Getting Started in Learning Zbrush

Posted on November 24, 2012 by SusanG

This week I started working on a dragon model so I could work along with the exercises in the book I have for Zbrush. I worked on it off and on but not very consistently as I wanted to work along with the book and didn’t feel I had a long enough segment of time to really get into it.

I also started over once. My first attempt had a head shape that was more canine looking than I wanted. I wanted my dragon head to be more reptilian. I tried fixing it and it just wasn’t working so I started over and now I have something a little more crocodile like.

Once that was done it was time to learn to use the masking tool to extract or expand the throat. I was able to do this fairly easily. However, it appears I may not have done it quite right. The way I did it was correct, I did the mask and the invert and then adjusted the area that I had originally masked and was now available for editing. The problem really has to do with the result. It’s not very compatible with the next step, creating the neck.

Creating the neck involves learning about selecting polygons and creating poly-groups and edge loops. These are all really important tools and techniques to learn. The book gives good steps for doing all those things and the pictures help too. Yeah, it sounds and reads to be a lot easier than it was. I chalk this up to the shape I ended up creating when I did the throat step. I might have gotten a bit carried away in the extraction of it.

After fighting the polygons to get just the back of the head selected I was able to create the first edge loop. My next attempt went horribly wrong. Thank heaves for ctrl+z. Wow. Not sure why but my second edge loop got all distorted. So I figured out how to keep that from happening so I was able to get through that set of steps. Of course, as I’m doing this I’m hiding everything I’m not working on. When I finished creating my edge loops I unhid everything. This is where I figured out I hadn’t done something right. My poor dragon looked like it had a growth or something protruding from the back of it’s skull.

This is the point where my brain is tired and it’s time to take a break. I’ll probably step back to where I did the throat extract and pick things up from there. I think that may be easier than just “fixing” it.

I’m learning lots of good things that I know will make creating models so much easier and better. Whew. As with anything, it just takes time. And, it takes doing it wrong or making mistakes to really learn and understand what a tool can do and what to do to make that tool work best.

I’m not even half way through the tutorial so I’ve not doubt I will have more mistakes to make. It should be interesting.

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Last Week’s 3D Sculpting Update

Posted on November 21, 2012 by SusanG

It was going to be this week’s update except I’m about a week late getting it posted. So now it’s last week’s update. Sorry. So much fun to be had.

I got started on a face bust sort of thing. A few tutorial type things I’ve seen have used that as an exercise fairly early on so I decided to give it a try.

I think one of the reasons for the face exercise is because it is great for really understanding the symmetry setting. Oh yeah. This is a setting I already love. Makes getting the eyes even with each other so much easier. Same with the ears.

I discovered something really interesting that I haven’t really read about yet. It turns out that 4400+ undo history levels can easily net you an 865MB file. Yes, you read that right. The file size of one unfinished sculpt was approaching 1 gigabyte. You can delete the undo levels and make a difference in the file size. I did. The new file was about 15 megabytes.

I also found that I may still have some use for Blender. At least for a little while. I was able to export my face from Zbrush as an .obj file and then import it into Blender. I kind of knew, or thought, I could. So I tried it and it worked. I’m not sure Blender was very happy about it. I did no optimization or anything like that so my model, by that time, was over 170MB. I should try it in Lightwave since my trial for it is still active. That will give me a good test so I know if I will want to add that as the next component in my workflow.

That’s where I was around the end of last week. This week, I’ve started the dragon tutorial that is in the book I’ve got. There will be more to come.

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Out of Sight, Not Out of Mind, Finally

Posted on November 18, 2012 by SusanG

Most of my experiences creating digital art have been non-compelling for me. What I mean by that is that the pieces do not drive me or call to me to open them up the next day and work on them more, unlike most of my pencil work.

My pencil drawings, and even things I’ve done in pastel, have a tendency to compel me to work on them. I walk past them and see something that needs doing and I have to stop and do it. I have attributed it to the fact that it is because they sit out where I can see them and so they are more readily in my mind. They are not “out of sight, out of mind”, where the digital art tends to be.

Interestingly, I seem to be having the same experience with the digital sculpting as my traditional work. It’s not as easy to just stop and work on it. I may be in another program or the computer may not be on. So it takes longer to get back to it to work on it. But I am more compelled to do it.

I consider this to be a great thing. Not that it takes longer to get back to the piece. It’s great that I am finding myself thinking about something I’m working on digitally, even when I’m not actually working on it. That just tells me that most of the digital pieces I had been doing just didn’t excite me or interest me as much. And in most cases they weren’t of the same quality.

I am just really getting started with the digital sculpting and I am finding it a lot of fun. I am having the same response to it that I often do to a piece of manual art as I’m working on it. At times I will be amazed that it is work I have created. When that is my response then I know I’m on the right path.That’s when I get enthused and excited and compelled to do more, make it better, take it farther.

This is so cool.

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And Now, The Real Work Begins

Posted on November 11, 2012 by SusanG

After a bit more experimenting and review of various documentations and tutorials, and some hemming and hawing, I finally made the decision to put my money into Zbrush. I purchased it online, directly from Pixologic and had it downloaded, installed, and activated in less than an hour. Technology is so cool.

Here’s where the real work begins. I’ve purchased and installed the software now it’s time to get down to business and really learn it and master it. Fortunately there are a lot of resources available to facilitate that. In addition to the getting started documentation there are several well done tutorial videos on Zclassroom, no to mention all the tutorials in magazines such as 3D World and 3D Artist, and that doesn’t even get into places like Digital Tutors. If I can’t learn this one, it sure won’t be for lack of resources, it will be for lack of effort.

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Cause of Cold Coffee

Posted on November 2, 2012 by SusanG

Phase 1 of this was just the pumpkin.

Unfinished…Pumpkin in Pencil

It’s what I did yesterday while my coffee got cold. And even the coffee pot had shut off by the time I got to it.

 

Phase 2 was the tree stump.

Talk about making a person obsessive. I couldn’t seem to leave it alone until I got the stump finished.

 

As you can see the pumpkin is still getting some treatment and touch ups.

At the moment I’m planning more for this piece but thought I’d share it so far since it seems to have consumed so much time.

 

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