hard surfaces in zbrush?

almighty_gir

anyone had a go at sculpting hard surfaces in zbrush? i'm having quite mixed results. some things looking as crisp as i'd like, and others... not.

i love working in zbrush, the tool is a godsend for most things as i can just bang in a basemesh and adapt it to whatever i need, then retopo later.

but for hard surfaces i'm getting a real headache!

i have to do some armour sets for a character, and as you can see they aren't all looking that great. anyone got any workflow tips they'd like to share? or if they know any good tutorials etc?

DInusty

try sub dividing your mesh without it smoothing a few times. that tends to hold the shape. you can also add some extra loops in a external program such as max or maya then bring it in and when u divide it you will keep the shape. hope that helps

coldkodiak

You can't really sculpt perfect hard, mechanically made shapes in zbrush. Best to get your geometry so when it subdivides, that it is what you want. You can make subtle changes in zbrush, but most of the time you'll end up with evil edges like the crest on that guys boot.

fattkid

Yeah, along the lines of what's prevoisly been mentioned....I tend to model my hardsurface objects, like armor and gear, and even moderately hardsurface objects, like say combat boots or belts, in Max as subdivision meshes, and then bring them in to ZBrush for detailing and whatnot. If you go that route, make sure to add even amounts of edgeloops throughout your subdivided geometry in Max so you get even poly distribution when dividing and sculpting in ZBrush.

oXYnary

fattkid wrote: »

If you go that route, make sure to add even amounts of edgeloops throughout your subdivided geometry in Max so you get even poly distribution when dividing and sculpting in ZBrush.

I learned that the hardway....

almighty_gir

went back through the subdivision levels, flattened out the boots, and then remade them in max. i'll probably do the same for the leg plates too.

it's slower than i'd like, but it does definitely get a cleaner result!

oh and putting the base in actually helped a lot for getting the feet right haha.

Ruz

I use custom alphas for hard edge shapes, either by using alphas on the uv layout or smaller

custom alphas. with brushes

It saves so much time and effort

so yeah the basic extra pieces as subtools then, detail with alphas or displacments

You could do all the leg stuff like this without modellling loads of extra loops.

claydough

never tried myself but for what it's worth...
from the kenneth scott zbrush central interview:

You’ve got a great variety of mechanical and organic qualities in your model. What tools or techniques can you share with us that you have found most beneficial to you?
To get harder edges on semi-industrial surfaces I'll usually build up the edge line and smooth on either side of it until it gets crisp. It's not really precise, but it does have the added benefit of natural imperfections.

http://web.archive.org/web/20060111223501/http://pixologic.com/zbrush/interviews/scott_interview.html

Unleashed

Masking + Inflate(deformations), layer brush, slash2 brush, flatten brush, have gotten me good results in sculpting hard surface stuff.