How can I speed up my workflow in Zbrush?
Richard Madden, UK Francis-xavier replies I created Cat in a hat, based on a concept by Artur Mukhametov. Most of the sculpting was done with maximising speed and efficiency in mind. I’m going to explain my process here and hopefully help with your Zbrush workflow.
I started off the head with a Dynamesh sphere, blocking in the major forms, the huge brow, mouth, and side of the head using the Move brushes. [Ctrl]-dragging anywhere in the document will remesh your model, giving you even topology and removing stretching. This way is how I quickly built the forms up.
The ears and spikes were created using the Snakehook brush. Turning on Accucurve under the Curve section of the Brush menu ensures pointy spikes instead of rounded corners.
I created the hat, mug, and shirt collar using the Zmodeler brush. For each item I appended a cylinder into a new subtool then used Initialise>q Cyl Y in the Tool palette. Holding down the space bar when hovering over a face, edge or point gives different options. I found the Qmesh and Insert edge loops really handy for this.
The waistcoat was created using another Dynamesh sphere in a different subtool. After I got it into the rough shape I required using the Move and Clay brushes, I used Zremesher to give me more even topology. Holding down [Alt] while clicking the Zremesh button will give you a different algorithm.
I usually turn off Adapt and turn on Half if I want to reduce the polygons evenly. When I’m happy with the number, I group the outer polygons, hide the inner, delete them and then use Qmesh>all Polygons for thickness. This way I can crease the areas I want uniformly, like the overlap and sleeve holes.
Arms, trouserlegs, and tail were created with the Curve Tube brush – brush size controls the width. The foam on the mug was created with the Insert Sphere brush. Every time you draw a new sphere, the object is masked out so you can manipulate the sphere’s position and size. and when you’re happy, clear the mask and move to the next one.
The belt was a curve snap strap brush and the shoes were spheres quickly shaped, Zremeshed and the soles extruded with the Zmodeler brush.
The hands were a combination of dynamesh and curve tube brush, then Zremeshed and posed.
A lot of the steps I used are repetitive so it is always a good idea to have your most recently used tools handy.
custom ui