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

Managing your 3D model

To begin this chapter, we are going to load the demoSoldier.zpr ZProject file from LightBox, in order to have a practical example while I introduce the next topics.

To do this, press , on your keyboard to open LightBox and navigate to the Project sub-menu. Then double-click on demoSoldier.zpr and the project will load:

Figure 3.1 – DemoSoldier, available in LightBox

Figure 3.1 – DemoSoldier, available in LightBox

With the project open, we will now look at subtools, the individual 3D models within a tool, introducing you to several useful operations for managing these subtools. We will also learn about Symmetry mode, a powerful functionality that most ZBrush users could not live without – as its name suggests, it allows you to achieve symmetric results by mirroring your sculpting on one side to the other side.

Subtools

Subtools are individual meshes (objects) in your 3D scene. In our solider scene, you can see how different clothing pieces such as shirt or...