Book Image

Sculpting in ZBrush Made Simple

By : Lukas Kutschera
Book Image

Sculpting in ZBrush Made Simple

By: Lukas Kutschera

Overview of this book

Embark on a creative journey with ZBrush, the leading software for creating characters, creatures, and props in films, games, and 3D printing. This guide will take you through its powerful yet user-friendly workflows, allowing you to explore its dynamic organic sculpting, painting, and hard-surface modeling tools. The first part of this book is dedicated to helping you become familiar with ZBrush’s user interface and learning the very basics, from sculpting brushes and painting the model with Polypaint to setting up lights and rendering images. You’ll also create a demon bust with the help of ZBrush’s concept sculpting tool, DynaMesh. In the second part, you’ll get to grips with the creation of a humanoid character that is optimized for 3D printing. Focusing on anatomy, poly-modeling, and preparing the model for 3D printing, you’ll acquire the skills essential for sculptors. The final part delves into portrait sculpting, where you’ll learn everything from basic facial anatomy to hair creation with FiberMesh. By the end of this book, you'll have developed the expertise necessary to succeed in the ever-evolving world of 3D character modeling, complemented by portfolio and social media tips for showcasing your standout work.
Table of Contents (19 chapters)
Free Chapter
1
Part 1: The Adventure Begins: Sculpting in ZBrush
9
Part 2: Creating Characters from Scratch: A Comprehensive Guide
13
Part 3: Sculpting a Female Head: Tips and Techniques

Finalizing the sculpture’s anatomy

When you are satisfied with the basic anatomy of your model, it is time to refine it, shifting your attention from anatomical correctness and accuracy to visual appeal. In this section, you will introduce asymmetry and change the pose from a neutral stance to one that is more dynamic and interesting. Finally, you will add veins and apply a skin texture using the NoiseMaker plugin.

Posing your model

At this point, you can go ahead and pose your model. Here’s a look at the difference between a neutral pose and a more dynamic one; you can see how introducing a shift in shoulders and hips can improve your character’s presentation:

Figure 8.59 – Neutral versus dynamic pose

Figure 8.59 – Neutral versus dynamic pose

While there are a couple of ways to pose your model in ZBrush, a good way of posing a simple model is to use masking and the Gizmo, as follows:

  1. Switch to the lowest subdivision level.
  2. Using MaskPen or any other...