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 lights in ZBrush

Lighting is an important part of the modeling process, as the way your model is lit can affect its appearance. In this section, you’ll learn about the lighting terminology and options in ZBrush, and how to set up the kind of lights that bring out the best in your model.

The effect the lighting has on the model can be seen in the following figure:

Figure 7.1 – The effect of the light setup on the appearance of the model

Figure 7.1 – The effect of the light setup on the appearance of the model

Even though the model is the exact same, the lighting on the left side makes the character appear more sinister and fierce, while the model on the right looks a bit more peaceful and gentle. This is the reason why it is worth spending time to experiment with lighting, to find the setup that supports your vision for your sculpture the most.

Adjusting the lighting in ZBrush

To start this section, we want to dock the Light palette on the left side of the canvas. Since you will be using these...