Zbrush - Adaptive skin not looking like Zspheres

Creo_metus

Hello All,

I'm having issues with Zspheres. Could anyone help tell me what I'm doing wrong? 

Here is my zspheres:


Here is the adaptive skin preview with a density of 3:


I've spent some time digging through forums and reading on pixologic on how Zspheres work. I've made sure they aren't rotated in any funky ways and increased the size. I'm sure it's something simple that I'm missing, but after several hours of looking for the answer I wanted to ask for help. Thank you in advance for any suggestions/solutions. 

kanga

I have never seen the sharp intersections you are getting. I assume that is your problem. Anyhow the sharp edges arnt really a problem, the space at the groin however is, plus the direction of the hands and the lack of neck length. Your zspheres may be crossing, I dunno. If you want to eventually animate the character then you need more space between the legs, a defined neck and the hands pointing in the right direction. To fix your problem you can just duplicate the zsphere model (if you are worried about loosing it) and move the groin zspheres around till there is no crossed mesh at the upper thighs. You need a little space between the groin so you have at least one strip of polys to work with. delete the hands and redo them with the thumbs facing forward. Like you said if you rotate them it will twist your mesh. The relaxed base position is at that attitude. Separate the head and body by inserting zspheres so you have at least a little neck mesh to play with.

If you are getting those sharp shapes just move the zspheres farther apart. Remember you want a sketch of the form to start your character, you can manipulate its exact proportions while sculpting. With zspheres you are really after the base structure. Here is one of mine below.

I really love zspheres but they are not perfect so I usually sculpt out the main form then take the base mesh into a 3d app, delete half the mesh then align the center verts and use a symmetry modifier to make the base perfectly balanced. At that stage you can alter the mesh if you need to. Then take it back into zBrush and get going.

Cheers

Creo_metus

Kanga, 

Thank you for your advice on the character as I do plan to animate at some point and this is my first as I go through a course. 

However, the Zspheres giving that hard pinch is the piece I'm really struggling with and I've tried just starting over and remaking it, but I continue to get the same effect. Your model (which is really cool btw) does not seem to pinch anywhere and it does not seem to have many more Zspheres than mine. I wonder if I'm just missing a tick box somewhere in the Zbrush options. 

I will try to replicate your Zsphere model and see what results I get as a test. I appreciate the reply and assistance. 

kanga

Hi
I cant get that pinch. maybe someone will rock up with the answer. In the meantime though try make another figure using the minimum number of zspheres just as a test. Here is a basic one, but it will give you everything you need.

Creo_metus

Hi Kanga, 

Alright so I broke it down to the simplest I could, two Zspheres. 

Zsphere:

Adaptive Skin Preview:



I've read this on pixologic's documentation: 

"The root (first) ZSphere has no geometry of its own. It is only a placeholder. You cannot delete the root ZSphere. You must attach a ZSphere at each end of the “root” sphere to “cap off” the geometry."

 
So the root Sphere has no geometry, I understand that, but I do not see that type of pinch in your meshes or any that I've looked at online. The documentation also says the root sphere will only be skinned (adaptive) if it has a sphere on both ends which my character model has. 

I BELIEVE my issue is that my link spheres intersect a lot as you mentioned in your first reply regarding the groin area. I didn't have time to redo that model today, but I will try to replicate your character with this in mind and see what results I get. I still do not understand the sharp pinching in the torso in my first post, but will give it another shot and hope for the best. 

Thank you again. 

kanga

yeah the above happens with not enough spheres. Bang out a figure and it shud be fine.

Creo_metus

So I honestly have no idea what I did differently, but it seemed to work this time without any odd pinching. 

kanga

Thats what we were expecting to see! Well done. You have a start gap between the legs, the hands are well orientated and it looks like you have a neck. Go for it

Cheers