new to zbrush

dansher

hey all im pretty new to zbrush got it just a few days ago, i wanted to try make a dragon head sculpt and i was going to use 3ds max to make a base mesh. anyway i was wondering with the base mesh does it have to be all one part? or could i just use primitives to make a basic shape

disanski

Depends how far you would like to take this and what would it be used for. If it is just for practice should be fine to have separate parts - they will stay as separate parts in zbrush as well but you could always hide the seam with overlapping one part on top of the other. If you are just starting, start with something simple you could even start just with a sphere and pull it and push it to where you need to.

dansher

yeah i wasnt sure if it would stay as separate parts or not. its mainly just for practice, i tried using zspheres to make it but i couldnt really get a shape i liked using them.

i might just take the time and got to the extra effort of just making it out of one thing, im sure it would make it look alot better aswell

dansher

made a bit of a start on the base mesh, its a bit square at the moment bit ill try fix that once i have the majority of it modeled



the ref is from the book brisingr by christopher paolini

disanski

I am by no means pro at this but if you are just starting try to keep it simple. you dont need to model the mouth and the folds- this is what zbrush is for.

dansher

disanski wrote: »

I am by no means pro at this but if you are just starting try to keep it simple. you dont need to model the mouth and the folds- this is what zbrush is for.

oh ok, so just keep it boxy?

disanski

yeaaaaa and go wild with it

Rurouni Strife

I'm pretty new to zBrush too, I've used it for one object in a project prior to my latest one. I've used it a ton to sculpt detail for my walls and such and it's been awesome. Still getting the hang of it too it takes a little while. Have fun! It's a bit addicting!

Ruz

you don't 'have' to do a simple base mesh. you can model in a lot of the detail if you want, it just depends if you prefer sculpting or modelling.

dansher

thanks for the advice, i just finished a rough base mesh and went to import it into zbrush and it said i had some polys that had more than 4 sides, so i went in and checked them out and i can seem to find any.

i have a turbo smooth on would that effect it in anyway?

*eddit* never mind it seems ok now

dansher

on another topic does zbrush have an asset browser like 3ds max does?

dansher

hey all, i had another question about zbrush, iv got the head in zbrush now but because i didnt model in the beard or the eyebrow things when i go to make them in zbrush it gets really low poly and jagged looking, is there a way i can add in more polys without going back to 3ds max and modeling in the parts i need?

*edit* sorry to triple post

Ruz

well you can go back in to max and model those extra bits, then reproject the details you have already sculpted.

dansher

what do you mean reproject?

dansher

ok decided to stop being lazy and just go back into max and fix up the base mesh.

do you think ill need to add in anything else that might cause the same problem later?

i thought i could get away with just the rough shapes like that and do the rest in zbrush, do you think that will work out ok?





thanks,

Daniel

bbob

Its really hard to say before seeing your wires. The most important things are square quads and a proper topology.

dansher

bbob wrote: »

Its really hard to say before seeing your wires. The most important things are square quads and a proper topology.

ill try get some wires up, at the moment every time i render it out its showing the wires made from the meshsmooth so ill try fix that and get some up tomorrow morning,

the wires are really messy as well so ill have to try and clean them up specially the spikes along the back are really bad once its smoothed and around the face its shocking

dansher

@bbob

heres one shot of wires i dont really like that part above the mouth(where the eye will go) so i might try and change that.

ill post some more pics if you want, so that you can see more of the model

xk0be

If you're using this to learn zbrush, you really can get away with just a 15 min base mesh that's square and sculpt it in ZB then bring it in Max to retopo it. You should prolly post this up in the WIP section and make sure you're modeling from all viewports, if you're gonna go hard in Max you should at least round him out it looks like you're just making it from the side view.

Also for future reference you don't wanna make everything from one object, totally unnecessary for both Zbrush and keeping it at a good poly count.

Ruz

the thing is you can sculpt your mesh, then you might find that you don't like your topology.
You can change this or add some extra bits in max and then use zbrush reprojection, to recapture the details you have already sculpted.
so this base mesh you have could easily be changed without destroying the work you have already done.
get rid of those long thin polys, the mesh should contain mainly square polys and some tris if you want, but in places where they won't matter so much
Those thing on the back of his head could easily be sculpted, though how much sculpting vs how much modelling will become easier to work out the more you work in zbrush

PolyHertz

The first thing you should learn about making base meshes for zbrush is always try to keep the geometry even and square, long thin polys are a very bad idea (sort of like triangulation, ha!)

dansher

thanks for all the tips, i was sure about the spikes because i had some probs when i tried to sculpt the beard in zbrush, it was going really jaggad at the end so i thought i would just model them in,

yeah i have been mostly modeling from one side, only had the one ref pic of this particular dragon and its always just from the side got a bit carried away with it and forogt to check what it looked like from other angles,

the spikes on the cheek do you think ill need to model them in or not?

also i noticed last time i took it into zbrush that i kept getting little points here and there that wouldnt smooth out, which i think is from having lots of lines meeting in one place but im not sure if thats why or not

ill make a wip thread in a little while just thought it would be best to get this kind of stuff down here because i was going to be asking people how to do stuff so much

thanks all