to sculpt and paint on your model.

If you have completed sculpting and/or texturing on your model and want to use it in another piece of software such as Maya you need to export your 3D object. You do this by clicking the 'Export' button that is located directly underneath the 'Save As' button in the tool palette, the image above shows this. When you click the 'Export' button you then name your file and select where you want to save it, if you want to use this 3D object in Maya you need to make sure that the file format is a .Obj. You then click save and you have now successfully exported your 3D object. 

If you want to import a 3D object into ZBrush from another piece of software such as Maya then you need to click the 'Import' button which is located next to the 'Export' button and directly under the 'Load Tool' button, the image above shows where you can find the 'Import' button. You simply click the 'Import' button, your computers file directory will then open, you locate the file of your 3D object and click 'Open'. In order for you to successfully import a model into ZBrush you need to make sure the file format of your model is a .Obj. The same process happens that happens with the 'Load Tool' button, your model has now been loaded to your tool palette. In order for you to begin working on your model you need to click and drag on the canvas to drop your model to the canvas, you then need to press 'T' on the keyboard to enter edit mode so that you can begin sculpting and/or texturing. You have now successfully imported your model into ZBrush.

If you are creating some art work and are working in 2.5D in ZBrush then you do not save your work, load your work, export your work or import work by using the buttons described above in the tool palette. If you want to save, load, import or export 2.5D work then you do this in the document palette. The document palette is located at the top of ZBrush's user interface. The image below shows where you can find the document palette and the buttons that allow you to save, load, import and export your 2.5D work.    

The 'Save' and 'Save As' buttons in the document palette will save what is in your canvas in a 2.5 form. If you save a 3D object by using the 'Save' or 'Save As' buttons in the document palette you will be saving your 3D object in a 2.5D state which means you will no longer be able to work on the whole model in 3D. When you click the 'Export' button in the document palette you will be exporting an image of what is currently in your canvas. You can export an image of your 3D object by using this button but be aware that the 'Export' button in the document palette only exports an image it does not export the whole 3D object. So if you are working in 2.5D then this is where you save and open your work. If you are working in 3D then you save, open, import and export your work in the tool palette.

I have now finished the 'Saving Data' video tutorial which means I have finished all the videos in Pixologic's 'Introduction To ZBrush' section. The saving data video covered a lot of information that I had already learnt. I already knew about the save, load, import and export buttons in the tool palette, I knew what they do and why you use them, I learnt this from previous ZBrush tutorials that I had followed. However I am grateful I watched the 'Saving Data' video as I did learn a lot of new information. I was aware there were save, open, import and export buttons in the document palette but I had no idea what they did and I was very curious as to why there were two lots of these buttons. I wanted to know what the difference between them was. This video taught me the difference between them and gave me all the vital information that I was seeking.

Overall I am very grateful that I watched all of the 'Introduction To ZBrush' video tutorials. Before watching these video tutorials I thought I had a good understanding of the basics of ZBrush. I was unsure whether it would be wise for me to spend more time going through more tutorials that covered  topics that I thought I had already grasped, when I could move onto learn more advanced ZBrush knowledge instead. However it turned out that it was a very wise move as there were lots more ZBrush basics for me to learn. I now feel that I have an even greater understanding and know more of ZBrush's basics but I won't go as far as to say I know all of the basics because I am sure there is probably more basic ZBrush information that I have not covered yet. For example there is a button in ZBrush's user interface called 'Projection Master' I have clicked on it a few times but I do not fully understand what it is and what it does. I am very keen to find this information out, hopefully I will stumble across a tutorial soon that will teach me this. 

Chapter 3

I have now read chapter 3 of Jason Patnode's 'Character Modeling with Maya and ZBrush: Professional Polygonal Modeling Techniques' book. The third chapter is called 'Introduction to ZBrush Modeling'. At last I got the chance to start learning and using ZBrush.

The chapter starts off by explaining what ZBrush is, what it can be used for and why it is used. It then goes through some of the basic hot keys that are used in ZBrush. I found that some of them were similar to Maya which made them easier to remember. The user interface was next explained. I found using ZBrush's interface fairly straight forward and could not wait to start some modeling. There was then a tutorial about saving custom materials. This taught me a lot of new information but at this moment in time it was not relevant as I currently have no custom materials that need saving. However I can see where this will come in handy in the future.

It was the next tutorial where I starting to learn a lot about modeling in Zbrush, this was because it gave me a chance to use the interface further, which made it a lot easier to understand. This tutorial is called 'Using Zspheres'. It starts by explaining what Zspheres are and what they can be used for. It already became apparent to me that Zspheres would be very useful. The Zsphere tutorial goes on to show how to create a human hand from Zspheres. I firstly started creating different sized Zspheres this allowed me to get the hang of how Zspheres work. I then used the book and the video tutorials that come with the book to create a hand out of Zspheres. This didn't take too long but it did require a lot of adjusting to ensure my Zsphere hand matched the one from the image in the book. Below is an image of my Zsphere hand.

I then turned on 'adaptive skin'. This tool changes the Zspheres to a poly mesh. When I did this my hand looked like more of a robotic claw than a human hand. Where as the hand in the image in the book looked like a real human hand. At first this was disappointing as I thought I had done something wrong, but it then became apparent that Jason Patnode had obviously sculpted the poly mesh to create this realistic human hand, it was not a case of him just turning on 'adaptive skin' and that was it, he worked on it to create a finished model. This gave me an insight into the power that ZBrush has.

The next tutorial in the chapter is called 'Exporting a Model from Maya'. This chapter explains how to export a model from Maya and import in into ZBrush. I learnt that in order for this to work the model has to be exported as an .obj file. This made sense to me because that is the file format that I had to export a model as when I had to make a 3D print of the one and only character model that I have ever created.

The tutorial after this was called 'Exporting a Model from ZBrush to Maya'. So this tutorial showed how to get a model back into Maya after using it in ZBrush. This was also very simple again making sure that the model is exported as a .obj file format. The main thing that I learnt here was where the correct export button was located in ZBrush.

The fifth tutorial in chapter 3 is called 'Rebuilding Bad Topology'. I already knew from the title that this technique will come in very handy. The tutorial in the book uses a model that is provided with the book, however I had an idea that would allow me to learn this process better. My idea was to use the process that this tutorial taught (rebuilding bad topology) on the one and only character that had I ever modeled before. I knew for a fact that my model had very bad topology and not just in one area but all over the model. So it seemed the perfect opportunity to improve a model and learn a very useful technique within a new software.I find that sometimes if your just following the tutorial and making sure your results look exactly like the results in the book then your perhaps not learning the process as best as you could be. Where as when your using a different model with different problems you still read and take in what the tutorial is saying but you have to apply it differently therefore requiring you to think about it more which results in you taking in more information. Thats my view on it anyway.

Another benefit from using my own model for this tutorial is it would allow me to use what I learnt in the previous two tutorials. This would also ensure I would solidify my learning because I had only read the previous tutorials, using my own model would allow me to physically carry out the process of exporting a model from Maya and importing it into ZBrush, and then exporting that model from ZBrush and importing it back into Maya so it can be rendered or animated etc. Below is an image of my character model that I am going to export into ZBrush and rebuild some of its bad topology.

As you can see from the image above my character has a lot of props on it, such as the gas mask and helmet etc. The focus of the tutorial that I am following is rebuilding bad topology so these props are not relevant as I am just focusing on the mesh of the character. Luckily my props are all separate meshes and are attached to separate layers in Maya. This meant that all I had to do was hide them and make them unselectable. This then left me with just the mesh of the character. Below is an image of my character without its props. 

The image below shows the mesh of my character.

As you can see from the image above the topology of my model is awful (you made need to click on the image to enlarge it so that you can clearly see the mesh). I created this model for my first unit of my second year at Ravensbourne. I can already see from what I have learnt in this unit that the topology is very bad. I think that I have already come a long way since modeling that character and I haven't even begun modeling a new character from scratch yet. I can see that my mesh contains 'ngons' (polygons with more that four sides) so I have broken a main rule of modeling especially character modeling. I also have too many triangles in my mesh. So already I have failed to keep to two of the basic rules of modeling. The mesh in general is just a mess. However I will say in my defense that this was the first ever character that I modeled and in fact thinking of it I think it was the first ever model that I made without following any tutorials and used from my own design. I think this model clearly shows that I did not know much about modeling. In a way I regret that I did not do more research, purchase the book that I am using now and learn some ZBrush back then. That would have meant that I would have been at the stage I am now a year ago and I would now be a lot more advanced in Organic Modeling. However it is what it is and I am learning it now.


I exported my character as an .obj and imported it into ZBrush. I then came across a problem that I was not expecting. Below is an image of the message that poped up when I imported my character into ZBrush.

Due to what the book had taught me about character modeling I understood what this message meant and what it was asking me. Basically as I said in the paragraph above my mesh contained 'Ngons' (polygons with more than four sides) this meant that when I tried to import my character into ZBrush it was not a mesh that ZBrush could work with. Luckily for me ZBrush gave me the option of changing the 'Ngons' to 'Quads and Triangles' or just changing the polygons in the mesh to 'Symmetrical Triangles Only'. I selected 'Quads and Triangles' I could now drag my model into the work area and enter edit mode which now allows me to edit and sculpt on my model. Below is an image of my character model in ZBrush.

As you may notice from the image above my mesh now has some holes in it. I rotated around my character and discovered that there were now also holes in the back of the mesh as well. Below is an image of the back of my character.

There were some more drastic holes in the back of the mesh. This did not take me long to figure out why this had happened. It all came down to the message that poped up when I tried to import my character into ZBrush. This all boiled down to the fact that there were 'Ngons' in my mesh and because I told ZBrush to convert my mesh to 'Quads and Triangles' it meant that some holes were formed in the mesh.  Despite not having enough time to rework the whole mesh and fill in the wholes I can still use this mesh for the 'Rebuilding Bad Topology' tutorial. I though that maybe rebuilding the topology of the mesh in ZBrush might get rid of the holes, but unfortunately it didn't. There may be a way to do this but as I am a beginner in ZBrush I am not sure if there is.

I selected a part of the mesh where the topology was exceptionally bad. I ended up choosing the top of the legs where the polygons in the mesh had lots of triangles and some of the edges crossed over each other. Below is an image of the section of the mesh that I am using for the tutorial.

As you can see there is also a hole in this part of the mesh so I thought that by rebuilding the topology of this part of the mesh may take out that hole. I started to follow the tutorial. The first thing that I did was make a clone of my mesh. This is pretty simple it just makes a copy of your mesh. I then created a Zsphere, I needed to do this in order to work with the retopology tools. I then clicked 'Rigging' and selected my original mesh. This means that the Zsphere will now be drawn on top of my mesh. The next thing that I did was click on 'Topology', I then got a drop down list I then clicked ''Select Topo' and picked the cloned mesh in the popup. This is all found under the 'Tools' section. I then clicked on 'Topology' and then clicked 'Edit Topology' this put me in editing mode. A wireframe of my topology was now wrapped around my mesh. I can now rebuild the entire topology of my mesh by erasing and recreating the lines of my mesh.

The tutorial then told me I had to turn on 'Symmetry'. This meant that what ever action I carried out on one side of the mesh the other side of the mesh would also be effected in exactly the same way. This  ensures that your whole mesh stays symmetrical. I turned on 'Symmetry' by clicking 'Transform' then clicking 'Activate Symmetry' and turned on the 'X Symmetry'. I was now ready to start erasing and rebuilding the bad topology of my model. You erase the bad topology by pressing 'Shift' and clicking and dragging the 'Left Mouse Button' across the faulty sections of the mesh and it erases the current topology. This took a lot of getting use to and took me a while to fully get the concept. However once I started to get the hang of it it proved to be a tool that is going to be very useful in the future. I removed the bad topology of the section that I was working on, below is an image of the result.

As you can see I removed all of the triangle polys in my mesh. It was now time to rebuild the topology, this time making sure that the new polys were quads and not triangles. The tutorial taught me that you rebuild the topology in the same that you erase it, except this time you don't click and drag with the left mouse button you only click it. So what you do is you press 'Shift' and click and release the left mouse button on the point where you want to begin creating the new topology. You then press 'Shift' and click and release the left mouse button on the end point of where the new topology is going to end. This also took me a while to get the hang of and required a lot of trial and error, but in the end I finally got there. I continued to do this and rebuilt the whole section of the mesh that I had selected to re work. I payed a lot of attention in ensuring that I created proper edge loop topology. Below is an image of my rebuilt topology.

As you can see unfortunately there is still a hole in the mesh however the topology is now a lot better. The polys are no longer triangles and are now quads. I found that this function of rebuilding topology within ZBrush was extremely useful. Once I got the hang of it, it was a very quick and effective way. I could now go on to improve the topology of my whole character but I think that it would be a waste as the mesh of my character is beyond repair, it would be easier for me to start from scratch. Despite saying that it was very useful having this model as it was a perfect example that I could use in order to learn the technique of rebuilding bad topology. I think that this will definitely come in handy in the future and is a technique that I will always have in mind when I need to rebuild bad topology.

The chapter then covers two more tutorials. The first tutorial is called 'Using HD Geometry'. This tutorial shows how you can work on models that have a poly count that is too high for my computer to normally handle. This is a technique that will come in very handy when I start to create some very high detail models. However at this moment in time it is something that I do not need to use, but I image it will not be long before I do so it is definitely worth knowing.

The second tutorial is called 'Using Smart Resym'. This turorial covers how you can regain symmetry in your model if you have only been working on one half with out symmetry activated. This again is very useful but you only tend to lose symmetry in your model if you are using 'HD Geometry'. So I have not put this technique into use but I have no doubt that I will need to in the future.

The book also provides a disk with additional video tutorials for some of the chapters and the files that contain the content that all the tutorials are using. There are 6 video tutorials for chapter 3. The first video tutorial is about the basic brushes that you can use in ZBrush. This taught me about basic sculpting technique such as not having your 'Z intensity' too high and layering on brush strokes instead of just having your 'Z intensity' as high as you can and just using one brush stroke and leaving it. If you layer on your brush strokes with less 'Z intensity' and keep building them up you have more control over how the sculpted area will look. This video also taught me about the basic brushes that you can use to sculpt. I found this very interesting as it allowed me to experiment with some of the different effects that you can create. I also learnt how to change the size of your brush and the size of the area that the brush will effect. I learnt how to wrap a brush around a whole model, this is a technique that is very useful for create scales on your model. Another technique that I learnt turns up the gravity of your brush so what you are sculpting gets pulled down. This is a technique that is very useful for sculpting rolls of fat on more obese characters. I also learnt a useful technique called 'Lazy Mouse'. You find this under the 'Stroke' menu, 'lazy mouse' allows you to drag your mouse and the sculpting of your model will update behind your stroke. This makes it a lot easier to control the path of your mouse and allows you to see the exact area of the model that you are effecting. Below are images that show you where you can change the 'Z intensity' and brush sizes, where you can turn up the gravity of your brush and where you can find 'ZBrush's Lazy Mouse' feature.

The second video tutorial quickly explains how to export your model from Maya as a .obj file if you do not have the option of exporting as an .obj. As the video tutorial explains you resolve this problem by loading the .objExport plug-in in your 'Plug-in Manager' in Maya. You simply open up the 'Plug-in Manager' and tick the boxes 'Load' and 'Auto Load' which are located next to '.objExport' and you will now be able to export your model as a .obj, because you clicked 'Auto Load' this plug-in will now always be loaded when you open up Maya so you do not have to keep going into your 'Plug-in Manager' and loading the .objExport plug-in every time you want to export a model. The first image below is an image of the 'Plug-in Manager' and the image below that is an image of the two boxes that you need to tick.

The third video tutorial shows you how to import your model into ZBrush, the book also did a good job of explaining this so the video tutorial compliments the 'Import a model into ZBrush' tutorial from the book. The images below show you where to click to import a model into ZBrush.

The fourth video tutorial is called 'ZBrush Overview', this tutorial shows you a little bit of all the basics. It taught me about how to 'Mask' a certain section of your model, this allows you to only see the masked part of your model which allows you to focus closely on that chosen part. This video tutorial also taught me how to 'Smooth'. You do this by holding the 'shift' button on the keyboard when using a brush, you can smooth any part of the model. This is very useful if you have gone too far with your sculpting but do not want to undo all of your changes, you can simply smooth it out. The smooth tool adds more 'pixols' to your model. However as soon as you let go of 'shift' your brush returns to its original purpose.

The fifth video tutorial is an introduction to using 'Zspheres' I had already picked up most of this knowledge from previously following the tutorial on how to create a hand from Zspheres. The last video tutorial accompanies the tutorial in the book on how to make a human hand from Zspheres. If only I had watched this video tutorial when making my hand out of Zspheres I would have had a much better result. However by trying to create a hand from Zspheres from the little text in the book and not realising that there was a video accompanying it I learnt a lot more as I had to experiment more. Below is an image of a shape that I created out of  Zspheres.

Overall so far this chapter of the book has taught me the most, that is probably heavily down to the fact that I have never used ZBrush before so any ZBrush knowledge is new knowledge to me. I am finding that I am throughly enjoying learning ZBrush and it is a piece of software that is going to be very useful especially for Character Modeling. I feel that I am starting to grasp some of the basics but I want to develop this further. At the end of Chapter 3 it is suggested that you look at the 'Pixologic' website as it has a lot of video tutorials and critiques. This is my next aim in order to develop my basic knowledge of Zbrush. Once I have done this I will return to the next chapter of the 'Character Modeling with Maya and ZBrush: Professional Polygonal Modeling Techniques' book.