ZBrush - Professional Tips and Techniques, w. DVD-ROM

Foreword xii

Introduction xiii

Chapter 1 Understanding the Basics 1
Customizing Your ZBrush 2
Customizing Your 3D Brush
Fly-Out Window 2
Customizing Your LightBox Tabs 3
Adding a Folder Shortcut to LightBox 4
Adding a Texture or Alpha to a 3D Brush from LightBox 5
Recovering Your Subdivision Levels 6
Using Reproject Higher Subdivision 8
Using Relax Deformation 10
Using Local Subdivision 10
Creating a Custom Tileable Alpha with 2.5D 13
Using Alphas to Create Meshes 17
Creating Wallpaper 20
Creating Your Own Palette 25
What's Next 26
Artist Spotlight: Joe Lee 27
Artist Spotlight: Magdalena Dadela 35

Chapter 2 Special Project--Creating Accessories for a Bust 43
Creating the ZMan Logo 43
Placing the ZMan Logo on the Hoody 48
Creating the Zipper 49
Making the Zipper Shape 49
Making the Zipper Mask 50
Creating the Stand 52
Completing the Stand 55
Creating a Skin Texture 57
What's Next 59
Artist Spotlight: Morgan Morey 60
Artist Spotlight: Zack Petroc 68

Chapter 3 Sculpting--Developing Your Next Piece 75
Using Hard-Edge Brush Techniques 75
ClipCurve Brush with BRadius 76
ZSketch Brushes for BaseMesh 78
Adjusting and Creating Brushes 81
Using a Custom Brush with Tilt 81
Creating a Stone Column 84
Creating a Surface Noise Brush 87
Understanding the Power of ShadowBox 88
Getting Started with ShadowBox 88
Silhouette Drawing with ShadowBox 89
Using ShadowBox to Create Accessories 92
Making Difficult Items with ZSpheres 93
Creating Chain Mail 93
Creating a String of Bullets 97
Using Morph Difference to Create Thickness 99
Artist Spotlight: Tomas Wittelsbach 102
Artist Spotlight: Vitaly Bulgarov 110

Chapter 4 Sculpting Hard-Surface Details 115
Creating a Hose Component 115
Creating the Front Eye Piece 128
Using NoiseMaker for Patterns 135
Artist Spotlight: Sebastien Legrain 138
Artist Spotlight: Steve Warner 146

Chapter 5 Adding a Splash of Color 151
Understanding the Basics of Polypaint 152
Using AO to

Paul Gaboury is the ZBrush Lead 3D Application Engineer for Pixologic, the makers of ZBrush. He helps clients such as Pixar, Disney, Hasbro, Sideshow Collectibles, Weta Workshop, and others incorporate ZBrush in their pipeline and recommends features that will improve their efficiency and the quality of their projects. Paul is an accomplished digital sculptor and also travels the world to demonstrate ZBrush at studios and schools. In addition, he was the technical editor on Introducing ZBrush 4 ; ZBrush Character Creation , Second Edition; and ZBrush Studio Projects: Realistic Game Characters , all from Sybex.