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LOL, well, fortunately I wasn't continuing at the moment, because brain dead you did not provide a video link LOL! (It's the thought that counts.) Anyway, I'll get back to that, I've got a new problem. In the book I'm reading, it says go Here and click on That. Well, Here does not have That. So I'm wondering if what is loaded changes the menu options, but I have a 128Polysphere (I think that's what it is) and Draw and Edit both active. Dynamesh is on. I wanted to play with Parametrics and it says "Open the tool library in the Tool palette and select Cone3D brush."
Well, it says Tool over on the far right, and of course there's that scrollable list up and down, what the heck is the tool library? The Lightbox>Tools doesn't have any of those parametrics. Where are the little suckers hiding?
Bugger...sorry about that. Try this one http://pixologic.com/zclassroom/lesson/poly-polygroup
Sorry I'm not sure whether the menus change...at least I haven't seen them do it, but I haven't played with Dynamesh much.
LOL, I thought it was funny.
Do you happen to know where the Cone3D, Arrow3D, Ring3D, SweepProfile3D and all those are located?
Give me a moment and I'll have a look.
If you load Zbrush and then click on the yellow S icon which is part of the tool menu you should find them there.
You found it in a heartbeat and I'm opening all those darned flyouts.... Thank you so much! I'll add that to the reference links at the front under Parametric.
No problem...I have played with them when I first started doing tutorials. These days I'm more likely to play with the base cube and set it up for Zmodeler. so I needed to check that they were where I thought.
Setting Center Pivot Point / Doing Mirror Symmetry
From reading different forums on the web, apparently symmetry doesn't always work the way it should. This video will show you the important aspects. A couple notes: and you pros tell me if anything isn't right please-
To set your pivot point, and check it: (You need to have your object centered) which you can try first, and skip through 2:25 in the video:
1. in the menu on the right, go to Preview. See if your object is in the center. If not, or just to be on the safe side:
2. go to Transform at the top, above the viewing area- and with your object selected in Tool, click S. Pivot. That stands for Set Pivot. Now double check in Preview and your object should be centered. If not, I guess you can follow the directions through 2:25
Another helpful note for people who aren't experts- and this ticks me off when people who try to teach via tutorials do things and don't explain them- around 3:20 when he hides the body and only the arms are showing, you do that by Shift+Ctrl and click on what you want to keep. To bring all the mesh back, Shift+Ctrl on the BACKGROUND and click. If you DRAG it will get the body back, and HIDE what is masked. Just so you know.
Now, here's where I am stuck. Been redoing this over and over for three hours, from scratch, and it's not working. At exactly 3:50 in the video, I have cleared the masks so nothing is masked, when I Crtl+Shift on one arm (the one on my right) it indeed shows up and the rest is gone.
Next, I Subtool>Split>Split Hidden. I have tried this, btw, with and without still holding down Ctrl+Shift, because unlike the video, when I click the Split Hidden the body DOES NOT COME BACK. It shows the arm as a subtool separate from the body/rest of the figure, but clicking out in the viewport, dragging out in the viewport, holding CTRL+Shift and click, or CTRL +Shift drag in viewport OR on the arm, OR where the body would be- doesn't bring the darned body back.
Suggestions?
Wish I could afford to buy this.
Not sure Novica...I haven't tried splitting things previously. Let me think on it...
If you can watch the video, it's step by step and really does a good job. (But skip the first part about setting the pivot, if your item is centered in preview you don't need to do that. And if you do, it's Transform then S Pivot. But I don't know why my character's body isn't coming back when I am doing exactly what he says to do (exactly 3:50 in video.) Thanks for looking into it. I'm trying to split because for some reason symmetry didn't do things right, I don't remember ever changing the pivot point (I've been very careful not to complicate things) and I need to make both sides match exactly. I started small, with just the arms/hands (one piece.)
Very frustrating when there are a lot of "works great" and "Thanks!" comments. They all got it to work.
Aha. After FOURTEEN HOURS of putzing with this I solved it. It involves masking half, hiding it, split the hidden (so it keeps both halves), duplicating, mirroring and merging. So thanks anyway Pendraia!
Are you using the full version or the less expensive version? I was looking at the $149 version and it looks like it might be a good starting point.
I'm glad you solved it...sorry I didn't get chance to look at the video properly. I had to go into school yesterday and start setting my classroom up...not much left of my holidays now.
ZCore is supposed to be quite good for beginners...it has less features though.
It might be good for me though as a beginner - plus, I don't have a huge amount of time to devote to learning it so it would probably be good for several years lol. I may ask for it as a birthday gift but that's not until June. In the meantime I will be following along anyway.
Sounds good...when I first started to play with Zbrush I found it very overwhelming as there is just so much to it. These days I love it but there is still so much I don't know. I watch the Pixologic Youtube channel all the time trying to learn more...just wish I had more time.
I've got the full version. And oh yes, SO much to it. The problem is, there are so many videos that take a round about way to do something, or use old interfaces, it sure is hard to wade through.
I'll have to get to that YouTube channel and watch it one of these days. (And start a notebook and index it- there's just too many things to try and remember.) I sure would love to help people but I am just bumbling along. Thanks so much Pendraia- I knew you were busy or you'd be back on sooner.
I'm going to preference this by reminding everyone I am putzing around, what I offer as tips is not necessarily (and probably NOT) the ultra best way to do something, but it's a quick fix or what (SEEMS) to be working.
When you dynamesh, it fixes the mesh, making it more uniform (correct me if I'm wrong of course) but I haven't found a way to target areas with that. Is there a way to mask and only dynamesh one area? Dynameshing everything can be a problem as it smooths out lines and things you don't want smoothed. So I wanted to fix some claws that got severely messed up and this is an easy way to do it, with very nice results. From here, if you want sharp points on the end, use Snakehook brush.
Edit: the backside on #1 was really distorted, the front was going to a nice point.
Does anyone here use a wacom tablet when using zbrush
Sometimes I get a bug like that and I hit create polymesh 3d and than my stuff works again. But yeah learning to play with zmodeler is very important, it's an amazing tool.
If you want to try this really quick do this:
1. go to brushes and click zmodeler brush, lower your brush size to 1 so it's easier for clicking.
2. Hover over a poly from a polygroup you want to remove, make sure it over a poly and not an edge or a point.
3. once you're over a poly hit space bar on the keyboard and there will be menu that pops up > select "Delete" in the top box > select "Polygroup All" in the second box > let go of space bar
4. click on a poly with your left mouse button and it will delete every poly in the same polygroup
edit, whoops I was on page 4 and dint see page 5 lol
One note- and one question-first to delete, it's GEOMETRY>Modify Topology>Del Hidden. I put that in my post that came right after yours, so if any other newbies are wondering where to find the Modify Topology is located, they know it's in Geometry.
Now the question- why is it good to have loops? (Haven't gotten to those yet.) And thanks so much!
Now, other questions- darned Dynameshing keeps removing too much details, even with Polish on to keep hard edges. Is it possible to Dynamesh a particular polygroup, or / and can I also create subtools and only dynamesh a particular subtool, while hiding everything else?
You can split a part of the mesh into a subtool and dynamesh that particular subtool. Than merge the tool back into main model and try to weld it together. I'm farily sure you can't hide parts and dynamesh only visible ones, it wants to dynames the entire thing.
I found this:
"Depending on your subdivision level, the borders of polygroups can look quite ragged. If you go to the Geometry palette and click the Group Loops button you can smooth the boundaries of your groups. The options nearby will help you refine this smoothing process. NB: This will create a new, very narrow polygroup along the seam."
So, um, is it good or bad to have loops around your polygroups?
Thanks @cichy25 that confirms what I'm thinking. Now, can polygroups be isolated and dynameshed? I guess I need to make them a subtool instead?
I'm not sure what kind of item you are making but in general no you don't want polyloops around your groups. If the item you are making will be imported into daz and than you just put one texture on it I wouldnt worry about anything like that. If you're planning on making something you will need to paint and make UVs for that's another can of worms and polygroups and loops are important.
Polygroups can only be dynameshed if they are separated from the rest of the mesh so you would need to split them into subtools.
If you could show me some more detail I may be more useful with the answer :)
Thanks! It's a toon character (can't show it, doing it for someone else- well, lol, trying to!) and everytime I was dynameshing to smooth the fingernails, it would smooth the other area details too much. Like the eye in the socket, the toenails, etc. So I'm definitely going to have to Polygroup then subtool them. Before we get to that, speaking of dynamesh: I'm a bit confused on the Polish in dynamesh- I assume I should have that turned off, to preserve details?
Okay, on to Polygroup/Subtools. If I have a head with horns, I understand how to create the polygroup- I just mask, go into mask palette, then group mask. (Or CTRL+W) So:
1. Is it wise to also sharpen that mask before I create the polygroup?
2. What do I turn Polish on that is next to Group Masked (In Polygroups) so I get a good definition for the polygroup?
3. Here's the biggie-After I do the first polygroup (the Horns) how the heck do I then create the second polygroup, the head where the Horn polygroup sits on- without overlapping when I select the polygroup mesh? In other words, I don't want any of the Horn Polymesh to get included in the Head Polymesh. Is there a way to mask the Horn Polygroup and hide it? That way I can easily mask what is shown, aka the head.
Appreciate it- I do spend hours trying to find the answers before I ask, but they use terms to explain other terms or actions, or assume I know where something is without telling me where to find it, and as you know there's a lot of flyouts and palettes!
1. It's up to you. If you want cleaner line yes sharpen the mask but you're planning to dynamesh the subtool from what I understand so you can make adjustments there.
2. I'm not sure about that option I just usualy ctrl +w
3. Here's how you do it: once you have horns masked hold ctrl+shift than left click on the horn polygroup (it will make everything invisible but the horns) keep holding ctrl + shift and click the horn polygroup again, it will make everything visible except the horns. You can mask from there :) oh also ctrl + shift + left click in empty space to bring everything visible again
Thanks (lol, saw your edit) and will give that a try. Thanks!
Damn...I lost notifications for this.
When you say loops are you just meaning loops of polys as a polygroup or are you referring to edge loops?
If it's edge loops then it sometimes useful to add extra edge loops in close together where you want to retain a sharper edge I tend to put them in around openings and anywhere I want to retain the lines. Sometime when you take something from ZBrush to Daz it doesn't look the same, having extra edge loops can help with this sometimes. There used to be some info on this in the Hexagon forum and the same principle would apply to ZBrush although ZBrush has other options like crease also. I'm not very familiar with the crease function though...