Introduction
In 2010, Pixologic celebrated the 10th anniversary of the debut of ZBrush. ZBrush was introduced to the world as an experimental art application with a unique technology that allowed users to create illustrations in two and a half dimensions. I remember seeing the Pixologic booth at a Macworld in New York in the summer of 2000. The booth was small but the presentation was remarkable. I grabbed a demo copy, installed it on my Mac laptop, and played with it on the train ride home from New York. At the time I was primarily interested in 3D modeling and animation, so after Macworld, my focus returned to LightWave and Maya and the demo copy of ZBrush collected dust on my shelf.
I remember reading an article in 2003 in Cinefex magazine on the making of The Return of The King. The author mentioned that the ghostly character of the King of the Dead, who confronts Aragorn, was created in ZBrush. Within seconds of reading that I was downloading the newer version of ZBrush and working my way through the tutorials. I could not believe that the little 2.5 dimensional painting program I had played with only a few years earlier could have created such an amazingly detailed and realistic character. From that point on I became a ZBrush user. Because much of my work at the time involved creating organic surfaces for animations in the fields of cell biology and medicine, ZBrush seemed to be the perfect solution. For many years before ZBrush, a number of 3D applications promised “digital sculpting”—an interface in which the modeling tools used to create virtual surfaces were so intuitive that it felt like working with clay. ZBrush was the first application to actually deliver this technology.
I was not alone in my realization of the potential of ZBrush. Over the years many other CG artists have discovered that ZBrush is the key to realizing their fantastic visions. Each update to ZBrush has included not only tools but technological innovations that are designed to make computer graphics less technical and more accessible to artists. In version 2 we had ZSpheres, which allowed us to create virtual armatures that could be converted into polygons and sculpted into organic shapes. Version 3 introduced SubTools, which made the task of creating sculptures with multiple, independent parts easy, and the sculpting brushes, which can be used to intuitively sculpt details into the surface. Version 3.5 introduced ZSketching, a process where strips of virtual clay are painted onto an armature and smoothed and sculpted into organic forms.
Version 4 is the newest release, and with it comes the most advanced tools yet. Shadowbox is a volumetric sculpting interface that generates a mesh at the center of a cube based on the profiles that you paint on the sides of the cube. Spotlight is an image editing and projection tool that can be used for advanced texturing effects. Numerous new brush types have been developed specifically for hard surface sculpting. A new rendering method has been added to give you the ability to render transparent surfaces, ambient occlusion shadowing, and subsurface scattering without the need to send your sculpts to another 3D application.
ZBrush version 4 has doubled the capabilities of the previous version, giving you a wide variety of approaches that you can apply to any sculpture that you can imagine. ZBrush 4 is a virtual sculpting studio. And this advanced and experimental technology is intended for artists. The tools are so new and so powerful that I had to completely rewrite this book (and I was happy to do so). The original version of this book, published in 2008, was written for beginners, even artists who had never touched computer graphics software before. It was a pretty good overview of the basics of illustrating and sculpting in ZBrush. This edition has also been written with the absolute beginner in mind. This book focuses primarily on the digital sculpting aspects of ZBrush with less emphasis on 2.5 dimensional painting techniques. This is because digital sculpting has become the most popular use of ZBrush.
The types of artists using ZBrush have changed in the past year or so. I have noticed that the students who take my Introduction to Digital Sculpting class at the Gnomon School of Visual Effects in Hollywood are not just interested in using ZBrush to design characters for feature films, broadcast, and video games. Recently, jewelry designers, toy sculptors, visual effects and environment designers, matte painters, illustrators, and fine art artists have all been joining the ranks of the growing army of ZBrush artists. I have tried to write this book so that the widest possible audience can adopt ZBrush into whatever discipline they currently practice.
This book is about getting you up to speed as quickly as possible so that you feel comfortable using the software. Hopefully, after reading this book you’ll be eager to move on to more advanced instruction, such as the books recently written by my friend and mentor Scott Spencer. These include ZBrush Character Creation: Advanced Digital Sculpting and ZBrush Digital Sculpting Human Anatomy.
A variety of tools and techniques are described and the demonstrated using simple subjects such as fantasy dragons and a cartoon car. As you go through the exercises in this book, you should start to see that there are many ways to approach a particular problem. Over time you’ll discover the approaches that you like the best, and by adopting them and perfecting them, you’ll develop your own style of ZBrush art.
This book is written for users who are new to ZBrush as well as new to digital sculpting. If you’ve never used ZBrush before, this book is meant for you. If you have used older versions of the software, you may find that this book brings you up-to-date with the newest developments. ZBrush has changed a lot in recent years so you’ll find that even if you feel somewhat experienced as a user of older versions, there’s a lot of new stuff in this edition. If you are a user of similar software, such as Autodesk Mudbox, this book will help you easily make the transition to ZBrush.
If you’ve never used digital art software before, you should still be okay with this book. However, you do need to be comfortable using a computer. This book can’t help you solve problems that exist outside of the software itself. You should be comfortable working in your operating system. You need to be familiar with opening and saving files and the like. It is helpful to understand something about other image editing and painting programs such as Adobe Photoshop and Corel Painter.
Some sections of this book deal with working with other 3D applications such as Autodesk Maya and Luxology’s Modo. However, if you don’t intend to use ZBrush with other applications, you can skip these sections.
This book assumes that you are using a digital tablet and stylus while working in ZBrush. It’s not absolutely necessary to have a tablet when using ZBrush, but it will make your life a lot easier. Using ZBrush with a mouse is like sculpting clay while wearing mittens.
Most of the lessons in each chapter are accompanied by example scenes from the DVD included with the book. In addition, bonus movies are included to help illustrate some aspects of the examples in the text of the book.
Chapter 1: Digital Art Basics An overview of the fundamental concepts of working with computer graphics. Concepts such as resolution, color depth, compression, and anti-aliasing are explained. Also, some of the history behind ZBrush as well as special ZBrush technology such as the pixol is introduced.
Chapter 2: Facing the ZBrush Interface A tour of the ZBrush interface. This chapter is very important for understanding how to get around in ZBrush. Even if you have used older versions of ZBrush, it’s a good idea to read this chapter so that you understand the changes that have been made as well as how to find the controls for newer features.
Chapter 3: Basic Digital Sculpting This chapter is meant to get you started with your first basic digital sculpt. The subject for the first exercises is a simple fantasy dragon head.
Chapter 4: SubTools, ZSpheres, and ZSketching This chapter introduces the concept of SubTools, which allow you to create complex sculptures that use multiple independent parts. The chapter also demonstrates how to create a simple Chinese-style dragon using ZBrush’s unique ZSphere tool. Finally, you’ll learn how to use the extremely intuitive ZSketching brushes to create complex organic sculpts quickly and easily.
Chapter 5: ShadowBox and Clip Brushes ShadowBox is a brand new ZBrush innovation that is perfect for creating hard surface models. In this chapter, the exercises demonstrate how to use ShadowBox to create the body of a hot rod. The clip brushes are another new feature that can be used to create hard edges on a surface. In this chapter, you’ll see how to use clip brushes to clean up the surface of the hot rod body.
Chapter 6: Remesh and Projection In this chapter, you’ll learn how remeshing can be used to generate a new surface based on your exiting sculpt. Projection is a way to transfer detail from one surface to another. The ZSphere mannequins are used in this chapter in conjunction with remeshing and projection to create a body for the dragon.
Chapter 7: Advanced Brush Techniques This chapter takes a detailed look at how the sculpting brushes in ZBrush work. You’ll learn how to design your own custom brushes to accomplish specific tasks and effects. You’ll learn how to save the brushes for use on future projects.
Chapter 8: Polypainting and SpotLight Polypainting is used to apply color detail to surfaces. In this chapter, you’ll learn techniques for painting realistic color on a dragon’s head. The new Spotlight image editing and projection interface is introduced as well.
Chapter 9: Rendering, Lighting, and Materials In this chapter, you’ll learn how to create dramatic lighting and realistic materials that can be applied to your sculpture. You’ll learn about the new BPR rendering technology, which can be used to add effects such as transparency, ambient occlusion, and subsurface scattering. These all make your models look spectacular.
Chapter 10: Morph Targets, Layers, and the ZBrush Timeline ZBrush 4 adds new animation capabilities to ZBrush. In this chapter, you’ll learn how these features can help you test models designed for animation in ZBrush, store and animate camera views, record your ZBrush sessions, and create animated turntable movies. You’ll see how layers can be used to create variations of your model’s shape and color.
The following material is available in PDF format on the book’s companion DVD:
Bonus Content 1: GoZ GoZ is a ZBrush plug-in designed to make it easier to send models from ZBrush to other animation programs such as Autodesk Maya, 3ds Max, Luxology’s Modo, and Maxon’s Cinema 4D. You’ll also learn how to create texture, normal, and displacement maps for your ZBrush models.
Bonus Content 2: ZScripts and ZPlugins ZBrush has a number of free plug-ins available that can automate common ZBrush techniques and extend the capabilities of existing ZBrush tools. This chapter demonstrates how to install the free plug-ins and includes descriptions of the more commonly used plug-ins.
The companion DVD is home to all the demo files, samples, and bonus resources mentioned in the book. See the Appendix for more details on the contents and how to access them.
I enjoy hearing from the readers of my books. Feedback helps me to continually improve my skills as an author. You can contact me through my website, www.bloopatone.com, as well as see examples of my own artwork there.
Sybex strives to keep you supplied with the latest tools and information you need for your work. Please check the book’s website at www.sybex.com/go/introducingZBrush, where Sybex will post additional content and updates that supplement this book should the need arise.