I can't navigate in ZBrush, help needed

TheLazyScarecrow

Hi everyone,

I downloaded ZBrush today and I can't navigate around my model for some reason ?? (This is totally a noob question but I really can't, I don't know what to do).

I watched tutorials and I also went to their website to search for a solution : All I could find was that I needed to use the following commands to navigate : http://prntscr.com/ge4f1s
And it is not working at all...

Apparently there is this other way to navigate called the "Right-Click navigation" but it's not working either so...

I was able to do all the other things I saw in the tutorials so I thought that I would eventually find out how to navigate at some point but, after like 2 hours, I'm still not able to move and it's really starting to block me from learning properly ><

Please help me

TheLazyScarecrow

Apparently I can also use those buttons to move/rotate/scale : http://prntscr.com/ge4re3 but, you guessed it, they don't work for me... T_T

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TheLazyScarecrow

I am watching those videos : http://pixologic.com/zclassroom/workshop/zbrush-introduction (I watched the 5 first videos but the fact that I still can't navigate at this point is blocking me from continuing)

I also watched random videos on youtube explaning how to navigate but I always end up with the same explanations and the commands they give me don't work for me.

And I also went to that part of the zbrush website where they give all the shortcuts to search for the navigation shortcuts.

At this point I don't know where else I could find help with my navigation problem, I'm starting to think that there might be something wrong with my computer?

pior

"And it is not working at all..."
"but it's not working either so..."
"they don't work for me... T_T"

This could mean about a dozen different things. Be a lot more specific.

TheLazyScarecrow

Oh, wait I just found out something :

If I load a random model from the "default models" (i don't know how to call them) which are already in ZBrush when you download the programm I can navigate around the object : http://prntscr.com/ge565i

But if I go back to my own model I can't move/rotate/scale anymore : http://prntscr.com/ge56dc

I guess I clicked on something I wasn't supposed to click on and it removed my ability to use the navigation tools ?

TheLazyScarecrow

@pior What I mean is that nothing happens, it doesn't make me rotate around to object or it doesn't scale it down. It just does absolutely nothing.

pior

Press T for Edit/3d mode. If your brush cursor is white that means your are in Canvas/2d mode, as shown by your screenshot.

TheLazyScarecrow

@pior So I just tried that and I can't click on "Edit" : When I click the edit button nothing happens, it doesn't turn orange or anything like that http://prntscr.com/ge669c

When I press T nothing happens either, the edit button doesn't turn orange and I still can't use the navigation commands.

pior

You simply haven't quite understood the way Zbrush works just yet - which admittedly is very confusing and unique to this software. You'll have to look at more introduction resources to understand the concepts of canvas and edit more, "tools" (= objects) and so on.

The good news is that your software is 100% functional, since you can open example files just fine. T will do nothing is all you have if a 2d canvas, which is the case at this time.

Your problem is not at all navigation, but rather the fact that you are currently working in 2d rather than editing a 3d model.

TheLazyScarecrow

@pior Uh, ok xD I think I will just try to delete everything and start anew. Thanks a lot for your help !

kanga

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omLZ94UcaoM around 2:14

TheLazyScarecrow

@kanga My problem is that when I click the "Edit" button as he shows in the video, well, my edit button doesn't turn orange so it doesn't activate the edit mode T_T Thanks a lot for the video though 

So yea I don't know, I think I will just continue learning ZBrush and I hope I will find the solution at some point haha

cryrid

The real trick to zbrush is to understand how its a painting program at heart. Everything boils down to this, from its the ability to push millions of vertices on outdated hardware to even the names Pixologic and Zbrush. Its design has more in common with Photoshop than it does Blender or Maya, so it really helps to think of it like Photoshop.  

Learn this:

The Zbrush Document is an image document. The whole goal of the program is to paint pixels onto this document just like you would in Photoshop. It even saves the document as a psd file. But rather than just sticking with standard painting tools like paintbrushes, zbrush also lets you create pixels using 3d models. That is why models are called "Tools". Understanding the basic difference between the 2d Document and the 3d Tool is the first half to understanding zbrush, and it really is as simple as it sounds. 

Then learn this:

The second thing you really need to know in order to understand Zbrush is just as simple, but it often overlooked. Whenever you paint anything onto the document, zbrush gives you a chance to modify what you just drew before the result is actually converted into pixels. As soon as you paint anything with any tool onto the document, it is first placed in a state of limbo on top of it. You can then switch from DRAW MODE over to MOVE, ROTATE, or SCALE in order to adjust the placement of this object however you want. You can even change things like its depth. Once you're happy with it and you begin a new stroke in Draw Mode, the previous one will drop out of limbo and be turned into pixels while the new stroke takes its place in limbo. Only the most recent stroke is stored in this limbo, anything else is painted down to pixels. 

When you draw a 3d model onto the document and automatically place it into this limbo, you have access to a special setting called EDIT MODE. Until you activate that, then everything you're been looking at in zbrush has been part of a painting program. Once that EDIT MODE is activated however, you're now able to to begin making changes to the 3d model while it is in this limbo. In other words, this is where you sculpt and polypaint. You are now editing not just the appearance of the last stroke on the document as you would with any other tool, but also the very tool itself.   

------

And that's it. If that makes sense, then the whole UI should begin to make sense pretty quickly. It's all about placing a single object on top of the document and manipulating it before it gets turned into pixels. If you're painting an image then you want to allow it to turn to pixels as you rinse and repeat the process. If you're sculpting then it's all about holding that object in limbo instead.  

Your problem:

Whenever Edit mode is off when you're still in draw mode, then clicking anywhere on the document begins the action of drawing a new object onto the document (even if you don't actually draw anything). New click, new stroke. The old stroke (the model) is no longer the most recent one, and so it has already been converted into pixels. This is the problem you're having. You can't access edit mode because the last stroke isn't a model - it has already been turned into pixels. If you're using zbrush for sculpting then you don't care about pixels. This is why you might sometimes have to clear the 2d document with Ctrl+N, then redraw the 3d tool back onto the document (making it the most recent stroke, in limbo) so you can re-enter edit mode. 

It helps to switch your stroke type to Drag Rect during this stage. Then it will only draw the model out once (the "dots" stroke has the potential to repeatedly click as you drag it).

Other problems people run into that stems from the same roots:

1) This is why if you want to save a 3d sculpt then you save the Tool (.ztl), and not the document. The document is just the 2d image, the tool is your 3d sculpture. 

2) This is why your Draw settings can appear to influence your 3d object. If you first draw a model onto the document without full depth, without color or materials on, or with a setting that affects it's scale, then it will look off while you activate edit mode. This is in appearance only, the tool itself is fine and unaffected. The issue is simply the project settings used when drawing it on top of the document. If you exit edit mode, change a setting (like its z-intensity), and re-enter edit mode, then that setting you just changed will affect the stroke that first drew the tool on top of the document in the first place. If you're not doing anything 2d, then always make sure MRGB and Z-Add are on, with their intensities set to 100 when not in edit mode. 

3) A project file will save the tool, document, undo histories, and all the current settings. This is why it's file sizes will be bloated, and will often be not what you need. Just stick with saving the tool. This is also why people recommend you import a tool into a new project, since it will use default draw settings . 

Lastly, this painting setup is why navigation is different than in other programs. You're not moving a camera through a virtual world to orbit around a 3d object, you're moving and spinning the 3d object itself as it floats in front of a 2d canvas. Older modeling programs expect you are using a mouse and so they will give you 1 camera key used in conjunction with 3 mouse modifiers. Zbrush expects you are working with a tablet and so it will instead let you navigate using 1 stylus button used in conjunction with 1 keyboard modifier. 

TheLazyScarecrow

@cryrid Wow, thank you so much for typing this long explanation, it helped me to understand the way ZBrush works much better !

For me ZBrush was a 3D modeling software like Autodesk Maya or blender so I was wondering why on earth my 3D model was turning into some flat picture I couldn't rotate...

But now I think I kind of understood the logic of ZBrush. I will go back to watching tutorials now that things are a bit clearer in my head.

Again, thank you very much for taking the time to explain all of that, it was super helpful for me and I hope it will help other beginners who may come across this thread.