{"id":201,"date":"2008-12-22T10:55:58","date_gmt":"2008-12-22T18:55:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lovecraftforest.com\/blog\/?p=201"},"modified":"2023-04-01T16:06:12","modified_gmt":"2023-04-01T16:06:12","slug":"zbrush-mechanical-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sculptedmesh.com\/?p=201","title":{"rendered":"Zbrush Mechanical Part 1, Extracting"},"content":{"rendered":"

There’s always a lot of discussion about “Can you do mechanical modeling in Zbrush?” \u00a0The answer from one camp is “No, the soft\u00a0modeling orientation of ZB makes it too hard. . . .” \u00a0Another camp will say, “But look at the results some guys like Meats Meier<\/a> can get!” \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Zbrush<\/a><\/p>\n

The answer, as with lots of things in life, lies somewhere in between. \u00a0 ZBrush requires you to think about your mechanical models as if you'[re working with clay. \u00a0 This means that you need to think of your tools as being built up from things that already have structure, like\u00a0platonic forms of cubes,\u00a0cylinders, cones, etc. \u00a0Often the trick is to start with something that has\u00a0approximately\u00a0the \u00a0right shape and work to refine from there. \u00a0<\/p>\n

For example, I wanted to make a curved plate. \u00a0 I realized the plate was really a segment of a cylinder. \u00a0 After create a Cylinder from Zbrush’s\u00a0primitives, I turned it into a polymesh (with the “Make Polymsh3d” button). \u00a0Them I hid all the\u00a0geometry\u00a0of cylinder other than the curved\u00a0segment that represented my plate. \u00a0Fortunately the edges were going to be roughly square as is ZBrush’s selection\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"platepolygroups\"<\/a>
Automatic Polygroups with "Extract"<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

tool. \u00a0With just the mesh I wanted to be the basis for my plate visible, I went to the Subtools\u00a0sub-pallet\u00a0of the tools menu, and used the big “Extract” button. \u00a0In one step, the visible shape was extracted and given thickness. \u00a0 (The sliders next to the Extract button will let you play with smoothness and thickness to your liking.) \u00a0Even better the front back and the edge of the plate all had new subgroups! \u00a0Neat!<\/p>\n

For the plate in the illustration, I just used some alphas I had to decorate after subdividing the mesh to a fine detail. \u00a0Codeman Studios<\/a> makes a nice set of Alphas if you’re looking for a profesional set, but there are pleanty to choose from on the web. \u00a0For applying the alphas, I used the drag-dot brush and turned on X and Z symmetry as needed. \u00a0To ensure my symmetry\u00a0was\u00a0good, I used the “S. Pivot” command to set the\u00a0pivot\u00a0to the center of the mesh. \u00a0 (S. Pivot works by hiding everything but central mass of an object and it will move the pivot to the geometric center of what is visible.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There’s always a lot of discussion about “Can you do mechanical modeling in Zbrush?” \u00a0The answer from one camp is “No, the soft\u00a0modeling orientation of ZB makes it too hard. . . .” \u00a0Another camp will say, “But look at the results some guys like Meats Meier can get!” \u00a0\u00a0 The answer, as with lots … Continue reading Zbrush Mechanical Part 1, Extracting<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[3,62],"class_list":["post-201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-zbrush","tag-3d-tools","tag-zbrush"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sculptedmesh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sculptedmesh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sculptedmesh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sculptedmesh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sculptedmesh.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=201"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.sculptedmesh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":840,"href":"https:\/\/www.sculptedmesh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201\/revisions\/840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sculptedmesh.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sculptedmesh.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sculptedmesh.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}