ZBrush noob questions
Hey all! Just starting out with ZBrush, and I have a couple questions:
*How do you get rid of snapshots? Sometimes when I try to change the brush size I have shift held down and end up creating snapshots (shift+s). How can I delete these?
*Is it okay to create ears as a separate mesh/subtool? If so, how would I go about merging them into my main mesh? Or can I leave them separate? Would that affect retopo and baking (probably going to use topogun)?
*How can I make hard edges, like on eyelids, or the corners of the eyes? A friend of mine (who convinced me to get ZBrush) told me to use the pinch brush but it seems like there should be a "cut brush" that I could use to cut out the eye sockets (like if there was a bump covering the eye subtool).
*Does anyone retopo while still in the process of sculpting, or does everyone just divide the mesh some more and retopo at the end?
Hope this is the right place to ask these questions; I already tried google. Feel free to flame me as long as you also try to help.
Oh, here's a picture of my sculpt so far:
*How do you get rid of snapshots? Sometimes when I try to change the brush size I have shift held down and end up creating snapshots (shift+s). How can I delete these?
*Is it okay to create ears as a separate mesh/subtool? If so, how would I go about merging them into my main mesh? Or can I leave them separate? Would that affect retopo and baking (probably going to use topogun)?
*How can I make hard edges, like on eyelids, or the corners of the eyes? A friend of mine (who convinced me to get ZBrush) told me to use the pinch brush but it seems like there should be a "cut brush" that I could use to cut out the eye sockets (like if there was a bump covering the eye subtool).
*Does anyone retopo while still in the process of sculpting, or does everyone just divide the mesh some more and retopo at the end?
Hope this is the right place to ask these questions; I already tried google. Feel free to flame me as long as you also try to help.
Oh, here's a picture of my sculpt so far:
Replies
- Yes you can... but it wont be as realistic as one that is attached. Attached ears are usually better for baking and retopo as well. There are a few ways to merge it in. The easiest way would be to Merge it down (Tool>Subtool>Merge Down) and then Dynamesh it. When you Dynamesh it will "weld" the ear to the head. But it will wreck your topology. Or you could weld it to the head in another app and re-import the obj and project (Tool>Subtool>ProjectAll) the details onto the new mesh. It's kind-of a larger discussion as to which one you should use...
- This can be a tricky thing to do in ZB. There are a few good brushes for this. Trim Dynamic and hPolish are both good ones for flattening out and making crisp edges. For things like eye lids as you mentioned you can do that all with brushes.
- When to retopo is kind-of a personal choice and what you are going to do with the mesh. It's not a clear "do it at this point." If your machine can handle another subD then sure why not. Sometimes if you are fighting the topo it will only get worse as you keep working so it's best to just suck it up and retopo the part.
Since Dynamesh has sorta become the most popular way to work I rarely retopo things anymore as I work. I just do it all at the end. Unless it's a hard surface thing or something that needs to be very precise.
- Lastly, people typically use an external image hosting site to post images on Polycount. Nobody really looks at attachments.
Let me know if something is unclear.
From everything you're saying, it sounds like I'll have to read up on dynamesh (not really sure what that's all about). Plenty of things to try.
Oh, and the reason I like attachments is that as long as this post is here, so is the image. So many times I've looked to old posts for info, and the images are almost always missing. Now, if I could display the attached image in my post, that would be the best of both worlds.
Anyway, thanks again!