Introducing ZBrush®

Introducing ZBrush®

Released May 2008
Publisher(s): Sybex
ISBN: 9780470262795

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Book description

Get started on ZBrush with the updated edition of this valuable how-to

Introducing ZBrush 4 helps you jump into this exciting drawing and sculpting software without fear. Learn ZBrush basics inside and out and get comfortable sculpting in a digital environment with this relaxed, friendly, and thorough guide. Master these practical techniques and soon you'll be creating realistic, cartoon, and organic models with flair.

  • Introduces you to the latest version-ZBrush 4-software that lets you create digital art with a fine-art feel, which you can transfer into Maya or other 3D applications

  • Covers painting, meshes, organic sculpting, hard surface sculpting, textures, lighting, rendering, working with other 3D applications, and scripting

  • Walks you through a series of fun and engaging tutorials where you can start creating your own work, including human, cartoon, and organic models

Learn to create lush, beautiful digital art with ZBrush and this detailed guide.

Table of contents

  1. Copyright
  2. Dear Reader
  3. Acknowledgments
  4. About the Author
  5. Introduction
    1. Who Can Benefit from This Book
    2. About This Book
    3. The Companion DVD
    4. ZBrushCentral.com
    5. Mouse vs. Tablet
    6. Apple Macintosh vs. Windows
    7. Preferences and Interface Customization
  6. 1. Pixels, Pixols, Polygons, and the Basics of Creating Digital Art
    1. 1.1. An Introduction to ZBrush
    2. 1.2. Understanding Digital Images
      1. 1.2.1. Anatomy of a Pixel
        1. 1.2.1.1. Taking the Edge off with Anti-Aliasing
        2. 1.2.1.2. Channels and Color Depth
        3. 1.2.1.3. Image Formats
      2. 1.2.2. Vector Images
    3. 1.3. Understanding Resolution
      1. 1.3.1. Screen Resolution
      2. 1.3.2. Document Resolution
      3. 1.3.3. 3D Resolution
        1. 1.3.3.1. Aspect Ratio in 3D
        2. 1.3.3.2. Polygon Resolution
    4. 1.4. Understanding 3D Space
      1. 1.4.1. Anatomy of a Polygon
      2. 1.4.2. Pixols versus Pixels
      3. 1.4.3. Being a Digital Artist
    5. 1.5. Resources
      1. 1.5.1.
        1. 1.5.1.1. Websites
        2. 1.5.1.2. Books
        3. 1.5.1.3. DVDs
  7. 2. Facing the ZBrush Interface
    1. 2.1. The Zen of ZBrush
      1. 2.1.1. The ZBrush Canvas
      2. 2.1.2. The ZBrush Shelves
        1. 2.1.2.1. The Shelf on the Left
        2. 2.1.2.2. The Shelf at the Top
        3. 2.1.2.3. The Shelf on the Right
      3. 2.1.3. Using the Transformation Gyro in Draw Mode
      4. 2.1.4. Using Tools in Edit Mode
    2. 2.2. Trays and Palettes
      1. 2.2.1. Alpha
      2. 2.2.2. Brush
      3. 2.2.3. Color
      4. 2.2.4. Document
      5. 2.2.5. Draw
      6. 2.2.6. Edit
      7. 2.2.7. Layer
      8. 2.2.8. Light
      9. 2.2.9. Macro
      10. 2.2.10. Marker
      11. 2.2.11. Material
      12. 2.2.12. Movie
      13. 2.2.13. Picker
      14. 2.2.14. Preferences
      15. 2.2.15. Render
      16. 2.2.16. Stencil
      17. 2.2.17. Stroke
      18. 2.2.18. Texture
      19. 2.2.19. Tool
        1. 2.2.19.1. Working with 2.5D Tools
        2. 2.2.19.2. Working with 3D Primitive Tools
        3. 2.2.19.3. Importing Tools
      20. 2.2.20. Transform
      21. 2.2.21. Zoom
      22. 2.2.22. ZPlugin
      23. 2.2.23. ZScript
    3. 2.3. The Title Bar
    4. 2.4. Hotkeys
      1. 2.4.1. Interface Actions and Help
      2. 2.4.2. Transforming 3D Tools and Strokes
      3. 2.4.3. Working with Document Layers
      4. 2.4.4. Working with 3D Tools
      5. 2.4.5. Masking and Stencils
      6. 2.4.6. Rendering
      7. 2.4.7. Strokes
      8. 2.4.8. Working with ZSpheres
    5. 2.5. Summary
  8. 3. Painting with Pixols, Part 1
    1. 3.1. Setting Up the Document
      1. 3.1.1. Creating a Plane for a Quick Background Sketch
      2. 3.1.2. Sketching the Composition on the Background Plane
    2. 3.2. Working with Document Layers
    3. 3.3. Working with Parametric Primitive 3D Tools
      1. 3.3.1. Creating Snapshots
      2. 3.3.2. Using ZCut Mode
      3. 3.3.3. Add a Ring
    4. 3.4. Loading Tutorial Macros
    5. 3.5. Working with Deformations and Materials
      1. 3.5.1. Creating the Legs
      2. 3.5.2. Positioning the Legs
      3. 3.5.3. Assigning a Material to the Undersea Lab
      4. 3.5.4. Adding the Dome and Windows
      5. 3.5.5. Detailing the Sea Lab
      6. 3.5.6. Introducing Masks
      7. 3.5.7. Summary
  9. 4. Painting with Pixols, Part 2
    1. 4.1. Introducing ZSpheres
      1. 4.1.1. Positioning ZSpheres
      2. 4.1.2. Skinning ZSpheres
    2. 4.2. Creating the Vent
      1. 4.2.1. Sculpting the Vent
      2. 4.2.2. Adding a Material to the Vents
    3. 4.3. Creating the Ocean Floor
      1. 4.3.1. Removing the Sketch
    4. 4.4. Adding Fog and Distant Background Elements
      1. 4.4.1. Detailing the Vents
    5. 4.5. Adding Undersea Flora and Fauna
      1. 4.5.1. Adding Bubbles to the Vents
    6. 4.6. Creating a Sea Creature with 3D Tools
      1. 4.6.1. Adding the Sea Creature
    7. 4.7. Merging Layers and Final Changes
    8. 4.8. Summary
  10. 5. Digital Sculpting
    1. 5.1. Subdivision Levels
    2. 5.2. Sculpting Brushes
      1. 5.2.1. Brushing with Alphas
      2. 5.2.2. Additional Brush Settings
    3. 5.3. Creating Reference Planes
      1. 5.3.1. Loading an Image into ZBrush
      2. 5.3.2. Applying Different Materials to Subtools
      3. 5.3.3. Using the Reference Cube
      4. 5.3.4. Applying Symmetry Settings
    4. 5.4. Roughing Out the Forms of the Skull
      1. 5.4.1. Skull Modeling Macros
      2. 5.4.2. Refining the Skull at Subdivision Level 2
      3. 5.4.3. Defining Cheekbones at Subdivision Level 3
      4. 5.4.4. Building the Jaw at Subdivision Level 4
      5. 5.4.5. Adding Detail at Subdivision Level 5
      6. 5.4.6. Refining Eyes and Teeth at Subdivision Level 6
      7. 5.4.7. Fine-Tuning in Subdivision Level 7
    5. 5.5. Creating a Turntable Movie
    6. 5.6. Summary
  11. 6. Advanced Sculpting Techniques
    1. 6.1. Hiding Geometry
      1. 6.1.1. Creating Polygroups
      2. 6.1.2. Masks and Polygroups
      3. 6.1.3. Edge Loops and Creasing
      4. 6.1.4. Transpose
    2. 6.2. The Medusa Maquette
      1. 6.2.1. Chapter 6 Reference Movies
      2. 6.2.2. Creating the Neck
      3. 6.2.3. Creating the Ears, Mouth, and Eyes
      4. 6.2.4. Shaping the Face
      5. 6.2.5. Blocking in the Ears, Eyes, and Mouth
      6. 6.2.6. Blocking in the Major Forms of the Head
      7. 6.2.7. Shaping the Face
      8. 6.2.8. Duplicating Subtools
      9. 6.2.9. Creating the Eyelids
      10. 6.2.10. Using LazyMouse
      11. 6.2.11. Opening the Mouth
      12. 6.2.12. Posing the Head
      13. 6.2.13. Poseable Symmetry
      14. 6.2.14. Creating Snakes
      15. 6.2.15. Creating Snake Fangs and Tongue
      16. 6.2.16. Combining Subtools into a Single Tool
      17. 6.2.17. Adding the Snake Heads to the Medusa Tool
      18. 6.2.18. Adding Medusa's Fangs
    3. 6.3. Finishing Touches
    4. 6.4. Summary
  12. 7. Color, Texture, and Alpha
    1. 7.1. Understanding Color, Alpha, and Texture
      1. 7.1.1. Working with Color, Alphas, and Textures
    2. 7.2. 3D Layers
    3. 7.3. Creating Tiling Alphas
    4. 7.4. Using the Stencil
    5. 7.5. Detailing the Medusa Maquette
      1. 7.5.1. Creating Wrinkles
      2. 7.5.2. Adding Scales to the Medusa Head
      3. 7.5.3. Combining the Snake Heads and Bodies
      4. 7.5.4. Refining the Snakes
      5. 7.5.5. Adding Scales to the Snake Bodies
    6. 7.6. Polypainting
      1. 7.6.1. Cavity Masking
    7. 7.7. Summary
  13. 8. Rendering, Lighting, and Materials
    1. 8.1. Rendering Basics
      1. 8.1.1. Fog and Depth Cue
    2. 8.2. Using Lights
      1. 8.2.1. Light Types
      2. 8.2.2. Using Shadows
    3. 8.3. Understanding Materials
      1. 8.3.1. The Flat Color Material
      2. 8.3.2. Standard Materials and Shaders
      3. 8.3.3. Ambient, Diffuse, and Specular Channels
      4. 8.3.4. Transparency Channel
      5. 8.3.5. Reflectivity Channel
      6. 8.3.6. Baking Materials
      7. 8.3.7. Painting Materials
      8. 8.3.8. Painting Shadows
      9. 8.3.9. Creating MatCap Materials
        1. 8.3.9.1. Modifying MatCap Materials
    4. 8.4. Summary
  14. 9. ZBrush with Other 3D Applications
    1. 9.1. UV Mapping
    2. 9.2. ZBrush and Poser
      1. 9.2.1. Exporting from Poser
      2. 9.2.2. Importing into ZBrush
      3. 9.2.3. Creating the Sternomastoid Muscle
      4. 9.2.4. Sculpting the Muscle
      5. 9.2.5. Painting the Muscle
      6. 9.2.6. Exporting the Muscle from ZBrush
      7. 9.2.7. Importing the Muscle into Poser
    3. 9.3. Bump, Displacement, and Normal Maps
      1. 9.3.1. Bump Maps
      2. 9.3.2. Displacement Maps
      3. 9.3.3. Normal Maps
    4. 9.4. ZBrush and Maya
      1. 9.4.1. Exporting from Maya
      2. 9.4.2. Sculpting in ZBrush
      3. 9.4.3. Using the Bump Viewer Material
      4. 9.4.4. Exporting the Bump Texture
      5. 9.4.5. Painting a Color Map
      6. 9.4.6. Painting a Specular Map
      7. 9.4.7. Creating a Displacement Map
      8. 9.4.8. Creating a Normal Map
      9. 9.4.9. Exporting from ZBrush
      10. 9.4.10. Creating Map Format Files
      11. 9.4.11. Importing into Maya
    5. 9.5. Summary
  15. 10. Plug-ins and ZScripts
    1. 10.1. Projection Master
      1. 10.1.1. Painting Color and Material with Projection Master
    2. 10.2. ZAppLink
    3. 10.3. Multi Displacement Exporter
    4. 10.4. Transpose Master
    5. 10.5. ZMapper
    6. 10.6. ZScripts
    7. 10.7. Summary
  16. A. About the Companion DVD
    1. A.1. What You'll Find on the DVD
      1. A.1.1. Chapter Files
      2. A.1.2. ZBrush Trial Software
    2. A.2. System Requirements
    3. A.3. Using the DVD
    4. A.4. Troubleshooting
      1. A.4.1. Customer Care

Product information

  • Title: Introducing ZBrush®
  • Author(s):
  • Release date: May 2008
  • Publisher(s): Sybex
  • ISBN: 9780470262795