ZBrush For Beginners- Notes And Assistance
Novica
Posts: 23,887
Okay, I got ZBrush yesterday and a few people have PMd asking about the complexities and if it is a "stick to it" program. I have to say I am totally impressed with ZClassroom on the the Pixologic site. There are only a few things the narrator doesn't cover as he demonstrates. You just freeze the frame and look at the settings. He's a wonderful instructor and goes logically through the topics, so I can't personally see anyone ditching ZBrush because it is too hard IF they watch the videos and read what's available.
ZBrush is a big investment so it's good that there are a lot of videos on the subject. If you use the ZClassroom you will know for sure whether you can handle the "complexities" of ZBrush or not. I put that in quotes because I followed the masking video and was masking and inverting with ease by pausing the video and going into ZBrush and trying it right then and there. Masking actually became FUN! If you have ZBrush open and do what the instructor does, you'll do fine.
Right now version 4R6 is currently in use and the purchasers will get the free upgrade to 4R7. I've been reading that upgrades have been free for the past 11 years or so. I have noticed fairly significant price increases over the years so I did not want to wait as a new buyer and possibly get hit with a price increase. ZBrush is around $750-$800.
There are several articles about the 4r7 release, this has the video which shows what it can do. Note when 4r7 is released, KeyShot will have an intro price of $249 instead of $350. I am not familiar with it (for rendering) so you'll have to look that up or someone who uses it can discuss it.
Take a peek at what Zbrush is adding in the new edition, and for an overall wow factor.
http://www.zbrushcentral.com/showthread.php?188264-Presenting-ZBrush-4R7
Added: System Requirements:
http://pixologic.com/zbrush/system/
And start here with the videos if you are considering ZBrush.
http://pixologic.com/zclassroom/homeroom/lesson/zbrush-introduction/
I'll share some of my notes as I go along- I am not going to teach ZBrush but I also wanted a thread available for anyone who wanted to ask questions of more experienced users (as I know they'll help us) and just share some of the wonderful aspects of it. I may not be exactly technical so experienced users can feel free to correct anything they see which is wrong (so far as terminology, etc.)
I will post the hotkeys and tips in the next post, and provide the book references here. I have some fantastic books on ZBrush! Videos are good, but I like printed references too. As posts progress, I'll put a Table of Contents here so you can zip to a post and find an answer. :)
Recommended Books:
Introducing ZBrush (3rd Edition) Eric Keller (We're using this first) ISBN 978-1-118-24482-1
*If used, be sure your edition comes with the disc.
ZBrush Professional Tips & Techniques Paul Gaboury ISBN 978-1-118-06680-5
*Likewise about the disc.
ZBrush Character Creation Scott Spencer ISBN 978-0-470-57257-3
*Likewise about the disc.
These books are by the same company and the books are wonderful. Large print, a lot of illustrations, and they explain the how-to but also the "why."
Free Resources
Brushes, Textures, etc at Badking.com
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Table Of Contents
Hotkeys
Getting Started
Alpha Examples / Alpha Fly-Out Button
Brushes: Hotkey
Brush Panel
Brushes: Loading More, Folder Location
Cube: Changing to all quads
Document (Workspace) How To Start Over
Draw Vs Draw/Edit (2D / 3D)
Eyes: Creating Using Insert Sphere
Focal Shift
Lightbox: How To Open, What is it?
Lightbox:Add Strips / Search / Change Display
Lines, Drawing: How to make a line (trench) for drawing details
Masks: Create / Paint / Invert / Erase
Masks: Alpha & Stroke Setup / Blur & Sharpen
Parametric 3D Object: In Tools, Where Are They? New Jan 3 2017
Polygons: Optimizing (Removing Those Not Seen)
PolyPaint Introduction / RGB Intensity
Rigging OBJ In Daz Studio
Strokes: DragRect Tip
Subdivision: Prepare To Sculpt / PolyF
Subdivision: PolyMesh3D
Subdivision: Geometry Panel: Divide, Sub Divide Smooth Modifier
Subdivision: Deleting And Restoring
ZAdd and ZSubtract Hotkey
Z Intensity
ZSphere Example
ZSpheres: How To Start/Select Material/Delete/Smooth
ZSpheres: Smoothing Brushes
ZSpheres: Loading Brushes
TIPS:
Rigging your object: In Daz Studio Rigging Preparation then Adding Bones for Rigging
Starting over from scratch: Preferences>Initialize>Yes. Be sure to Save your current project first!
Hotkeys
Brush: B
Brush - a specific one: B + first letter of the brush (such as M for Move)
Change Materials: Shift + A
Collapse UI: Tab (collapses the area around the "document" (workspace/viewport) so you have a lot of room
Color Palette: C
Cursor Size: S (changes the size of the brush)
Dynamesh: Refresh it by Canvas Dragging (blank area) + CTRL
Edit: T
Erase masked areas: Ctrl + Alt (Be sure you are not in Inversion.)
Floor: To straighten up your object relative to the ground plane/floor Shift + drag on blank part of canvas
Frame: F (to get object to center)
Mask: To invert, click CTRL out in viewport (not your item!)
Menus: Hold CTRL when hovering over menu, it will give you information about it.
Open / Close Lightbox: Comma
Redo: CTRL + Shift + Z
Smoothing: Shift
Subdivide: Ctrl + D
Symmetry: X
Undo: Ctrl+Z (up to 10,000 times. I think they have you covered!)
ZAdd To ZSub: Alt (and vice versa)
My first impression of ZBrush...
How do I get something to play with? I'm a kid in a toy store and want that big red ball of "clay."
Answer: Hit comma. The drop down is called Lightbox. It has a menu built in going horizontally across the top, but for newbies, just click on that big red ball and PLAY. Hitting comma will make Lightbox appear and disappear. (That was painless, wasn't it?)
TIP: Be sure Project is selected in the little horizontal menu.
TIP: Hit X to turn off Symmetry if you don't want it.
How do I get a brush to doodle?
Answer: Hit B. Brush options open up and you can pick one and start doodling.
I want to add clay strips...no wait, I want to subtract and dig a "trench" in the clay. How do I do that?
Answer: Hit Alt. It will toggle you between the two options.
I jumped in doodling and then didn't have a clue how to get OUT of the doodle. I want to start over, but I don't want to close ZBrush.
Answer: Preferences>Initialize>Yes. (Poof! Your "document" area is back to a clean slate. )
And what are those Edit and Draw options?
Answer: If you are in Draw, you are not in 3D. That is 2D. You must have both Edit and Draw selected to be in 3D mode.
Brush Panel
Z Intensity / Focal Shift
Here's what you would see/ could play around with. We're going to use the default brush which is "Standard." Here's an screenshot of your brush panel. All you need to do is Hotkey B or click on the Brush (see red *)
To show you the first things you might want to play around with, try changing the values on the Z Intensity. Think of that as the "strength" of the effect. The green ball strokes, from left to right, show you the Z Intensity and Focal Shift values:
Z Intensity 24 / Focal Shift 0
24 / -41
24 / -100
100/ -100
The Focal Shift was explained in the video as falloff. From my experimenting, the negative Focal Shift numbers produce harsher lines. You will see as you change the numbers, the cursor, which has two rings, will change. The rings will get closer together when you use negative Focal Shift values.
So the Z Intensity (strength) of 100 and the Focal Shift (-100) of the farthest line to your right is the harshest/ most detail. This will be elaborated on with more experimentation, but will get you started.
Remember, to undo, just hit Ctrl+Z. Play around and stroke away!
Alpha Fly-Out Button
Alpha is interesting. According to the "Introducting ZBrush" book, Alphas are grayscale images which they refer to as "similar to cake decorating tools to change the shape of the frosting." (You really need to get this book if you are just starting with ZBrush! Very down-to-earth.)
Just playing with it, I left the Z Intensity 100 and Focal Length -100 with a brush size of 204, and selected "BrushAlpha" from the Alpha choices on the left. (red *) NOTE THESE ARE ALL ZAdds. (Meaning they are adding "clay" to the sphere.)
Time to make this sculpture: 20 seconds, max.
Also shown: The Alpha Fly-Out showing you the options. I'll doodle and add more here. (Added the purple sphere- ALL of those are Alphas.)
CLICK TO ENLARGE/CLICK AGAIN to see the menus. All screenshots are going to be large for you to see details.
TIP: Turn Z Intensity to 25 to keep the shapes clearly defined, with the Focal Length -100. If you turn up the intensity, it starts getting garbled and you can't see the shape.
Lightbox: Search / Changing Height Display / Adding Folders
The Light Box is called that based on photographers' workstations, where they see their collections of negatives. When you click on your choice btw, it "lights up" with a glow around the edges. Very clever.
Light Box displays the files within the Pixologic directories and you can load your files that you are working on there without having to go elsewhere to find them.
Note: Projects are stand alone, if you have a project open and click the Project tab within Light Box and try to add another one, you will be warned that the current project will close.
However, if you have a project in the works in your work area and click on the Tools, Brushes, etc in the Light Box menu (that one that runs horizontally across the top of the Light Box popup) then those will be ADDED to your current project.
Check your version to see if this applies. This was in the book, and I am looking for these but don't see them. They're probably right in front of my face.
Changing the height of Light Box: There are 4 stacks on the right inside Light Box and you can click those to adjust the height of the Light Box display. The icons will move around to adjust to the new height within those strips.
Adding a strip to Light Box: Look for "New" at the far right in Light Box. "Close" will remove the strip. You (PC, not sure if MAC users can do this) can create a shortcut on your computer and add it to one of the Pixologic folders and access it through Light Box.
Search: There is a search text box next to the menu box in Light Box. Press Go or Enter/Return.
Paint / Invert / Clear Masking
This is from watching the ZClassroom video on masking and doing it. It's really easy!
Set your RGB intensity to 100% so your mask can't be affected by other brushes.
Your mask will appear as a dark area.
To Create A Mask:
Click on Masking in the right side menu. ViewMask will be default. The MaskPen will be in Brushes. (B) By holding down on Ctrl and your mouse, the mask is created.
To invert I used Inverse in the right hand sidebar. There is another method but it didn't work for me.
You can then experiment with using different brushes and affecting only the masked area. Quite fun!
To Clear / Erase A Mask: Ctrl+Drag Mouse over unused area in workspace. It may take a few swipes.
TIP: To erase part of the masked area, Ctrl + Alt but NOT when it is in Inverse. Should be on ViewMask. It is really nice that these two options are located side by side in the Mask section (which opens up as a right side menu), it makes it really easy to use.
TIP: To get information about a menu item, hold down Ctrl and a popup will appear.
I put masked dots on my dog then erased part of them to form the moons.
Mask Examples
The first group represents the object being impacted by the brush, with the mask areas protected.
The round ball with the dark spots is the original item, the dark is masked. I used Blob brush at 516 to create the little owl (that's what it looks like, lol) then I used Blob at 125 to do each individual dark spot.
Then I tested Slash brush at 318, that's two different views. Whacky!
Second screenshot:
Then notice when I Inverse, the areas inside the holes (formerly masked) are now vulnerable and the rest of the object is now protected. Only the "masked" items respond and get the holes from the Slash brush.
I hope all the above has helped you see what you can do immediately with ZBrush. It's not a "Oh my gosh where do I start?" program if you just follow the ZClassroom videos and I would also recommend some of the books.
Masking: Setting Alpha And Stroke
As you won't always want to use the defaults, there's a way to set your brush stroke, and also the Alpha. So that these are changed when doing masking, hold down Ctrl while selecting the stroke type and / or alpha. Then when you hold down Ctrl to mask, it will activate those items.
TIP: (Image Below) Then, using your Standard (default) brush and the dot stroke (default) when you INVERT and go over the areas, you get a very nice raised texture. Try the DragRect stroke and the Alpha 62. (Shown) When you invert and use the default brush over the alpha areas, it raises it nicely. My Z Intensity was 22 and Focal Shift 0. Had I gone negative, it would have been a harder line.
Blur Mask
Blur Mask gives you less defined edges and softens them up. Select Blur Mask in your right side menu in the Mask section.
NOTE: Although the ZClassroom says "Then Ctrl+mouse click on the mask and it will immediately soften." in the latest version it does it automatically when you click on Blur Mask.
Sharpen Mask
Sharpen Mask is Ctrl+Alt and click, but again, in this edition, Sharpen Mask is in the right side menu in the Mask section and it will work by clicking there.
Nice start Novica, zbrush can be addictive...
Thank you :) Yeah, it's 5:15am and I have to get some sleep. If you use ZBrush and ever want to jump in, feel free. I'd love to see stuff that people have done too. There sure is a lot to learn but it's fun.
I've been focussing on texturing using spotlight. I recently finished this...I hope people don't mind me posting an image of Dawn. It's more about showing what I've been doing in ZBrush.
I've been focussing on texturing using spotlight. I recently finished this...I hope people don't mind me posting an image of Dawn. It's more about showing what I've been doing in ZBrush.
Wow that's awesome! Is it possible to detail a bit about how you accomplished that in Zbrush? I am still trying to warrant the cost of purchasing ZBrush , and it's good to hear how people accomplish some tasks and ease of use to do so, I am sure that takes alot of practice :)
must be for $800
must be for $800
I was lucky I originally bought ZBrush from Daz for about $145 on sale. It was a long time ago and I've had about 4 or more free upgrades since then. I've only recently really gotten in to it with support from a group of people who are all trying to learn ZBrush.
Wow that's awesome! Is it possible to detail a bit about how you accomplished that in Zbrush? I am still trying to warrant the cost of purchasing ZBrush , and it's good to hear how people accomplish some tasks and ease of use to do so, I am sure that takes alot of practice :)
Hi Kharma,
ZBrush is a huge program it has a lot of options which is why at the moment I have been mainly focusing on texturing to begin with.
ZBrush has two aspects to add colour that I have come across so far. One is polypaint and the other is Spotlight. I used Spotlight to create the texture above using some photos of leaves that I took with my camera. If you want to see more about my process I have a thread on texturing with ZBrush with more pictures in the Texturing forum at Hivewire. I'm not sure if the pictures I have of using polypaint are in my ZBrush thread in the ZBrush forum or in the texturing one so I will post one here.
This is a print screen from ZBrush...so far it's just a face texture and a morph. I call her Venus Mantrap. I have done a render in DS using just the face but I will have to hunt it out...too early.
Sorry I don't feel comfortable with posting a link there without checking first with a mod if that's okay. Hope this makes sense I'm just waking up. Off to get a coffee.
Pendraia that looks very interesting, I will check out your threads on Zbrush over at HW, thanks so much for the info :)
....As we slowly entice Kharma into the expenditure....I see an amount appearing on her credit card....
EDIT: October 2016: I believe the old forums which had Pendraia's group discussions were lost, here's her new thread with some of the links to tutorials.
Subdivision And Preparing For Scultping
This covers:
PolyF
PolyMesh3D
Geometry Panel: Divide, Sub Divide Smooth Modifier
Deleting Subdivision Levels
Restoring Deleted Levels
Again, not trying to cover everything but giving you a "feel" of how ZBrush is laid out/ ease of use.
Image 1: To see the polygons you go to PolyF which is Poly Frame. Hotkey: Shift + F. This will let you view the topology.
Image 2: For sculpting, you will convert the 3D Primitive (choose a cube or sphere, etc) to a PolyMesh3D. It is in the upper right of your screen. Click it and your primitive will change color.
TIP: If your menu looks different and you don't see PolyMesh3D, see if your menu is partially hidden. I wasted time with that, thinking it must have been a different version. It simply needed to be pulled down. (No, NOT from a black submenu triangle, just the entire box needed to be pulled down.)
Change your brush (Hotkey B) to Clay Buildup brush.
Image 3: Now for adding subdivision. Hotkey Ctrl+D or the Geometry panel on the right. You can just use the hotkey or click the Divide button. You will see that after you subdivide, the bar inside the Geometry panel (right under the Lower Res button) will show you have 2 SDiv. That means 2 subdivisions. The number will increase each time you add a level of subdivision. (If you click Divide again or hit Ctrl+D it will increase to 3 SDiv.)
TIP: You can use that slider and go to different levels of subdivision. Hotkeys: Shift+D to go to a lower level, and D to go to a higher one.
If you've played with subdivision at all, you know that if you have a square cube, when you subdivide, the mesh starts smoothing/ rounding out the corners. What if you don't want that?
Sub Divide Smooth Modifier: The Smt button is next to the Divide button. It is enabled by default, meaning whenever you hit Divide and subdivide your mesh, it is going to smooth. Simply click and turn off Smt when you do not want to lose your sharp polygonal corners.
To delete levels of subdivision: When using the Delete Highest (level) use Shift+D to go to the next lowest level then you can delete highest and it will remove the next one up. Example: if you have subdivided 4 times, go to level 3 and hit Del Higher button and level 4 will be removed.
Restoring Deleted Levels: The Reconstruct Subdiv button in the Geometry panel will restore your subdivision and add a level.
You can see these other buttons in the images below.
PolyPaint
Watch the ZClassroom video on PolyPaint to see all this in action. These are my notes.
Screenshot 1: Just a peek at the materials palette. Each selection has its own lighting.
The PolyPaint panel is in the right sidemenu. Click to open and you'll see the options. Click Colorize. Your item will change color to let you know it's ready to take color. Click ZAdd to turn it off as we don't want to add clay to the model, and be sure RGB (up there by ZAdd) is selected.
Then you can select from the Color Palette in the left side bar menu. Hold down Hotkey C. and select a color, then let go of C. You can also select the color directly in the palette. Just as in sculpting, the higher subdivision levels give you better results due to a denser mesh.
RGB Intensity (slider above your workspace area, already shown in other images) impacts your opacity.
Hotkey: Space Bar which has many commonly used options. Very handy!
Just keep in mind you must use Colorize to add color to your model. If you want to add color and clay at the same time, simply click on ZAdd and Colorize. When you are using ZAdd, the Z Intensity influences how much clay is added to your model.
Big time saver-
in the videos, it mentions doing the DragRect (drag rectangle) and using an Alpha. Let me put it another way- if you want those really pretty flowers and shapes in the Alpha fly-out, make SURE your stroke IS the DragRect. It will make the perfect shapes for you. Otherwise, you will get rather blobby. :)
2.5D Mode And 3D Mode
Watch the ZClassroom video on 2.5D. These are some notes. He made some changes when he cut away for several scenes, without mentioning what he did, so you have to look at the screen carefully. I caught some of it and included it here.
When you load a tool onto the canvas (the workspace) if you are in Draw mode and not Draw AND Edit modes, if you click and drag, you can create instances (duplicates) of the tool. (For instance, if you have a cube selected, you would draw cubes.) It's called 2.5D because it isn't 3D, but uses some of the complexity of 3D. Your items won't look flat.
Hotkey: Clearing the instances when inDraw (2.5D mode): Ctrl + N
Hotkey: Edit is the letter T Use that to switch between 2.5D and 3D modes to add clay to your object. (Be sure ZAdd is selected for adding, ZSub for subtracting clay.)
TIP: Use the Alpha Brush for rounded lines (think Earthworms)
TIP: Hold down ALT to remove clay. You can do trenches or holes.
IMPORTANT: When you use T to Edit and add 3D objects for your 2.5D object, EDIT DOES NOT GO ORANGE. Test a 3D object and you'll see that it is working. Look at 2:54 in the video and you'll see Edit does not light up. Remember that to color your 3D objects, you have to have RGB selected!
ZSpheres
Just to show you what can be made in about a minute and a half when playing around with the ZSpheres when symmetry is turned on. Z Spheres can make human-type forms fairly quickly. (This isn't one of them, lol. Just a doodle.) Take a peek at this YouTube video. It's NOT a tutorial (goes way too fast, not great instructions) but will show you what can be done.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dV50cTlQybg
You can change the materials using Hotkey Shift+A
More on ZSpheres.
1. Select ZSphere.
2. Shift+A to activate Sketch Mode
3. Select your material
4. Turn on Edit so Edit/Draw are both selected. That adds ZSpheres.
Now, below you will see what holding down SHIFT does- it smooths/condenses the long ZSphere "tubes" (my word for it)
You can also use MOVE to move the section you are working on. When you click on Move, Draw turns off. You'll have to turn it back on.
Hmm. Draw + Shift duplicates your last segment that you made.
Holding ALT when Draw and Edit are both selected will delete ZSpheres.
To optimize your polygon count (remove ZSpheres that are hidden under newer top layers) go to right side menu (called a shelf) and look for Z Sketch. Use the Optimize Button.
I only have Sketch 1 and Sketch A in my brushes- the ZClassroom says 1, 2, and 3. Is there supposed to be 3 in the ZSphere Sketch brushes?
Not all brushes are loaded by default (there's just too many of them :)).
In the brush palette click 'Load Brush' to add more.
Thank you :) It may also be the brush selection changes depending on what I'm in, and I can't remember exactly what I was doing. (LOL, that's the story of my life.)
EDIT: Changed the wording to ZSpheres.
Smoothing: Four Brushes
I'm still playing with ZSpheres. The ZClassroom section on ZSpheres explains all this, so this is just my notes. Basically, when you hold down Hotkey Shift to Smooth your string of ZSpheres (think of a long tube, like the example I showed you in the other post) the ends and "tube" will perform differently depending on the Smoothing Brush that you select.
Smooth 1 will smooth and embed the ends- and make the ends fit whatever you are smoothing them into. If you smooth an end which is by a large circle, that end will plump up and it will spread out and dive right in to fit that circle.
Smooth 2 will smooth, embed, but NOT resize the ends.
Smooth 3 smooths. No embed, no resize. THE ONLY ONE OF THE FOUR THAT DOES NOT EMBED.
Smooth 4 will smooth, embed, and thin the ends. Great for muscles.
Okay, note when you get ZBrush and you do as suggested above, it will not have you in the right folder. It will be ZBrush>StartUp and you should go down to the ZSketch folder. EDIT: (Nov 2016) If you are looking for brushes, mine went to C:/ ProgramFiles (x86) / Pixologic / Zbrush4R7.