The ZBrush Process

The process of taking an idea and transforming it in to a 3d object in ZBrush is not monotonous, but wonderfully creative. It is not a requirement to have concept images drawn when starting a sculpture in ZBrush, as it is in most 3d software packages. An artist can flesh out the basics of an idea, starting with nothing, ending with a 3d model, complete with textures that can be imported to other programs for animation. Although one can create anything they desire in ZBrush, the program works best for character and creature creation.

 To start, the artist can create a basic rough form of what they want by manipulating what are called “ZSpheres”. These spheres can be interconnected with further spheres. It is difficult to describe exactly how these function without images, but remember those “Learn to draw” books you might have read as a child. In these books, the drawings usually started as a bunch of circles. The process here in ZBrush is similar, and is incredibly quick to produce a basic shape to start sculpting on.

ZSpheres in Zbrush

With the ZSphere shape, a simple skin of polygons can be generated that takes this shape. The artist will sculpt on these polygons. Each polygon is a plane with three or four edges. In order to provide more polygons to manipulate, the polygons can be subdivided. This exponentially increases the polygon density; each single polygon is now four. The beauty of ZBrush is that we only have to worry much about polygon density. Topology (The study of how polygons are interconnected and flow with the structure they represent) does not need to be considered now. At this stage, the artist is free to manipulate their object as if it were clay.

Good Topology

Good Vs Bad

To sculpt the object, many different brushes are available. These brushes are able to manipulate the object in all sorts of useful ways. There is a move brush which simply moves whatever is underneath, think of pinching and pulling clay. There is a clay brush, which layers on strips of polygons, like a flattened strip of clay being laid down. There is a smooth brush, activated by simply holding the shift key. There are so many ways to manipulate to object, that it is difficult to not get exactly what you want.

Once the artist has finished sculpting their object, it can be painted, and then exported out to another program for animation. The only problem with this process is that for animating an organic character, the sculpture will need to be retopologized. Retopology is the process of drawing a new polygon structure on top of the detailed sculpted object. This is necessary to both reduce the number of polygons in the model and to create a structure which will deform well during animation. This process may be painstaking, but it is much less than modeling a character from scratch, polygon by polygon.