Where is zsketch

In this topic we will look at ZSketch. ZSketch is a mesh generation tool that allows you to create organic meshes in ZBrush by applying strokes on an armature. This is a very quick and effective tool for building complex gestural forms quickly and easily. These brushes were originally introduced in ZBrush 3.

The ZBrush hard-surface brushes are intended to allow artists to sketch and design machined objects in the same way they sketch organic forms. They are highly versatile and intuitive.

ZSketch is a brush-based mesh generation tool that allows artists to build meshes by applying tubes of digital clay to a ZSphere armature or other base. Figure The forms are created by a number of individual strokes, which are each composed of a series of spheres. I liken it to sculpting by laying down ropes of clay. The ZSketch tools are fast and gestural, and lend themselves to quickly building up geometry for sculpting. In this section we will use ZSketch over a ZSphere armature to quickly build a gesture sculpture of a figure.

Remember that gesture is the overall motion or action of the figure. A gesture sculpture is not as concerned with form or proportion as much as capturing the life or action in a pose Figure We are using ZSketch in the same way a sculptor uses a lump of water clay to create a quick gesture sketch of a figure, as shown in Figure These figures are intended to only capture the gesture or action of the pose and are fantastic exercises in learning to see what makes a figure exciting to look at.

By creating these 5-minute sketches in clay, sculptors hope to teach themselves to quickly spot the nuances in the figure that make it seem alive and full of character. The focus is on capturing the life or action of the figure. They are intended to help you see the gesture inherent in the figure.

In this section we will create a quick gestural sketch of a figure using the ZSketch tools over a ZSphere armature. This is a great exercise on its own or a fantastic way to generate a base mesh to sculpt over. Begin by loading ZBrush. You may want to initialize the program if you have other projects open. From the Tool menu , select a ZSphere and draw it on the canvas.

Be sure to enter Edit mode and turn on X Symmetry. Create a ZSphere chain for the torso, as shown in Figure Branch off shoulders and hips from this central chain Figure Further extend these into arms, legs, and a head Figure The armature is very stiff at this stage. We want to add some spheres to the legs to help create the same S curve shape in this armature Figure By adding it here in the armature, we make it easier to translate into the finished sketch Figure At this time we will turn our attention to the ZSketch brushes available under the Brush palette Figure At this stage we have completed our armature and we are now ready to use the ZSketch brushes to build a form on the ZSphere base.

The process of sketching is the same in ZBrush with a ZSphere structure except that with this method, you will create freely in 3D Space. This method will sculpt onto any subtool that is appended with the ZSphere. This is a great workflow for adding form and shape to subtools.

This process will use the subtool surface to align the ZSketch strokes. It is best to first scale down the ZSphere to be inside the other subtools. When your ZSketch model is done, you can generate the final mesh, which will become fully sculptable with all the ZBrush sculpting tools. This model is based on the Unified Skin, this is using the Voxel technology to create the 3D model. For more information, see Unified Skin. If you have created a ZSphere armature tool with the intent to sketch on top of this ZSphere mesh then an Adaptive Skin can be used.

The projection of the sketch into the Adaptive Skin is done locally per ZSphere radius. The quality of the Adaptive Skin will depend on each underlying armature ZSphere.

If you wish to change your default smooth brush from Smooth1 to Smooth2, hold down the Shift key and select the Smooth2 brush. Now Smooth2 will be your default Smooth brush from here on out. The properties such as Z Intensity or the Smoothing Curve of the currently selected Smooth brush can now be changed on the fly.

Simply hold down Shift to activate the Smooth brush and adjust the desired settings.