Making Zbrush 4 more...Mudboxish.

michi.be

I recently switched from Mudbox 2009 to Zbrush 4. Mainly because of the Autodesk upgrade policies and features for Environment Art.
I have the bad feeling that Zbrush and me won't get best friends so soon.

I've read myself through the manuals a bit but have a hard time with the UI. Can I reduce the complexity of elemtns, reduce some unneded features and rarely used brushes?

I also could use some nice video tutorials about how to use layers like Mudbox does? Just add a new layer and sculpt away. Delete if not needed.

Finally about texture painting with layers - called Polypainting or so.
I think this must be all and help me the first time.

I use it for Env-Art and not for characters. So I would aprreciate some links there.

praetus

http://www.pixologic.com/zclassroom/

This is going to be your number one friend I think for now. As for layer sculpting, look into the Tools menu. You'll find you can subdivide a mesh just like in Mudbox as well as add layers in the layer submenu. Now keep in mind if you delete a layer and it's visible I believe it permanently places it into your sculpt, whereas if you hide it then delete it it will permanently remove it. Check out that site and read up on Aaron Sims. Also there is this DVD http://eat3d.com/zbrush35_intro that is pretty useful for learning. Granted most the tutorials you may find will be aimed at character art, polys are polys and the knowledge should transfer over to anything you make.

cryrid

Regarding the UI, even the default one isn't as complex as it initially looks. With a little bit of time you'll learn what you need and when you'll need it, so you can start closing the dividers and relying m ore on shortcuts. I find it works really well with a tablet.

Ctrl+D to subdivide,
D to step up a level
Shift+D to step down
Shift for smooth
Ctrl for masking
Alt for navigation and reversing zadd/zsub
B for brushes (they all have quick shortcuts assigned, though you can set your own)

That said, it's pretty easy to customize the UI and you can quickly remove elements or give them a permenant home where ever you chose. Here's a video showing how to do this, and my current UI where I've removed many of the things I don't commonly use.
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Wg1pXtbtcw[/ame]


Layers should work similar to Mudbox already (I haven't used Mudbox since v1 though). Just keep an eye on the record button, which is new in z4 (and I think required to save any changes made to a layer).

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lvb4ok4QHAA[/ame]
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6rGWNnYRz0&feature=related[/ame]

Layers don't have blend modes for poly painting though, just opacity.

Also regarding polypainting, it's using the vertex colors instead of UVs. So if you want to polypaint, you'll have to make sure it's subdivided enough to support the detail you're looking for.

LosPescados

Cryrid, that UI you are having looks awesome!
I might try to recreate it.

michi.be

Thanks for the stuff. I'll dig my self into it and do some dtuff to get used to the new tool.

cw

michi, it's worth the effort. It took me ages to get over the 'hump' of the UI but once you get used to the tricks and funny conventions it is really a great tool!

cw

cryrid wrote: »

Regarding the UI, even the default one isn't as complex as it initially looks. With a little bit of time you'll learn what you need and when you'll need it, so you can start closing the dividers and relying m ore on shortcuts. I find it works really well with a tablet.

Ctrl+D to subdivide,
D to step up a level
Shift+D to step down
Shift for smooth
Ctrl for masking
Alt for navigation and reversing zadd/zsub
B for brushes (they all have quick shortcuts assigned, though you can set your own)

That said, it's pretty easy to customize the UI and you can quickly remove elements or give them a permenant home where ever you chose. Here's a video showing how to do this, and my current UI where I've removed many of the things I don't commonly use.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Wg1pXtbtcw


Layers should work similar to Mudbox already (I haven't used Mudbox since v1 though). Just keep an eye on the record button, which is new in z4 (and I think required to save any changes made to a layer).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lvb4ok4QHAA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6rGWNnYRz0&feature=related

Layers don't have blend modes for poly painting though, just opacity.

Also regarding polypainting, it's using the vertex colors instead of UVs. So if you want to polypaint, you'll have to make sure it's subdivided enough to support the detail you're looking for.

cheers for the UI stuff, I love nosing at other people's UI.

[HP]

Yeh, ZBrush UI is so messy at first. Not only that, ZB has very specific ways of doing things. Strange ways that at first your find weird and you'll hate, but it will grow into you.

Andreas

cryrid wrote: »

That said, it's pretty easy to customize the UI and you can quickly remove elements or give them a permenant home where ever you chose. Here's a video showing how to do this, and my current UI where I've removed many of the things I don't commonly use.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Wg1pXtbtcw

How do I install this, do I just replace the Z-Startup folder? Thats not really working for me. Or do I do something with the RTF file thats packed in with the zip on youtube. Looks sweet.

cryrid

Just add those files/directories to the Z-Startup folder, and then relaunch Zbrush. On the top-right, there's afew buttons that cycle through the saved UIs and colors.

Froyok

That interresting !
There is a way to change how we navigate in the 3d view (I know, it's just a 2D plane with a 3d object ) ? I hate how the "camera" work in zbrush, it's possible to get something similar at mudbox ?

Neox

what exactly do you mean? you want to do the classic alt+mousebutton movement or what exactly do you want?

Andreas

I think I know what he means. Try locking your camera to the Y axis Froyok, you'll find that option just to the right of the screen by default The camera will behave like a turntable then.

almighty_gir

cryrid wrote: »

can you just upload that UI? it's awesome

cryrid

almighty_gir wrote: »

can you just upload that UI? it's awesome

http://cryrid.com/art/?p=205

michi.be

Thanks this is really beautiful and tidy. It toally changes the look and feel of a program.

Andreas

Thanks for uploading this. However it doesn't load in upon start-up, and I cycle through the UI's from the left and right buttons and still can't find it...is some set-up still required to get the UI looking like that or does everyone elses look like that on start-up?

cryrid

It won't load up automatically, but it should be among the UIs you can cycle assuming you put put it in Program Files\Pixologic\ZBrush 4.0\ZStartup (make sure zbrush isn't open when saving the files there, and exclude the parent directory when extracting so you don't end up with Program Files\Pixologic\ZBrush 4.0\ZStartup\ZStartup\).

Once you get it working, you can store it as the default UI if you want. See http://www.pixologic.com/docs/index.php/Configurations

Andreas

Haha why did I think it would load up automatically, there are several UI's in that folder. Sorry, I'm sleepy :P Thanks Cryrid!

Froyok

Andreas wrote: »

I think I know what he means. Try locking your camera to the Y axis Froyok, you'll find that option just to the right of the screen by default The camera will behave like a turntable then.

Yep, it's what I want !
I will try that...

But I just get a new processor, and now I can use 80 millions of tri in mudbox ! :poly124:

michi.be

I think I know what he means. Try locking your camera to the Y axis Froyok, you'll find that option just to the right of the screen by default The camera will behave like a turntable then.

I can't find it!
Only "Rotate on Y Axis" and such buttons. But no matter what I press it's still rotating like before...

cryrid

Grab a model like the dog. You should notice a big difference in camera behavior between having y-only, and z-only. Once you notice that, it should be easier to see the difference between having xyz and y-only.

Otherwise use the right-mouse button for camera controls and have perspective turned on, and it should feel like you're orbiting around the object as in any other sculpting program. Turn on the floor grid and it feels even more so.

PredatorGSR

Edit: never mind

michi.be

it works now. feels better. I also modified the UI a bit more.

One negative thing i faced is that I have to swith through all the UI's and colors after every restart to get to my favorite UI.

Which file can I overwrite to have it loaded automatically?

cryrid

Preferences:Config:Save UI.

Personally I just modified my \UserInterfaceLayouts & \UserInterfaceColors folders so that they only have the default ui + colors, and mine. It makes switching between the default and my preferred much faster as they are the only options to cycle between.

Revel

@michi.be
If you want to load your custom UI every time you start up Z without having to switch through all the UI what you can do is Preference:Config:Store Config...But there is some bug in Z when you do this, if you have custom stack of the menu in the left/ right (the one that you can hide and expand) the stack will reverse the list every time you Store Config, so what you can do is..well, Store Config again, and it should be correct the way that you want.

cryrid's solution is for you to save the actual file to your hard drive so you can back up and share it elsewhere. Or if for some reason you lazy to do that (which I can't name any reason..lol) you can always go to ZBrush root folder/ ZStartup and copy the CustomUserInterface35.cfg file for back up.

_Revel