I have finally finished part 1 of this series. This 12 hour video set deals with creating a character fully in ZBrush. It is all real time, and very new user friendly. Everything is explained, and often repeated.
You can Buy the full video at:http://www.thethirdguild.comThe Chapter List of topics covered can be found in the link below:
www.martinkrol.com/uploads/ZB_Char_Intro/IntroVideo.pngIt is gearedtoward the new ZBrush user, and for the first two weeks there is a 15 dollar discount,
so it only costs $30.
The Timelapse has all of its narration, discussion, etc edited out. I made it as lean as possible.
No excess fat here
The full tutorial starts with Quick sketch. I found this to be a very simple way to introduce
the user to the idea of working in ZBrush. We explore the brush menu, the document navigation,
and painting on a 3d object.
Before we start doing any further, I go into some important aspects of the interface that the user
will need to know while working with Zbrush.
It later goes into ZSpheres and the creation of your armature that you will be using for
generating your working mesh. We also go into things like Layers during this process to
save Poses while you test your models for proportions.
Then we go ahead and go through the tools involved with making an organized PolyGroup
setup so that later sculpting can be simplified. The Tool visibility tools are explored during
this time.
Before I go into sculpting, I talk about the major properties of a brush and what the user needs
to know when doing any sculpting on the model, or changing these aspects of the brush.
Once the mesh is made and organised, we go into the process of sculpting the model, and this
is where we spend the majority of our time. Initially I spend time editing the mid sized proportions
on the model and this is where transpose is introduced in some detail. I only introduce
what is needed however, so as we move further ahead, I add bits of information as they are
needed. As a result of covering transpose, we also go over the topic of masking.
After we have our base mesh fixed up to a certain extent, and the initial sculpting is done
using the Clay brush, I start going into the process of extraction. I use the Tool,
Extract function to generate very basic meshes for the clothes. At tis time, the process of
retopology is just introduced lightly, for when we need to create the belt. This is also coupled with
Extraction to create a very clean extruded mesh with holes.
Shadow box is used for the smaller items that need to have a more specific shape. We create
the bits of cloth that are holding the belt, the belt buckle using this tool.
Once that is done, the MatchMaker brush is introduced to add curvature to the belt buckle.
Later chapters deal with sculpting, and using the tools learned up to this point. Some more things
get elaborated, but from this point on the focus changes from only the toolset that Zbrush provides,
into covering topics that will ultimately make a successful character. There are some discussions
about wrinkles and what causes them, the process of making them, when is the right time to get
into further details like veins, etc. There is a chapter dedicated toward a discussion about what I
have done up to this point, and why, and it is at this point where we must step back and look at
our work, before we go into detailing further, because the last 20 percent will take as long as the
first 80 percent.
Part Two of the series will deal with Topology issues and thoroughly discussing things like proper use
of topology for animation, and different surface types. Texturing, and exporting will also be major
topics that will be covered. It will be more technical than part 1. Though the Texturing portion will
once again be very new user friendly.
cheers.
