Question on Zbrush extrusion

NAIMA

Hello I was trying to make a sort of sxtrusion on Zbrush but when I extrude a masked part on a curved and detailed already face it gets standing out with the same curvature of the base mesh under and the details also get extruded and curved , instead I would like ot extrude a part in flat forma , whit a almoust flat surface that doesn't reflect the surface or the details under it , any idea how I could do that?

Sorry I am very new still to Zbrush ...

thx for any help ....

disanski

I don't think this is possible the way you want it. You can smooth it very easy after that and make it planar with some of the planar brushes or with hard polish brush.

cryrid

If you have the rest of the mesh masked off, using the clay brush could help cover over any existing details to give you a more even starting point. The clip, polish, trim, planar, and flatten brushed could help you achieve a better result afterwards.

Depending on the state of the mesh and what you're trying to create, you may even find it quick just to append a cube-subtool, transpose it into place and then remesh+project:

pior

I noticed earlier this week that Meshmixer5 has this exact option ...
Worth trying!

NAIMA

Thankyou for answers , the reason why I didn't use append is couse I tought it could not look natural in a sort of sculpted in rock statue I am trying to make as the appended parts could look like non native of the source base rock ...

Meshmixer5 what is this?

Anyway if I use append would be possiblle to merge totally the new mesh with the other geometry in order that they look like if they where melted together in the connection area?

I mean something like what's happen in 3dsmax when you activate simmetry and then you put closer the two mirrored parts to the central division line ... so that automatically vertices and poygons get autoconnected to form one single element?

I wish actually a feature like that also for max ....

cryrid

Anyway if I use append would be possiblle to merge totally the new mesh with the other geometry in order that they look like if they where melted together in the connection area?

After I appended the cube, I created a new mesh using zbrush's "Remesh All", which created a new single solid mesh in the general shape. Following that I used "Project All" to get the exact shape and detail back. The picture I posted was the result, you can smooth the intersecting area to your hearts content and it would be no different than smoothing something that was extruded.

Though sometime, as a personal test, play around with having two individual meshes next to eachother (subtools), and try sculpting between them with a clay brush. That tends to try and blend them together nicely as well.


Smoothing will tend to break the blend though (unless there's a modifier to get it to behave like the clay brushes), and some things such as surface noise will also make them visible. But otherwise it tends to work out well. I'm not sure if an external baker would see it as smoothly; that would be another thing to test.

NAIMA

Thanks a lot for ur answer but I may be not understand well how append works , I have created to test a cube then I went edit mode appended a sphere , remeshed all and the shape looked deformed after like somehow merged but also created some unwanted blobs here and there then I go to smooth or edit the surface and it edits a sphere under .....

cryrid

Have both subtools visible, and select the highest one on the subtool list. On the Remesh button, there are three smaller buttons for x/y/z; I find it works best to turn them all off. The new subtool it creates should be a bit of a blob, but should encompass both shapes. Select this new subtool (make sure the originals are still visible), and hit Project All (depending on the level of detail you wish to transfer, you may need to subdivide the mesh first). It should now have the exact shape and detail, and you can hide the original subtools and begin sculpting on the new one.

NAIMA

Ok I did the test on a cople of balls and worked fine, I then used this tech on the item I was trying to do and created a mess ....

http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/7931/testib.jpg

here is the result ...

my attempt was to add to the mesh those square thngs like if where all coming out of this sort of statue so that when I go sculpt it it can just look like made out of the same piece ... I dunno tough if this is the right way to go ...

cryrid

For something that extrudes only a little like that, you could probably get away with just leaving it as a separate subtool tool (especially if it is about human sized).

What does it look like once you project the details?

NAIMA

Ok this is what I have to follow in very free way meaning that doesn't nee d to be 100% precise but roughly similar ....

http://img263.imageshack.us/img263/4640/conceptdg.jpg


what do you suggest to procede like? I made the basic mesh and that group of squares as an append now ...

NAIMA

Hello here is the link to the work project that I am doing and for wich I made all those questions if you have any tips or sugestions you are very welcomed in that thread ....

http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=85456

NAIMA

Hello I would like ot ask one think in particular on the alpha extrusions used in zbrush ....

I notice that when I put alpha dragging it on the surface of the model sometimes it projects all straight according to my view point instead it doesn't wrap around the surface of the model respecting the normals direction , is there wa way to toggle instead this second behaviour?
Also how do I do to avoid that the alpha gets projected on the rear of the model usually as negative version?

thanks for any answers .....

cryrid

In the picker palette, you could play around with some of the Orientation settings. Projection Master also has the option for having the strokes normalized to the surface.

As for projecting through the model, you could try masking the back manually, or using a brush automask (backface and directional sound like helpful candidates)