Learn ZBrush with this Beginners Compendium Online Course

Lets open ZBrush up and have a look at the interface or UI, in this lecture we will examine the key areas in ZBrush, and also how load basic shapes, we will also show you potential problems opening into the canvas area..

Before we can move on it is important that you are comfortable navigating around inside ZBrush, create a basic shape make sure your in edit mode and now lets translate, tumble and zoom!

Inside ZBrush we have whats called subdivision levels these are basically higher levels of details, when working in ZBrush or any 3D package it is important to make sure you build up your detail as you create your sculpts.

ZBrush is all about the brushes!

Without ZBrush brushes we would not be able to sculpt, we have a choice of brushes to use depending on the purpose of what we want to achieve. Lets look at a few and the options you have at your control.

A really cool feature to turn on is Lazy Mouse it basically makes it much easier to sculpt very accurately by delaying the action lets check it out.

Introducing the amazing Dynamesh Feature

Lets now look at how we can use dynamesh to build up geometry imagine being about to pull your model into lots of shapes, stretch it, move it, scale it and it still will keep its resolution well that's what dynamesh does!

Protect and Smooth

Inside ZBrush we can use masking to protect areas or modify areas, masking is an essential part of ZBrush lets look at this now.

Being able to smooth out your geometry is another essential thing, lets look at the shortcut for switching to the smooth brush.

We all make mistakes!

Being able yo go back steps as you work is a great feature of ZBrush lets look at this now.
We will also look at how we can invert our brushes so going from ZADD to ZSUB quickly and efficiently.

In out and shake it all about!

Whenever we create something inside ZBrush it can be saved, exported out or Imported in lets look at how we export a model out of ZBrush and then import it into another 3D application Maya.

The Base Mesh

What does base mesh mean? well simply put it is the base that we can build our character into, these base meshes are simple and used solely to build up our character, during this lesson I will show you how we will use a simple sphere which we will set a custom initial setting for and then we will dynamesh this and start the base creation process.

Build up our Base Mesh

Lets move on and carry on the process of adding detail and features to our sculpt it is important that you start simply and build up the resolution to your sculpt but only when you need extra resolution.

Adding extra tools to your model

When using ZBrush we will want to add new parts or subtools to our sculpt I will show you how to append new tools, we will also look at mirroring a subtool!

OK Guys I think your ready! Lets create a custom look and feel in Zbrush suited to your needs!!

Zbrush is very configurable you can add palettes and menus in lots of locations, during this lesson we will create a bottom tray of commonly used brushes.

Build on a solid foundation

During this lesson we will again begin to add primary detailing into our model.

Lets carry on building up our model in this lesson we will also create the eye holes and subdivide the geometry.

In this lesson we will use masking to control where we sculpt, lets concentrate on refining our sculpting skills.

In this lecture we will use masking to isolate parts of the model this then allows us to effect the other parts.
We will be using the rotate and move tool during this tutorial please have a play and get comfortable using these tools they are essential.

Projecting and ZRemesher

OK this is a big part of the course having the ability to work in dynamesh is great however it does create topology or edge flow that is pretty useless especially if your animating ect!

So what we will do is create a duplicate subtool then with this duplicate we will use ZRemesher to get good topology we can then reduce the poly count to create a low res base mesh we can then subdivide the mesh and project the detials from the dynameshed version on to this low res mesh!

Lets do it!

Reuse a subtool to create new geometry lets extract!

I will not show you how to create a shirt and pants for our sculpt using mesh extractions!, we can then ZRemesh it to get good topology

The shape should hold its own!

Whenever your working in ZBrush the goal should be to get your sculpt looking really good without the need for lots of details, if it does not look balanced and good then just by adding loads of detail is not going to help!! lets refine and discuss.

Lots of ZBrush beginners make this mistake they create a unbalanced model and then think that it will look good by adding tons of detailing which in fact makes it worse!

I am going to show you something now a lot of Zbrush artists do not use and that is the use of blend layers to control and blend detail this is a powerful feature that can give you and extra level of control over your detailing, you can also use the same method as we will when we start to colour our model!

TIP: Did you know you can create blend shapes say for facial movements and these can be sent to another 3D application that then can be used for animating!!

Once your happy with your blend mode you will want to bake these blended layers down, beware one you do this you can no longer adjust them so save a before version just in case!

We have up till now been working in symmetry how ever we never want to work entirely in symmetry in this lesson we will make some tweaks to make it slightly unsymmetrical this will help sell and make your creation look more realistic!

Well done for finishing the modelling part of the course lets now start painting your character!

In this lecture I will show you a method of painting really realistic and organic skin, feel free to experiment with diferent colours ect
I learn t this method a long time ago from Madeleine Scott-Spencer who by the way picked it up from the legend that is Rick Baker it requires setting colour temperatures and then using a method called noodling over the top then finally using opacity setting a low one and then spraying over that.

Lets go ahead and finish the skin texture.

OK now the skin is completed lets move on to the other tools this time we will add colour and base where is goes from a cavity mask.

Now we will use spotlight to add an eye texture we have to the eyes, this is great for using photographs or textures you have created in Photoshop.

I wanted to add this lecture in there even though we really don't need to use this feature in what we are doing, but its good for you to know how to create UV maps inside ZBrush and how easy it is to do, if this is beyond you at this point don't worry however if your using another 3D package it will be great for you to know!

This is another video you really don't need to know for the final render how ever if you have problems with getting detail into your subtools maybe because your computer cant handle that many polygons then this will be good for you to know about!

Lighting and Document Setup

In this lesson we will look at lighting your scene, setting up a custom output size or image and also how to create custom views!

The final render!

OK we are nearly finished I just need to show you how to render the image out and how you can composite the layer together inside Photoshop!!

Well done you have completed the course and are now ready to learn more with Intermediate to advanced level courses, I love feedback please message me with any problems or issues you have

In this special lecture I will show you quickly how to create hair inside ZBrush!

The T-Pose plugin allows you to re pose your model easily watch how its done!

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For help and a community to talk to, I offer this to help my students get the most from my courses and to engage likeminded people in creativity, this is a place you can share your renders and receive critiques to help you move forward with your modelling, riggin and rendering.

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