How you start in zbrush a character?

Farina

Hello,

im a little bit confused, about how to start a character in zbrush.

often i get to the point, where i have to make hand and feets, but i dont know which way is better?

Should i start from a mannquin and then move out the fingers ?

Should i make in another programm hands and feets and then append to the zbrush model with dynamesh?

Should i make a basemesh in 3dsmax with low poly hands and feets and then export to zbrush?

Everytime i want to start, its the same question for me.

cryrid

All roads lead to Rome.

Pick one and try it out. Next time around, try another method. You'll either find one that you prefer on a personal level, or be left with the experience to know which method might be more efficient for the character and style you're working in.

RabidRabit

A sphere/dynamesh and anatomical reference. Be free child!

Farina

Thank you very much guys ;-)

i will try my best and which option is better for me!

jfitch

Creating a library of hands and feet isn't a bad idea, you could save them into an insert mesh brush. There already is one that comes with 4r6 I believe, it has some body parts, they're not amazing but they work just fine for blocking out. Then while you're still in dynamesh, add them in, re-mesh at a higher resolution (so you don't get any wonkiness between fingers/toes), and then z-remesh and project.

Farina

but exactly that is that, that i dont want. I want to make all by myself ';-)

I have tried now to make an character from a sphere, BUT when i want to make hands and feets, im totally lost...

Maybe i should make a basemesh, like with zsphere :-/

Der Hollander

One thing you could do is block out your base character using polyspheres as different subtools, getting each shape into place and general proportion and then Dynamush them together into a single shape once you're happy with it for finer detailing. I've found the method to be super helpful for a couple of big reasons.

- It isolates pieces as a matter of course rather than having to fiddle with masks for everything, and you can still use Transpose Master to make overall adjustments while you nail down the look of the character.
- If you lay out your Subtools so that the mesh seams are at major transition points in the body, once you merge them using Dynamesh, you can get difficult joins like the collarbone-deltoid, biceps to forearm, and trunk-pelvis for free. It also made it super easy to get the hands and feet built and have them be a consistent geometric density.
- One of my favorite things about this method is that it really minimizes "sawtoothing" on your basemesh while you're trying to sculpt on the thing without having to retopo half-way through if you're like me and get unreasonably angry about how ZBrush cuts across quads.

I unfortunately can't be arsed to make a full tutorial, but here's an image with my steps written down:

Farina

Danke dir Hollander ;-)!

I will save the picture and try to work with this method today. It seems to be an good option. So when i want to work on the head, i can disable all other subtools(bodyparts) and make the head.

But this is one think i dont understand.

Sorry for the question but...

When i start with a normal sphere and dynamesh for example with the head and then im ready, how i can add another sphere AS subtool and how i dynemsh subtools togehter?

Popol

I highly recommend the method Der Hollander explained as I build bodies the same way.

Now about your questions :

- To add another sphere as a subtool, just click "append" and select a sphere.
- To dynamesh several subtools together, click "merge down" to merge together the subtools you want and then click "dynamesh" to turn them into one single closed mesh.

Farina

Thank you so much, it helped me a lot!