Sculpting Curves in a Live Boolean Workflow Question

coolguyslims

Hello,

I've recently been trying to incorporate ZBrush into my workflow and I started by creating a Sig Sauer SP2022 9x19mm handgun. Most of the shapes are easy for me to create by using live booleans, but there are some parts that seem difficult to create this way. The slide base and lower receiver are all simple low-poly blockouts using dynamic subdivision, so I can't sculpt onto them without applying my booleans and dynameshing.



The rear slide and base of the gun have beveled edges. The lower receiver of the gun also has the same bevel, but is curved.



This is without any beveling or further details.



The front slide of the gun is even worse. The bottom has a perfect bevel for only a short section and the sides of the slide have a bevel that changes width. The base of the gun also has a small bevel, but that one seems pretty easy.



This is the front of the gun as I have it now, completely flat on the front.

It's difficult to use a boolean to create the shape I want. What's the best way to get the look I'm going for? Should I just go as far as I can with live booleans, then apply everything once I'm done and sculpt? How should I sculpt it? What brush? This workflow is new to me so this is a problem I've been having for a bit.

Thank you for the help.

carvuliero

If you modify your thinking a bit you could get most of form without sculpting , instead of cutting details try to add them Bevel is part of a cylinder or modified part of cylinder so you could use that to make a profile cut your sharp edge and fuse the profile keep using booleans

You could use curve brushes to snap to more complex surfaces BTW new zbrush have bevel brush might check that out not sure whats possible with it

Kanni3d

Handle these medium/large silhouette changes in your blockout in your dcc. Let zbrush/dynamesh polish handle the smaller stuff (edge bevelling). It would be way too much of a finicky, inaccurate pain in the ass to do it with brushes in zbrush.

coolguyslims

Kanni3d said:

Handle these medium/large silhouette changes in your blockout in your dcc. Let zbrush/dynamesh polish handle the smaller stuff (edge bevelling). It would be way too much of a finicky, inaccurate pain in the ass to do it with brushes in zbrush.

Hey, thanks for the advice.

What do you mean by "Let zbrush/dynamesh polish handle the smaller stuff (edge bevelling)"? You mean polish crisp edges to create the beveling I'm looking for? Should I use a mask for only that specific edge then polish crisp edges like crazy until its a bevel?

Thanks.

Kanni3d

The smaller stuff as in the "highpoly edges" for baking soft edges. Don't have zbrush do any huge silhouette changes with polish by crisp edges.

Should I use a mask for only that specific edge then polish crisp edges like crazy until its a bevel?

What's stopping you from trying it right now and finding out...?

Anyway, no, I wouldn't do that, because it's better done in blockout to establish the shape and have much more control doing so. Not to mention when it comes time to making your lowpoly, it'll have that curve established already, rather than being left with a super sharp 90 degree edge if you were to polish like crazy to get it to be that rounded.

kanga

If you are incorporating zbrush into a workflow it must mean you are already using Maya, Max, Blender or something similar. If you have access to a contemporary boolean system in a 3d app you can use it in combination with zBrush to create amazing results. This thread shows how: 3ds Max/Zbrush: Proboolean + Dynamesh hardsurface workflow tutorial

Dont worry about the 3ds Max part, like I said any contemporary booleam system will do. Its not just booleans though, just check out the link.

Ghogiel

There are boolean updates in ZB coming with bevel pro, and the new bevel brushes should be looked into