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ZBrush® Character Creation: Advanced Digital Sculpting, Second Edition

ZBrush® Character Creation: Advanced Digital Sculpting, Second Edition

by Scott Spencer
Publisher: Sybex
Release Date: February 2011
ISBN: 9781118037065
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Book Description

This ebook does not provide access to the companion materials.

A stunning, content-rich update to this top-selling ZBrush guide!

This second edition of ZBrush Character Creation has been fully updated for ZBrush 4, the newest version of this fascinating and popular 3D sculpting software. ZBrush enables users to create detailed organic models using a brush-based toolset and tablet. The startling results look as though they've been painted with real brushes and oils, and ZBrush is increasingly popular for use in film, game, and broadcast pipelines.

Author Scott Spencer is embedded in the ZBrush community and his movie credits include Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix and the upcoming The Hobbit. Learn Spencer's invaluable techniques for texturing, chiseling, posing, costuming, and more with his newest ZBrush guide.

  • Explains ZBrush 4, the newest version of the revolutionary software tool for creating 3D organic models in a way that appears to be traditionally painted or sculpted
  • Shows you how get the most out of ZBrush, from the fundamentals to new tools for texturing, chiseling, and costuming
  • Offers plenty of insights and professional techniques for creating characters for films and games, drawing from the author's own experience on such films as Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix and The Hobbit
  • Demonstrates the author's own techniques of using traditional sculpting and painting concepts and applying them to digital art for greater artistry

Discover the beauty of ZBrush with this colorful, in-depth guide.

Table of Contents

  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Publisher's Note
  4. Dedication
  5. Acknowledgments
  6. About the Author
    1. About the Contributors
  7. Foreword
  8. Introduction
    1. Who Should Read This Book
    2. How to Use This Book
    3. How to Contact the Author
  9. Chapter 1: Sculpting, from Traditional to Digital
    1. Gesture, Form, and Proportion
    2. ZBrush Interface General Overview
    3. Using the ZBrush Tools
  10. Chapter 2: Sculpting in ZBrush
    1. An Approach to Sculpting
    2. The Brush Menu
    3. The Écorché Approach to Sculpting
    4. Sculpting the Skull
  11. Chapter 3: Designing a Character Bust
    1. ZBrush and Working with Imported Meshes
    2. Importing and Preparing a Mesh for Sculpting
    3. Advanced Techniques: Sculpting the Demon Beast
  12. Chapter 4: ZBrush for Detailing
    1. Form and Details
    2. Alphas
    3. Details and Layers
    4. Another Take on Detailing
  13. Chapter 5: Texture Painting
    1. UVs in ZBrush
    2. The Texture Menus
    3. What Is Polypainting?
    4. Painting a Creature Skin
    5. ZAppLink
  14. Chapter 6: ZSpheres
    1. Introducing ZSpheres
    2. Building a ZSphere Biped
  15. Chapter 7: Transpose, ZSphere Rigging, Retopology, and Mesh Extraction
    1. Moving and Posing Figures with Transpose
    2. Transpose Master
    3. Retopology
    4. Using the Topology Tools
    5. Building Accessories with Topology Tools and Mesh Extraction
  16. Chapter 8: ZBrush Movies and Photoshop Composites
    1. ZMovie
    2. ZBrush to Photoshop
    3. Photoshop Compositing
  17. Chapter 9: Normal Maps, Displacement Maps, Maya, and Decimation Master
    1. What’s a Difference Map?
    2. Exporting Directly from ZBrush to Maya Using GoZ
    3. Generating Displacement Maps
    4. Setting Up Your Scene for Displacement
    5. Applying Bump Maps in Maya
    6. Common Problems When Moving into Maya
    7. Rendering Normal Maps in Maya
    8. Cavity and Ambient Occlusion Maps
  18. Chapter 10: ZSketch and Hard-Surface Brushes
    1. ZSketch
    2. Hard-Surface Sculpting
    3. Create a Ray Gun
  19. Appendix: About the Companion DVD
    1. What You’ll Find on the DVD
    2. System Requirements
    3. Using the DVD
    4. Troubleshooting
    5. Customer Care
  20. Index
  21. End-User License Agreement