From ZBrushInfo

Contents 1 Creating New Topology 1.1 Before Beginning to Sculpt 1.2 Creating Polygroups 1.3 The Advantages of Working with Layers 1.4 Erasing Layer Information 1.5 Detailing the Eyelid. 1.6 Shaping the Breasts 1.7 Detailing the Ear 1.8 Shaping the Hand 1.9 Symmetry 2 Posing the Model 2.1 Twisting 3 Oops, I Missed the Hair!

Creating New Topology

• Select a new ZSphere tool.
• Clone your model, and hide a part of the legs.
• Make sure that the subdiv level of the model is at 2
• Press CTRL and click on all the polygroups, one by one, to hide the whole body, except the fingers and toes. To spare time, we are going to keep this geometry and to use it as starting point for the final model.

• In the Tool:Rigging subpalette, select the whole model, and activate the Projection Mode, so that the model which will be generated is projected on the Template.

• In the Tool:Topology subpalette, select the cloned model only fingers of which are visible.
• Enter the Edit Topology Mode.

• An orange wireframe model should appear over the fingers and the toes. This topology is composed of multiple Z Sphere chains, and was generated from the topology you selected. These chains of Z Spheres defines the contour of patches, from which a 3d mesh is going to be generated
• Set the Max Strip Length to its max. This parameter indicates the maximum length of one of the side of a patch, so that it can be generated
• Like a standard Z Sphere model, you can Move, Scale, and delete part of the topology as you like, and also can preview the final model at any moment, by pressing A.

We are now going to create the rest of the topology, by beginning by connecting the thumb with fingers, and then, we are going to create rectangular patches which are going to define the remaining topology.

• Press CTRL and click on a Z Sphere to define the starting point, and draw a four segments ZSphere chain.
• Create a second chain. both of them snaps automatically on top of the underlying model.

Pay attention that both chains have the same number of segments. If a chain has less segments than the other one, press CTRL and click on a segment to select it, then add an additional segment.

• Press A to check the generated mesh, then A again to switch back to the ZSphere model.

• Continue to add patches, until the model is ended.
• Open the Adaptative skin sub palette, and Hit Make Adaptive Skin.

The final model is generated and placed in the Tool Palette. The number of it's subdiv level is controlled both by the Density slider in the Adaptative Skin sub-palette, and by the Subdiv Parameter in the Topology Palette.

Here is what the final geometry should look like.

Before Beginning to Sculpt

Now, the serious things are going to begin.

The model on which you go to work will be the definitive model, (or almost). The first thing which it is always necessary to do before sculpting a model, is to crease the border edges. Here, the only ones are the openings of the eyes and the mouth. When you go to smooth the model later, these edges will remain hard. The second advantage to hardening the edges of the model, will be when you have to calculate the cage of the model, to generate a displacement map; the cage model will be cleaner.

• Go to the Tool:Geometry subpalette, and apply a crease.
• Subdivide the model five times, up to level 6, with the Divide tool, or using Ctrl + D. The model should be around two million polygons

Creating Polygroups

We are now going to create polygroups, and for it, we are going to use Zbrush 3's new topological masking tools.

{{Note|You can use these tools only if you're in Move, Rotate or Scale mode.}

• First, go into Preferences:Transpose, and set the Mask Blur Strength to 0.
• Make sure that the X Symmetry is on, go into move mode, press and hold CTRL then click on the wrist and drag towards the hand to create a topological mask that isolates the body. Release CTRL.

• CTRL + Click on the canvas to invert the mask, go to the {{Ctl|Tool:Masking:} subpalette, and hide the unmasked polygons, then go to the Polygroup subpalette and create a new polygroup.

|Always create your polygroups at the lower subdivision level.

• In the same way, create another topological mask by drawing another line from the top to the bottom of the corner of the mouth, then, create a new polygroup, to separate the upper lip from the bottom lip.

The Advantages of Working with Layers

• Layers allow you to work with much more flexibility, and and to easily correct many kinds of errors.
• You will be able to work with a model at many different stages of development simultaneously.
• You can add details, then turn those details off and refine the major forms underlying them.

The layer submenu is in the Tool palette. All models start with no layers defined.

• To create new layers, use the Tool:Layer:New button.
• If you wish to bake the layer into your sculpt, simply press Tool:Layers:Delete.
• If you want to remove the layer and the sculpting from your mesh, turn off the visibility of the layer by pressing the eye icon and then pressing Tool:Layers:Delete.

When you create one 3D Layer on a model, the following layers have to be created at the same level of subdivision as the first one. They can on the other hand be edited at any level.

Erasing Layer Information

You can erase information in a Layer by using a morph target and the morph brush. To do this take the following steps:

• Turn off visibility for the layer you want to remove information from.
• Store a morph target by pressing Tool: Morph Target: Store MT.
• Select the morph brush.
• Turn the visibility back on for that layer.
• Paint out the area you want to remove.

This model is fairly simple in terms of the abilities ZBrush offers, it does not present big technical difficulties. The challenge to make a beautiful result is essentially anatomical.

You'll visit in the next chapters some techniques which are going to allow you to work more quickly and more effectively.

Detailing the Eyelid.

• Create a topological mask around the eye at subdiv level 3, and invert it. (You can create the mask only in one direction, from the outside inward of the eye, because you're working in symmetry)
• If the Mask is too blurred, use the Sharpen Mask tool, in the Masking Sub Palette.
• Create another topological mask just after the first one, so that there is no more than a simple strip of polygon which is not selected.
• With the Move brush,shape the eyelid, clear the mask.
• Select the Smooth Edit Brush and set the slider to -100. This prevents the concave polygons from being smoothed. Smooth and reshape the eye socket.

Shaping the Breasts

The Topological masking tool will help us a lot to shape and add volume to the breasts of the model.

• Go into the Preferences - Transpose subpalette, and set the MaskBlurStrength to 7.
• Create a topological mask under the breasts.
• Select the Inflate Brush, to add some volume under the breast, and then, switch between the Move and Standard Brushes to polish the shape.

Detailing the Ear

The ear is certainly one of the most delicate part of the human body, and it will be one of hardest to sculpt. For it, you need a closer look at the sculpting brushes parameters. These are (almost) all grouped together in the Brush Palette.

• The Edit Curve determines, and can modify, the brush profile.
• To get a brush profile that mimic the Edit curve, activate the Accucurve tool. The Accucurve tool is also a quick way to switch from a rounded brush to a sharper one. It's a clever idea to have this button on your interface.
• Selecting an Alpha in the Alpha palette will also have a great impact on the brush look.

The circumference of the ear, the Helix, with its part bent back on itself is certainly the most difficult to be sculpted. For it, we are going to use the Gravity tool, in the Brush Palette.

• Set the Gravity orientation gizmo to the right, and the strength to 100, and draw a first stroke to shape the recess.

• Hold Alt and draw a second stroke to shape the fold. When you reverse the Stroke direction with Alt, the gravity is also inverted..

• Put the model in a view of three quarter, and use the Snakehook brush to shape the auditory canal.

• Use ths Clay and the Flatten Brushes with a low intensity to build up the earlobe, then the Move brush to highlight it with regard to the head.

The Flatten brush will also help you to create a sharp transition between the circumference of the ear and the head.

The Samples parameter, which you can find in the Brush Palette, has a great deal of importance. This can change the sensitivity of the Clay and Flatten brushes, by averaging the orientation and height of the underneath surface.

• To be able to draw very precise and controlled brush strokes with ease is going to make you win a great deal of time. To do it, the Lazymouse tool will help you a lot (see Lazy Mouse). Open the Stroke menu, activate the tool, and set the LazyStep to 0.03.

A digital red string is now attached between your cursor and the brush itself, and sculpting can continue.

Shaping the Hand

Work on the hand is a good time to have a first glance at the Transpose tool, which is a new feature in ZBrush that allows you to quickly position, pose or deform your model.

The hand, such as it is, is not very realistic. Fingers are too fine, are not spread enough. To use only standard sculpting brushes to correct it is not really going to give good results.

• Ctrl + Click on the hand to hide all but the hand polygroup.
• Go into Scale Mode.
• Draw a topological mask to mask the all the hand, except a finger.
• To create an action line, click on hand's surface and drag out the action line. The endpoints of the line will snap to whatever is under them.
• (To move an entire action line, drag the line itself to move it.)

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• Click and drag from the inside of the midpoint of the action towards an endpoint, to scale the finger.
• Go into Rotate Mode.
• Click on the Line's Endpoint, and rotate the Finger.
• Do the same for all the fingers and toes.

Symmetry

In certain cases, the Topological mask works much better when the symmetry is not activated.

When you do not sculpt a mesh by using a symmetry, you can nevertheless symmetrize it afterward.

• To do that, mask the zone of the model which you want to symmetrize.
• Select the Symmetry Axis
• In the Tool Deformation Palette, apply a Smart Resym.
• In case nothing is selected, the whole model is averaged.

Posing the Model

Posing the whole model with the Transpose tool is really simple.

• Create a new 3d Layer, dedicated to the Posing, and go to the 2nd subdiv level. The deformations will be made more easily, when the model has few polygons.
• You will have to, as for fingers, mask the part which you do not want to deform, adjust the Mask smoothness with the MaskBlur and MaskSharpen tools, and create one Action Line, and use that to deform the model.
• To Blur the Mask, hold CTRL and Click on the model.
• To Sharpen the Mask hold CTRL + Alt, and Click on the model.
• During this phase you should not only pose the model, but also to re-sculpt it, to have anatomically correct muscular deformations, compressions, and skin folds.

Twisting

With Transpose, you are not limited to rotating parts of a model, but also twist them.

• To do that, create a Topo mask as usual, blur it until it goes from the elbow to the wrist.
• You can switch to Flat Render mode to better check the masking.
• Rotate your model to center the Action Line on the forearm. (The Action Line was drawn on the Surface of the model)
• Click and drag on the line's midpoint to rotate the forearm.

Oops, I Missed the Hair!

When I created the model, I thought of modeling hair separately. I changed my mind afterward and decided to extrude the hair from the head.

You're gonna do the same thing.

• Go to the lowest subdivision level, and create a new polygroup on the back of the head. Hide all the model, except the new polygroup.
• Move the polygroup backwards using the Transpose tool, then, in the Tool:Geometry sub palette, create an Edgeloop.
• Repeat the operation a few times, that's all.

Begin by shaping and add volume to the hair using the Move and the Clay Edit Brushes, then, activate the Lazy Mouse Mode, switch to the Standard Edit brush to add details to the hair.