Скандално! Ученичка чака над час линейка в центъра на София

И НИКОЙ не се се сети да я качи в колата си и да я закара някъде?Банката сигурно няма транспорт?Охранителите са пешеходци?И като я вземе линейката?После накъде?За София не зная,но в Русе отрезвител няма.Остава (ако може да си каже адреса)да я закарат при мама и тате.

бе няма такава държава.ние българите сме най-безотговорните хора на планетата!!!

Essential ZBrush
Wayne Robson Wordware Publishing, Inc. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Robson, Wayne Essential ZBrush / by Wayne Robson. p. cm. Includes index. ISBN-13: 978-1-59822-059-9 ISBN-10: 1-59822-059-4 (pbk., companion cd) 1. Computer graphics. 2. ZBrush. 3. Three-dimensional display systems. I. Title. T385.R5792 2008 006.6'93--dc22 2008035078 CIP © 2008, Wordware Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved 1100 Summit Avenue, Suite 102 Plano, Texas 75074 No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without permission in writing from Wordware Publishing, Inc. Printed in the United States of America ISBN-13: 978-1-59822-059-9 ISBN-10: 1-59822-059-4 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0808 ZBrush is a registered trademark of Pixologic, Inc. Other brand names and product names mentioned in this book are trademarks or service marks of their respective companies. Any omission or misuse (of any kind) of service marks or trademarks should not be regarded as intent to infringe on the property of others. The publisher recognizes and respects all marks used by companies, manufacturers, and developers as a means to distinguish their products. This book is sold as is, without warranty of any kind, either express or implied, respecting the contents of this book and any disks or programs that may accompany it, including but not limited to implied warranties for the book’s quality, performance, merchantability, or fitness for any particular purpose. NeitherWordware Publishing, Inc. nor its dealers or distributors shall be liable to the purchaser or any other person or entity with respect to any liability, loss, or damage caused or alleged to have been caused directly or indirectly by this book. All inquiries for volume purchases of this book should be addressed toWordware Publishing, Inc., at the above address. Telephone inquiries may be made by calling: (972) 423-0090 Dedication To those who helped fix what was once broken and repair the irreparable. To my other half, Katrina, my son Kane, my brother Simon, and not forgetting my mam and dad. An extra special dedication to my unborn child, who is currently lying safe and warm inside Katrina. I look forward to being your daddy and loving you as much as any human can. iii Special Thanks to: Pixologic, for creating the best tool any artist could wish for. In the words of Mr. Spock, “Live long and prosper.” Glen Southern, who I count as a good friend and who has been my inspiration since day one, a man truly without limitations. Katrina, my other half, for being my inspiration and helping to find the soul I needed to be an artist. (Remember Dover.) My son Kane, for bringing the light and shade into each day with his smile and wonder at all things I do. My mother, without her I wouldn’t be here and you’d have saved some money on this book. So any blame lies at her door, I’m afraid (lol). Seriously though, she taught me that with enough time and dedication anything is possible, something that I’ll always treasure. My father, for helping (along with my mother) to make me into a good person despite having to deal with a “teenaged Wayne” many years back (as a teenager I was a complete nightmare of epic proportions). Simon, my brother, who is the yin to my yang and is also the logic to my artistic side at times. Ryan Kingslien, a friend, advisor, and the hardest working man I know. Neil Simpson, who as my best mate since school days has seen me through both good times and really amazingly bad ones, who kept me sane when life went “pear-shaped,” and who I owe more than I can ever repay. The members of ZBrushCentral, for putting up with the endless streams of bad models when I first started without ever saying “Give up, you damn loser.” Most importantly of all, Tim McEvoy and Wordware Publishing, without whom this book wouldn’t exist. Thank you. Finally, special thanks has to go out to the endless stream of “Wayne made” computers I’ve owned, made, modified, and then blew up in showers of sparks in the name of “art” over the years. I give them my thanks and hope they are enjoying silicon heaven. iv Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii Part I: Basic Skills Chapter 1 About ZBrush . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 WhoShouldUseZBrush? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 LearningtoBeaDigitalSculptor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Self-basedLearning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Course-basedLearning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 LearningUsingDVDs,Books,andOnlineTutorials . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 DVDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 OnlineTutorials andMagazineArticles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 One-on-OneTutoring. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 TheCombinationApproach. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 TheWrittenWord. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 FormandReplication. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 IconographyandWhyIt’sBadNews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 FormandReplicationPart2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 SculptinginPlanes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 TheUseofShapestoSculptAnatomicalDetail. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 WordsofCaution. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 MentalApproachestoZBrush . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Chapter 2 Finding Your Way Around ZBrush. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Explanationof2D,2.5D,and3D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 TheDifferencebetweentheCanvasand3DMode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 NavigatingAroundZBrush . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 RotatingtheModel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 HidingandShowingGeometry. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 HidingGeometryonaSingleMesh. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 HidingbyPolygonGroups. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 HidingUsingMasks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 ShowingandHidingUsingSubtools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 HardwareRequirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 GraphicsTabletvs.Mouse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 WhichTabletShouldYouChoose? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 DigitalSculptingandtheImportanceofReference. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 v Chapter 3 Main Concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 WhatAreUVMapsandWhyDoINeedThem? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 MakingUVsinZBrush . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 ExternalApplicationsandUVGeneration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 WhatAreSubtools?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Appendingvs. InsertingTools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 AppendinganExternalModel toYourSculpt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Rolling Your Own Subtools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 MasktoSubtool. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 ESmt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 SSmt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Thick. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 ProjectingOneSubtoolontoAnother . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Low-Resvs.High-ResBaseMeshes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 PointsforUsingaLow-ResolutionBaseMesh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 PointsAgainstUsingaLow-ResolutionBaseMesh . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 PointsforUsingaHigh-ResolutionBaseMesh. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 PointsAgainstUsingaHigh-ResolutionBaseMesh . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 FinalThoughtsonBaseMeshes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 High-DefinitionGeometryinZBrush . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 AddingHDGeometrytoYourSculpture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Chapter 4 Important Palettes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 TheBrushPalette. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 StandardBrush . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 DisplaceBrush. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 MoveBrush . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 InflateBrush. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 MagnifyBrush. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 BlobBrush. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 PinchBrush . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 FlattenBrush . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 GougeBrush. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 MalletBrush. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 MorphBrush. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 NudgeBrush. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 RakeBrush . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 SnakeHookBrush . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 ZProjectBrush. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 SmoothBrush . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 MeshInsertBrushes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 TheClayBrushSubset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 ClayBrush. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 ClayTubesBrush . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 TheDocumentPalette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 TheAlphaPalette. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 TheColorPalette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 TheLayerPalette. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 3DSculptingLayers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 vi Contents WhatAre3DLayers? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 CreatingaLayer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 ChangingtheLayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 ErasinganAreafromaLayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 Chapter 5 Monster Head from a Sphere Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 AboutThisProject . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 SomePreparatoryTheory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 StartingtheSculpting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 Medium-ResolutionDetails . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 AddingtheEyes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 TwoEyesfromOne . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 BacktotheSculptingAgain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114 CleaningUptheEyeandMovingOn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120 TimeforSomeChanges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 TheImportanceofa“BackStory”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126 ContinuingOnwardwiththeModel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 FinerDetails . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128 AddinganEar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139 FinishingOff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139 SomeFinalThoughts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139 Chapter 6 ZSpheres. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153 WhatAreZSpheres?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153 BasicZSphereCreation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153 MakingandAddingZSpheres . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155 SymmetryandZSpheres . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155 AdaptiveSkin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157 ParentsandChildrenwithMinimalSkin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159 Multiple-ResolutionZSpheres. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160 Spheresof Influence(AttractorSpheres) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161 InvertedSpheres . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163 ZSphereProject:GuardianBodyBaseMesh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164 TheGuardianBipedBaseRig . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165 MakingtheBaseMeshZSphereSetup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166 Part II: Intermediate Skills Chapter 7 Displacement and Normal Maps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183 TheImportanceofTextureSize. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183 DisplacementMaps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186 What IsaDisplacementMap? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186 TheDifferencebetweenDisplacement,Bump,andNormalMaps . . . . 187 8-,16-and32-bitMapTypes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188 GeneratingDisplacementMaps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190 NormalMaps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193 WhatAreNormalMaps?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193 ModelingwithNormalMapsinMind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194 ProducingNormalMapsUsingZMapper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195 Contents vii BasicWorkflowforSingleSubtools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196 Baking aNormalMap fromanArbitraryMesh. . . . . . . . . . . . 197 UsingNormalMapsandDisplacementMaps. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198 UsingNormalMapsin3dsMax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198 UsingNormalMapsinMaya. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200 UsingYourDisplacementMapin3dsMaxUsingMentalRay. . . . . . . 203 UsingYourDisplacementMapinMaya . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207 Note for Maya 2008 Users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210 Chapter 8 ZMapper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211 What IsZMapper? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211 What IsaNormalMap? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211 What IsaSurfaceNormal? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213 HowNormalMapsAreUsedinGameandRenderEngines . . . . . . . . . 214 Reverse Engineering an In-game Normal Map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215 StartingZMapper. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215 QuickStart toNormalMapping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216 GettingtoKnowZMapper. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217 MainControlBlock. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218 TheTransformBlock. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219 TheMeshBlock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219 TheMorphModesBlock. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220 TheWiresBlock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221 TheScreenBlock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222 TheDisplayBlock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223 ConfigurationandPreviewButtons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223 TheSubtabs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224 TheNormal&CavityMapTab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224 TheProjectionTab. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228 TheExpertPass 1 andExpertPass 2Tabs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230 TheMiscTab. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232 Overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232 Chapter 9 Posing a Digital Sculpt in ZBrush . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233 WhyIsaPoseImportant? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234 WheretoGetPoseIdeas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234 GestureDrawingandItsRelationtoZBrushPosing . . . . . . . . . . . 235 Other InspirationforPoses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235 SomeTipsBeforeWeMoveOnward . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236 PosingwithActionLines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237 TopologicalMasking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237 TheTransposeMasterPlug-in . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239 AnOverviewofZSphereRigs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241 PosingwithaZSphereRig . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241 Posingwith aZSphereRigWorkflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242 ClosingThoughts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245 viii Contents Chapter 10 Customizing ZBrush . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247 TheCustomStuffBuilt In. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247 Areasof theInterface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248 MovingThingsAround . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249 ImportantThingstoKnow. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249 EnablingCustomization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250 TheActualMovingStuffAroundBit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250 CustomHotkeys. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251 What IsaHotkey? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251 SettingCustomHotkeys. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251 TheDefaultHotkeys. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252 CustomStartupDocument . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257 SimpleChangeofDocumentSizeandColor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257 AddingtoExistingMaterials,Alphas,andTextures . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258 MakingaCustomPalette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258 Chapter 11 Common Workflow Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261 UV’ingaFinishedSculptwithNoUVs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261 Wayne’s“ZBrush2”StyleSmoothBrush. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265 SmallChangesCanAffectBigThings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265 NeedMorePolygonsButDon’tWant toUseHD? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266 TheProcess . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266 Rendering Out from ZBrush in Passes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268 HowIt’sDoneintheMovies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268 Types of Passes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269 BeautyPass. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270 Ambient Occlusion (or Dirt Pass) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270 Specular Passes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270 Shadow/Lighting Passes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271 MattePass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271 Color Pass (Diffuse Pass) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272 Depth Pass (ZDepth Pass) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273 ThePracticalApplicationinZBrush. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273 Passes Used . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274 BeautyPass. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274 CavityShaderPass. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274 FlatShadePass. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275 LightPass. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276 WideSpecularPass 1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276 WideSpecularPass 2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277 ThinSpecularPass. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278 TheProcess . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278 Chapter 12 Materials and MatCaps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281 Materials. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281 Families and Types of Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281 TheStandardMaterialFamily . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281 TheSpecialMaterialFamily. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282 Contents ix MatCapMaterials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282 TheFiberMaterial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283 Rolling Your Own MatCaps in ZBrush. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283 MakingOurFirstMatCap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284 MakingMatCapsExternally . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285 Opacity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288 CavityDetection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288 CavityTransition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289 IntensityA/B . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289 MonochromaticA/B . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289 DepthA/B . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289 Colorize. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289 BaseColorChip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290 A/BColorChips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290 ColColorChip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290 MaterialTexture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290 CapturingaMatCapTexture. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290 GeometryProjectioninZBrush. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293 UsingSubtools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294 Part III: Projects Chapter 13 Hard Surface Sculpting: The Door of Secrets. . . . . . . . . 297 TheDoorBaseMesh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298 SculptingtheDoor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299 AddingtheSmallDetails . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314 CreatingtheTexturesandMapsfor theDoor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319 TheColor/DiffuseTexture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319 Specular Level Map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320 SpecularColorMap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320 NormalMap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320 Chapter 14 Hard Surface Sculpting: The Guardian’s Weapon . . . . . . 323 About theWorkflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323 SculptingtheWeapon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324 Chapter 15 Environment Modeling: The Stone Surround for the Door of Secrets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353 About theWorkflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353 SculptingtheDoorSurround . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 354 MakingtheMaps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365 TheNormalMap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365 TheCavityMap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366 MakingtheOtherMapsinPhotoshop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366 Making aBetterDiffuseMap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366 Making the Specular Levels Map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367 x Contents Chapter 16 The Guardian Project: Sculpting the Head . . . . . . . . . . 369 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369 CharacterBackStory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 370 BehindtheDoor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371 SculptingtheHead. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371 StartingWork. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372 Chapter 17 Retopologizing the Guardian’s Head . . . . . . . . . . . . . 469 What IsRetopologizing?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 469 WhyDoINeedtoRetopologizeaModelThat Isn’tAnimated? . . . . . . . 469 RetopologizinginZBrush . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 470 BasicWorkflowGuide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 470 OtherUsesforRetopologizing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 471 EditingExistingTopology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 471 GuidetoRetopologizingtheGuardian’sHead . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 472 PaintingtheReferenceLines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 472 Retopologizing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 474 ExportingtheFinal forUVMapping. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 481 Chapter 18 Sculpting the Guardian’s Body. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 483 BodyBlockingStage1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 483 Subdivision Level 1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 484 Subdivision Level 2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 488 Subdivision Level 3. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 492 BodyBlockingStage2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 497 Subdivision Level 4. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 497 Subdivision Level 5. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 498 Subdivision Level 6. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 506 Subdivision Level 7. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 529 BodyBlockingStage3. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 531 StartingtoBringtheTorsoTogether . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 532 Subdivision Level 8. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 540 TheLowerHalfof theBody. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 550 SortingOut thePolygroups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 569 BringingItAllTogether . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 575 PosingtheGuardian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 594 FinalTweakandTidyUp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 608 Chapter 19 Texturing the Guardian’s Body. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 625 AFewWordsBeforeWeStart. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 625 TexturingtheGuardian’sBody . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 627 BasicPolypainting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 627 BaseTexturePass1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 628 BaseTexturePass2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 635 BaseTexturePass3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 640 PaintingOver theBaseTexture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 646 BackintheRed. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 653 Contents xi Chapter 20 Texturing the Guardian’s Head. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 661 FittingtheSculptedDetailstoYourTexture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 685 TexturingInsidetheMouth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 686 FinishingTouchestotheHeadTexture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 703 ColoringandSculptingtheVeinsandBodyDetails. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 706 Chapter 21 Sculpting the Accessories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 707 TheGuardian’sBeltandLoincloth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 707 SculptingtheBelt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 708 SculptingtheLoincloth. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 718 Photoshop:TexturingBothItems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 723 TheCloth. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 724 TheBelt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 726 Chapter 22 Rendering the Guardian Scene. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 729 ImportingtheModelsandSettingtheScene . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 731 BasicMaterialCreation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 733 TheMentalRaySubsurfaceSkinShader (SSS) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 733 Lights,Camera,Action! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 734 TheMaterialsUsed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 738 OBJSettings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 744 InConclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 744 Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 745 xii Contents Introduction Well, here it is… much of my last few months sitting condensed into a book that you now hold in your hands. ZBrush has given me both something I love to do (digital sculpting) and an income. I’ve tried to fit within this book as many things as possible that users both new and old, those starting out and more experienced, would all find of interest. I hope its conversational style will help to make reading it enjoyable as well as instructional. As digital artists we are living in interesting times, when sculpting has escaped the confines of a sculptor’s workshop and entered homes and businesses around the world. Thanks to programs like ZBrush, people who would never have dreamed a few years back that they would be artists are now highly successful and respected digital sculptors. The world of digital art is something that one can never know everything about, as it is forever changing and expanding. In ZBrush, Pixologic has produced the perfect sculpting tool. It’s a joy to work with and has a depth that inspires as well as continued innovations and free plug-ins. This book can be used either as a reference or read from cover to cover. For the projects in this book, I decided to take on the challenge of creating a number of models, both hard surface and organic, as well as environments and props that come together to form the scene that you see on the front cover. I hope that it gives those just starting out enough to really get their teeth into, but also contains helpful information for more experienced users. Everything is explained in as much detail as possible to instill in new users confidence in their abilities. For more experienced users, a large project hopefully shows them new and different ways in which to work. In this book I use only default alphas so that everyone starts on an equal footing. We cover rendering our displacement maps in both Maya and 3ds Max, as well as importing and using normal maps. We also cover a number of other areas, such as ZMapper, in great detail. In addition to a simple “help guide,” I’ve tried to make this book something that you xiii refer to time and time again to help you keep improving. So enjoy Essential ZBrush, and should you see me on a 3D forum online (as DarthWayne), be sure to say hi. Note: The companion files for this book as well as full-color versions of all the images within this book are included on the DVD. There are also a few extras that may help to make your journey in ZBrush interesting, and tutorial videos that help show many of the processes. xiv Introduction 1 About ZBrush Who Should Use ZBrush? This may seem to be a strange question, or indeed title for this section, but for those unfamiliar with ZBrush this section outlines some of the ways that ZBrush can be of use to you as an artist or in your company’s pipeline. ZBrush is capable of a great many things and is much more than just a digital sculpting tool. As the market leader in its area, it is a tool that everyone who wants to get into making next-generation computer games must learn. While the most obvious users of ZBrush are digital sculptors, game artists, and those who work in the film industry, its appeal is much broader than that. More and more traditional sculptors and artists are making the transition from traditional materials to digital sculpting. Their reasons range from reducing the cost of materials such as clay to simply wanting to try something a little different or more advanced. 1 Figure 1-1 ZBrush is also starting to make an impact in the matte painting world as more and more artists in film pipelines use it for 2D matte painting. In fact, this pipeline was used to great effect in a number of recent movies. To artists just starting out in digital sculpting from a traditional polygon modeling background, the program can seem rather alien at first. Instead of moving edges, polygons, or vertices around, ZBrush is more similar to traditional clay sculpting. Although the transition can be difficult at first, with a little perseverance (like anything in life) it does pay off in the end with much more complex and accurate models. For those modelers working in the computer game industry, ZBrush offers a host of useful features. Apart from the obvious digital sculpting aspect, it also allows the creation of normal maps and the ability to paint textures. Artists can start with a simple base mesh and sculpt in the details they need. ZBrush also allows you to retopologize your model to ready it for output to riggers and animators. So as you can see, while it is not quite a “one-stop shop” for next-generation game artists, it certainly isn’t that far away. In fact, many of the models used in games today could not be produced without ZBrush. ZBrush is one of the most amazing success stories in the whole of digital art. It has grown from a small hobbyist tool to a sophisticated production application that is used in just about every film and game production house in the world. So is it just an organic sculpting program? Although certainly best known as a tool for organic digital sculpting, it is capable of much more. As more and more artists find they can use ZBrush for very high-end hard surface sculpting and detailing, you will see it used more and more on projects other than organic forms. It is already used in many pipelines and for detailing sets, props, buildings, and more. As you can see, ZBrush has a very broad appeal to artists regardless of the type of sculpt or model that needs to be created. By reading this book and following along with the projects, I’m confident that you will soon feel at home with it and see many more possibilities. Learning to Be a Digital Sculptor When you first decide that digital sculpting and 3D are the things that you wish to learn, there are a number of decisions to make early on that can affect your long-term development as an artist. Choosing a way to learn to become a good digital sculptor is probably the most important 2 Part I: Basic Skills decision you will face, as the way you choose to study will affect how fast you develop. The choices you have are:
Learn by yourself without any outside help
Learn by yourself with the use of DVDs, online tutorials, and books
Take a specialized course in 3D
One-on-one tutoring
Using a combination of the above Which route is the best one depends on the artist, where he or she lives, how much they want to spend on learning, and a great many other things. So a route that is right for one person may be totally wrong for another. Whereas some people need the discipline that comes with a regular course with its timetables and routines, others may find that learning at a set speed along with other students actually hinders them. It is important that you choose the way to learn that fits you as both a person and an artist. Go for a way that will best suit your needs, and not just the way that may be popular at the time. Let’s take a look at the good and bad points of each way of learning so that those starting out can have a better idea of which way to go. Even though I do have a great deal of experience teaching 3D and digital sculpting to users of all skill levels, I do not know your personal situation so I can only give you some guidelines. Self-based Learning Nearly every user starts out learning alone. From the time you first open up ZBrush, every step you take is a journey into a land of self-based learning. How well you learn and take in the information you come across is up to you, and it requires a certain amount of dedication to advance beyond a certain level. You may choose to learn by yourself because you live in a remote location or simply because you find that you learn much better that way. While it is certainly possible to learn to be a great digital sculptor in ZBrush without ever taking lessons, watching an instructional DVD, or reading books or articles, it will probably be a long and difficult process. The positive aspect of learning by yourself without additional resources is that you have complete control of how, where, and when you learn. If you find you learn much better in the very early hours, you can set this time as your learning period each day. On the other hand, it requires more determination and dedication to learn by yourself without the input of others who have similar interests around you all the time. It Chapter 1: About ZBrush 3 can be very easy to get stuck in a rut if you aren’t careful, or to simply spend time learning the wrong thing that in the long term can slow down your progress. Self-based learning is also very good for those who may have to work during the day and are trying to change their current career. This means that you can still go out and earn a crust to survive while you spend your free time learning. When I started out there were no 3D courses in universities or colleges (in fact, in the part of England where I currently live they are still few and far between), so the only way left to learn was to learn by myself. Learning by yourself without the benefit of DVDs, books, online tutorials, and the help of others can be a much richer and more rewarding learning experience though. And the many free tutorials on the Pixologic web site can give you a bit of a head start on things regardless of the direction you decide to take. Course-based Learning There are a number of things to bear in mind if you are considering taking the path of course-based learning. First of all, make sure that the course curriculum focuses not only on the skills that you require as an artist but also those that will enable you to get a job. Although the syllabus outlines the course of study, it is difficult for someone with little to no experience to decide if a particular class is the right one. I would disregard “brand-name” courses and judge based on a few simple criteria, such as the reputation of the instructors and the institution. Is the course taught by an experienced teacher? This may seem odd, but being a good artist and being good at teaching art are totally different things that do not often come in the same package. So where a teacher has worked and what cool things he has worked on are of much less importance than excellent recommendations from previous students. The ability of a teacher can often be judged by how well he or she conveys complex ideas to the pupils. A good tutor will teach not just to your strengths, but also to your weaknesses. It is no good only improving what a person can already do well; a good tutor will seek to improve those problem areas a pupil may have. Is the syllabus geared toward those with less than brilliant traditional art skills, or toward people who are already accomplished artists? You must be very honest with yourself and not overestimate your strengths if you want to get the very best out of any course. Which area of the industry are you interested in? Unless you are planning on being an animator, taking a course on animation may not be a good idea unless you are sure that the skills you will learn are portable 4 Part I: Basic Skills in some way. Certain skills in 3D and digital sculpting are crossover areas that can be covered in courses of different types. Don’t let the fact that you really want to focus exclusively on one skill color your judgment about the rest of a course. Does the school promise to find you a job on graduation? This is a common claim in many course publicity materials, and some get around this by mentioning that they have “contacts” in many top firms. The only time a course can guarantee you a job is if it is basically little more than a glorified recruitment service. These “schools” are probably less interested in upping your skill set than they are at having a fast turnover of pupils to keep the money rolling in. Your ability to find a job depends on your skills as well as intangibles such as how easy you are to get along with, if you fit into the mindset of the current group of employees, and where you reside. Of course knowing people in the right firms can often help, so don’t discount that advantage. Probably the biggest advantage of taking a course is in fact the contacts made while you are there. Inevitably, some former students will end up in positions of power and influence at firms you may want to work for. A good course should give you a decent skill set in a certain amount of time. Combined with the expense of the tuition, you must include the cost of your time off work to attend, which can certainly add up. What is the school’s accreditation? Unlike many industries, the qualifications you receive may not stand for much outside the industry. For example, getting a diploma in “digital sculpting” may be worthless in another industry. Also, a course in one country may not prove that you are skilled in that area in a different country. So until some industry recognized qualifications are introduced (which hopefully will be soon), it is still a bit of a risk if you end up not being able to get a job. Another drawback or at least something to watch out for is schools and courses that pressure pupils to brand themselves as graduates of college “X.” While in some ways this may be a “stamp of quality” if the previous graduates were talented individuals that were taught well, it can work against you very fast if standards drop. Not to mention that you’ll be competing with a group of other artists with very similar styles, all “branded” in some way. If need be, take the advice of people and artists that you respect to get an unbiased view of things. Remember, the publicity may make the course appealing, but like anything in life you need to look beneath the surface a bit and do some investigation. Chapter 1: About ZBrush 5 Learning Using DVDs, Books, and Online Tutorials Since I make a living writing and producing tutorial DVDs, articles, and books, my outlook is a bit biased. However, I’ve been on both sides of the issue as someone who has used these materials when I started out learning and now I am making and writing them for others to learn from. I’d like to think it gives me a pretty unique viewpoint on the subject. DVDs Not too many years ago being able to find a DVD on ZBrush was a rare novelty that was anticipated with relish by nearly the whole community. Since then, there has been a proliferation of new companies producing tutorial DVDs and we now have a wealth of material to choose from. As a result, the quality is not always as high as it could be and the content can sometimes be patchy. But this isn’t to say that DVDs produced by small companies are less good than those made by larger, more established companies. Companies that are smaller can sometimes produce a DVD that is a nugget of gold just as the bigger ones can produce a few turkeys each year. So how do you make the choice as to which are good and which are bad? If you only read what people say online you get a mixture of unbiased user reviews as well as what is known as “stealth marketing,” which is information posted by paid (or sometimes unpaid) people whose job is to talk up a release as much as they can and talk down those of competitors. One way to find a good tutorial DVD is by soliciting recommendations from people you know and trust. This is especially helpful if the person is at about the same level as yourself in ZBrush and digital sculpting. What is “great” for a person at one point in the learning process is worthless to someone more or less advanced. Try to find out what is actually being taught on the DVD and whether it is basically a recorded modeling session or if the techniques and theory are being explained. Some DVDs are showcases for a particular modeler’s style, while others are oriented toward how and why things are done. There is a place for both. The adage “never judge a book by its cover” is one that we’ve all heard and used that also applies to tutorial DVDs. Just because you like the model on a DVD does not mean that you will learn what you need as an artist. Even the best DVD will never be perfect because there simply isn’t enough time to include it all. So in short, take the advice of those you know well and respect and try to go for DVDs that can teach you what you need to learn. 6 Part I: Basic Skills I’ll leave you with a closing story about one of my own DVDs that may illustrate some of what we’ve discussed. On release of my first DVD some time ago, I saw a thread discussing it online. Now as a rule I avoid them like the plague unless they are posts about clarification of something on the DVDs, as reading people’s reviews on your work can soon drive you insane. But for whatever reason, in this case I decided to have a read to see how it had been received, and was surprised at a conversation that was in the thread. It had started with a guy saying that he couldn’t understand a word I’d said on the DVD, with a few people adding that they had no problem. Toward the end it turned out that this person had not only “borrowed” the DVD (illegal in most countries), but didn’t speak a word of English and his posts were going through Babelfish. As you can imagine, I couldn’t understand why a person who had watched a DVD in a language he didn’t understand and who didn’t pay for it would then complain about it. So I guess the moral of that (true) story is that you should never take any review at face value, and instead should trust opinions and reviews from those with no vested interest either way. Online Tutorials and Magazine Articles Although there are a huge number of articles and tutorials available free online and in magazines, like much in the world the quality of the information within them depends largely on the person passing their knowledge on to others. There are two categories of tutorial writers as far as I’m concerned: those who write to help other users with something they have learned themselves, and those who get paid to write. (There are also those who release free articles for fame or to up the number of hits to their sites, but let’s be kind and categorize them with the “helping other users” group, eh?) If you are reading an article or tutorial written by a paid professional (and hence is held accountable), you can expect it to be of high quality; however, those written for free are in more of a gray area. Some who writes about ZBrush are not really advanced enough to be called “experts,” but their articles do explain a certain workflow or part of the process that they’ve worked out. This is great and an excellent contribution to the ZBrush community and one that is appreciated by everyone. What I suppose I am trying to get at without it coming across as nasty is that it can be easy for someone very new to ZBrush to take every written word as the gospel truth regardless of the source and experience of the writer. My suggestion is to try out new methods you read about and if it works for you, then add it to your list of good Chapter 1: About ZBrush 7 workflows. Workflows evolve as people discover new ways of doing things and approaching problems, and we can all benefit from sharing our good ideas. Many amazing new workflows have been devised by relative newcomers, so discount nothing and keep your options open. Check out the amazing articles in the ZBrush wiki by people at Pixologic such as Ryan Kingslien. I also recommend Ryan’s blog on the Pixologic site as an essential way to keep in touch with “up and coming” workflows. ZBrushCentral is also a site that every ZBrush user should check on a regular basis as the vast and friendly user base has produced many useful workflows and workarounds over the years. Of course there are many other web sites that contain tutorials on ZBrush of all types and it would take forever to list them all. I’m obviously far too modest to mention that my own site (www.DashDotSlash.net) has some as well. One-on-One Tutoring One-on-one tutoring by someone who knows both ZBrush and digital sculpting inside and out is without doubt the best option for many people. Although rare, there are a few who teach on an individual level. There are even some workplaces that offer unofficial tutoring in the form of in-house mentors, but again it is rare and you have to already be up to a certain standard anyway. Where a personal tutor is available, you are of course looking at paying some pretty hefty money for the privilege as personal tutoring takes up a lot of time. The Combination Approach For many people, a mixture of the above methods is deemed the best way to go as it provides the strengths of each method with fewer drawbacks. On the plus side, you are able to decide what you need and which methods work best for you. But on the negative side, it is far easier to get sidetracked and end up studying things that were not your intention initially. So it would certainly be a good idea to set out a list of things that you wish to learn and achieve before diving in headfirst. Just like digital sculpting itself, preparation is the key. One thing I would say is to make sure that you do not push yourself beyond your physical limits. Sometimes it can appear to people new to the world of 3D that there is something “macho” about long hours and lack of sleep. I recommend that you limit your hours to a level that does not cause burnout because you may have to maintain that pace for quite some time. I spent about two years of between 14 and 20 hours a day of constant study when I started out, but since I’m a clinical insomniac that 8 Part I: Basic Skills was within my personal limits. Well, truthfully it was maybe a little extreme and not something I’d recommend, but there does come a time when you have to slow down a bit. It may be hard to remember to take breaks when things are going well, but breaks are important. Not just on a physical level so that your hands get a rest, but also to give your brain time to process what you are trying to learn. The Written Word This section is what I’d like to call a “future proof,” because when I started writing this book there were no books about ZBrush at all. When choosing any textbook it’s best to keep in mind things such as recommendations from instructors, friends in the industry whose advice you trust, and of course any reviews. Although reviews may be helpful, try to read the table of contents for a book and make sure that it contains what you need. You can usually read a few pages of a book to get an idea of the author’s style of writing and philosophy. Obviously, the books you choose will be well-written and by an authority on the subject. Form and Replication The study of form and the ability to replicate it are fundamental digital sculpting skills. To an artist who has never sculpted, either traditionally or digitally, these can be rather difficult concepts. So what is form? Put simply, form is the shape and overall lines of an object. A more complex explanation is that form is the interaction of objects. We must also remember to take into account the type of model we are sculpting. Sculpting a human being will be approached differently formwise from the methods used to sculpt an animal or a hard surface object. So how do we learn about form? Let’s look at some of the basic concepts to get you on your way. The overall outline or silhouette is the first thing we want to look at. This gives some basic information about the shapes that make up whatever it is we are sculpting. Those of you with a traditional background in drawing will probably already do this without thinking, but the ability to use negative space to work out the shape of the object is a core concept for people new to art. If we take, for example, the human head, there are a number of common mistakes that we see new digital sculptors make. The most common of these is to make the front of the face flat instead of curved. (This is due to a phenomenon known as “iconography,” which we will Chapter 1: About ZBrush 9 discuss further in a bit.) When studying the form of a human face, we need to look at it from a number of angles and concentrate not on the details but rather on the very big shapes. You can break the head down into a number of primitive shapes such as circles, rectangles, and triangles. We can then refine these further by taking into account negative space (the area around a model) to give us the information we need regarding the actual shape of the features. When we look at the human head from above, you’ll notice that the front of the face is not flat but rather a curved “V” shape. You will see that the features and the spaces between them make patterns that are easy to remember. Memorizing how things are put together and combining that with a knowledge of anatomy allows you to take your artwork to a higher level. Breaking a model down into shapes and curves allows us to start looking at it less as a complex object and more as a series of simple shapes. This is the key to understanding form and is something that you will find yourself refining over time. Studying the form and interpreting it correctly can be made easier with good lighting and made a whole lot more difficult with bad lighting or complex textures. For a beginner it is best to start your journey into the study of form by looking at traditional sculptures by the old masters. Since these are usually carved from a single material such as marble and often well lit in museums, working out the major shapes and curves is a lot easier. While we can learn a lot from the old masters, we should keep in mind that the sculpted piece was often meant to be seen under specific lighting, in a specific place, and from a certain angle. A classic example of this would be Michelangelo’s David. If you could look at it from the floor level, you would find some of the proportions are “off” because it was meant to be seen raised on its plinth. This was a conscious decision made by Michelangelo, and in fact is one of the geniuses of the work itself. So be aware that if you want to replicate a classical sculpture, the lighting, placement, and viewing angle are very important if you wish it to look the same as the original. Many traditional sculpting techniques can translate very well indeed in ZBrush, and may be important to remember as you progress. The keys to learning digital sculpting are knowing what each tool will do, choosing and using the correct tool, and interpreting form correctly. 10 Part I: Basic Skills Iconography and Why It’s Bad News Iconography is best explained as a bad habit that all humans learn to use to represent forms. If you ask a young toddler to draw a tree, he’ll probably draw a mess of branch-like lines sprouting from a central trunk; however, if you ask the same child when he is older, he will probably draw a classic “lollipop” tree shape. So why is that, and why and where does this change take place? Children are born with no preconceived notions. As they learn and develop, society imprints on them what things “look like.” So a big tree suddenly becomes a large stick with a circle on the top, and a face is a circle with two eyes, a nose, and smiley lips like the face you see in standard icon sets. Incidentally, the reason that these icons are designed as they are is to further use our built-in iconography. As artists, though, is important for us to avoid the use of symbols and icons as it impedes our application of true form. If you start to draw a face and automatically draw the lips in a smile, you know this is incorrect. This is the difference between looking and seeing. Looking can be best thought of as iconography, whereas seeing can be thought of as a study and interpretation of form. So as you can see, iconography is bad. In the words of a very famous green movie character, “You must unlearn what you have learned.” You must forget what you think is there and see what is actually there. Three-quarters of all drawing and sculpting problems are caused by artists trying to reproduce what they “think” is there as opposed to what actually is. Learning to override our natural iconography instincts is not an easy process, and I’m not about to pretend that it is. In fact, it’s a process that every artist never really finishes and continues to refine over a lifetime. But like many things in life, the more you practice the better you will get. It is also worth remembering that even the best artists get into bad habits from time to time. Someone who sculpts the same shape over and over, such as the human male head, will end up with a lot of shortcuts and ways to make the human male head quickly and effectively. But unfortunately, unless you actively continue to learn about form and correct interpretation, it’s very easy to get into a rut and do things the same way each time. That is the reason why criticism is of such importance to any artist regardless of their skill level, as we can all get into these bad habits from time to time. If part of a sculpture is giving you problems, you may need to go back and break the forms down to see where the problem area is. Concentrate on and practice sculpting the area giving you problems until you feel comfortable reproducing that particular form. For example, if Chapter 1: About ZBrush 11 you’re having problems sculpting the human nose, you may wish to do a number of separate nose sculptures. If you find yourself stuck in your comfort zone too much you will find that the quality of your work suffers. It can end up stale, uninteresting, or downright bland. Artists who only do the things they are good at don’t get a chance to sharpen their skills or learn and upgrade their skill sets, so it is essential to keep pushing into new areas and broaden your skills. Form and Replication Part 2 Sculpting in Planes Up to now I’ve been trying to explain how to “think” about form and get information that we can then use and interpret in a digital sculpture in ZBrush. In this section, however, we are going to outline how we can take this information and use it in a practical way. So the discussions here will be used later in our main project, “The Guardian,” to interpret the anatomical information. There are a number of ways to approach translating theoretical information we’ve gleaned from observation into a practical digital sculpt. Some artists prefer to analyze lines, negative space, curves, horizontals, and verticals to get the information they need and use traditional 2D skills to create their sculpts. Others like me prefer to incorporate traditional methods such as clay sculpting more directly into the digital form. So while I do obviously make use of some of the aforementioned techniques that are based more in the 2D world to observe the form I am wanting to replicate digitally, I also add to these a whole host of more traditional sculpting skills. I find that this gives me the best of both worlds and the ability to translate the information faster and more accurately into a digital sculpture in ZBrush. Earlier, we covered such things as the importance of looking not at the item itself that you are trying to replicate but at its silhouette. We can be the victims of optical illusion at times, but through analysis we can often see objects more accurately. I also use traditional sculpting skills like studying the planes of the human face and body to help me in the sculpting process. If you take a look at the section on sculpting the Guardian’s body in Chapter 18, you will see that I break the body down into flat areas (planes) before using these to create the final complex body sculpture. An easy way to think of planes is to visualize a 1,000-polygon model of a 12 Part I: Basic Skills male in its untextured and unsmoothed state. In wireframe mode we would be able to see many areas that have been simplified down to flat planes. So by breaking this simplification of planes into smaller chunks, we can make the job of modeling the major forms fairly easy. As an example let’s take a photo of a human mouth and analyze the number of planes for the upper lip area running up to the nose. Many artists with little or no formal traditional sculpting experience would find it hard to interpret what they see and take for granted each day. However, if we look at the image with some lines drawn in to show the major planes of that area, we can now see that there are in fact six distinct flat planes that can be used to interpret this area quickly and correctly. You will find that this series of flat areas of the human mouth is constant across ethnic, age, and gender barriers and only changes due Chapter 1: About ZBrush 13 Figure 1-2 Figure 1-3 to expression. In the example here, I’ve extended the planes beyond the mouth to help show how they would integrate into the face If we examined the nose we would find six distinct planes for that as well: one running from the top of the bridge of the nose to the tip, one down each side of the nose, and three for the bottom part of it. Obviously, these simplifications make it far easier to sculpt them in ZBrush. The more clearly you can understand and interpret a form as a series of planes and angles, the more technically adept at digital sculpting you will become. The rest is down to learning the tools of your trade and your own personal artistic ability. Learning to see your reference as a series of planes and angles means you are much more able to use this technique to create totally new models and designs with no reference whatsoever. The study of planes as a way of modeling forms is not something new to ZBrush or digital sculpting; traditional sculptors have used this technique for a very long time. So how do you get your geometry to the stage where you can use these planes? My personal favorite workflow is to first add some mass for the area I’ll be sculpting (in this case the mouth), and then break this into planes using the Flatten brush before smoothing them off and adding some finishing touches to the forms. Other brushes such as the Clay brush also work great with this sort of workflow as it already has a bit of a flattening effect. If you are used to sculpting the old-fashioned way of adding a form and then making it look the way you want, you will certainly see a vast improvement in your speed and accuracy by using this method of sculpting. But I also want to point out that although I love sculpting this way, I do break it up and use it for certain parts of a model and use other methods for other parts. So while for a body I will certainly make heavy use of planes, I rarely use them for a face and only for areas that may be more complex to block in, and go “by feel” for the rest of it. Form and its translation into a 3D sculpture is basically the same whether you are using clay or polygons in ZBrush. It comes down to the ability to see a form as a three-dimensional object in your head before you sculpt it. So while I can look at the mouth and see it as a mouth, I can also see this disembodied mouth as a separate entity that is made up of a series of flat

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