ZSpheres: Basic Controls
To start a ZSphere model, select the zsphere tool from the Tool palette - it's the two-toned red ball - and draw it on the canvas. Enter Edit mode by pressing T on the keyboard.
The zsphere is two-toned so that it's clear which way is up. In general, the dark red side should face normal (face the user). The line is the X-Axis.
The root (first) ZSphere has no geometry of its own. It is only a placeholder. You cannot delete the root ZSphere. You must attach a ZSphere at each end of the "root" sphere to "cap off" the geometry.
ZSpheres are added in Draw mode - press 'Q' on the keyboard if necessary. Then click and drag on the zsphere to add a new zsphere. Keep dragging until it's the size you want.
Start dragging then press Shift to add a zsphere at the same size as its parent (the zsphere it is being added to). [In 3.2 and older ZBrush versions simply hold Shift and click.]
To add a zsphere at the same size as the Draw size, click and start dragging then hold down Ctrl - the new zsphere will snap to the Draw size. Continue to drag and the new child ZSphere will move away from its parent.
Each ZSphere, other than the root ZSphere, must have a parent. In addition, ZSpheres can have only one parent. Thus, the only way that two ZSpheres can be joined is if one of the ZSpheres is a child of the other.
You can preview the mesh at any time by pressing A on the keyboard.
ZSpheres look round, but for purposes of skinning they are actually treated as cubes. Children should be attached to one of the faces of the cube. If you attach to a corner, you may get the results that you might expect. The easiest way to ensure that you attach in a good place is to turn on at least one axis of symmetry. Whenever the dots merge and turn green, you've got an ideal placement along one of the ZSphere's axes (the center of one of the "cube's faces").
Note: the first zsphere drawn - sometimes called the Root zsphere - will only be partially skinned (as in the above image) unless it has child zspheres at both ends.
Obviously not much of a model can be created by simply adding zspheres to each other; some moving, scaling and rotating is necessary. Click the links below to learn more:
To Learn About ZSpheres: Move Click Here.
To Learn About ZSpheres: Scale Click Here.
To Learn About ZSpheres: Rotate Click Here.
To Learn About ZSpheres: Adaptive Skin Click Here.
To Learn About ZSpheres: Building a Basic Humanoid Click Here.
To Learn About ZSpheres: Building a Hand Click Here.
To Learn About ZSpheres: Advanced Techniques Click Here.
To Learn About ZSpheres and SubTools Click Here.
ZSpheres: Adaptive Skin
Adaptive Skinning
Adaptive skinning is one of the two methods by which ZSphere models can be skinned. It analyzes the structure of the ZSphere model, i.e. how child branches are formed from parent branches, and builds a (normally low-resolution) mesh based on that analysis. With adaptive skinning, each ZSphere is (roughly speaking) treated as a cube or rectangular solid, with the number of polygons along each edge of the cube determined by the Tool:Adaptive Skin:IRes setting. Adaptive skinning is probably the most commonly used skinning method with ZSpheres, and allows a good deal of control over the final topology, if you take the time to plan ahead. The tutorials give good examples on the use of Adaptive skinning.
Unified Skinning
Unified Skinning can also be used for zspheres. It produces a mesh simply by merging all ZSpheres and covering the resulting surface with a (usually high-resolution) mesh. Various settings control how tightly the mesh will follow the contours of the spheres, smoothing, and final mesh density. Unified skinning makes it easy to produce models of arbitrary structure for which you do not need tight control of topology, or which will serve as a prototype for later models.
ZSpheres II
With ZSpheres II, the innovative and unique ZSpheres technology takes another great leap forward. A new intersection computation method lets you create multiple chains starting from a single ZSphere, so creation of hands and other branching forms is now much easier, and the new Adaptive Skin algorithm will generate a polygonal mesh based on your ZSpheres with extreme accuracy and clean topology. With ZSpheres II, you will be able to build any form or shape you wish with increased speed and efficiency.
On the left, the original ZSpheres. In the center, the new Adaptive Skin, on the right, the old one.
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New ZSphere Options
Several new options have been added to the ZSphere parameters, located in the Tool >> Adaptive Skin menu:
- Use Classic Skinning: This deactivates the new skinning algorithm and uses the original ZSphere skinning method.
- G Radial: Define the number of edge loop between two ZSpheres
- Max Twist: Define the twist of the selected ZSphere, based on its parents.
- Proximity: Adjust the geometry where several ZSpheres intersect to create a more topology-friendly mesh.
Note: G Radial is not like the Density slider. G Radial will increase just the number of edge loops while the Density slider will multiply by 4 the number of polygons of the Adaptive Skin. Increasing the G Radial slider will make the Adaptive Skin surface closer to the ZSphere shapes.
Differences between ZSpheres I and ZSpheres II
If you choose to use the new ZSpheres II skinning there will be a few features that will only work in the Classic Mode, such as:
- Create unconnected hierarchy of ZSpheres (ALT + Click in Draw mode on a link between two chains of ZSpheres).
- Create negative ZSpheres (Pushing a ZSphere inside another one).
- Create ZSpheres Magnets (ALT + Click in Draw mode on a link between a parent and the last ZSphere).
If you need to have these features back, please use the ZSpheres I skinning by clicking on Use Classic Skinning, located in Tool >> Adaptive Skin.
Preview of Inconsistent Structure
To prevent problems with meshes generated from an inconsistent ZSpheres structure, ZBrush may display the link between the parent ZSphere and a new child ZSphere as transparent. If you leave the structure as it is, the generated Adaptive Skin may have a topological error.
On the right, the original shape. On the right, the top ZSphere has been moved and the link is transparency, indicating the error
To correct a problem of this sort, simply move the ZSpheres until the link between two ZSpheres is correctly displayed.
With this new preview, you won’t have any surprises when generating your Adaptive Skin.
In the unlikely event that you create a ZSphere sculpt that cannot be handled by the new ZSpheres II algorithm, ZBrush will default to Classic Skin Mode. This would be on very rare occasions.
Improved Rigging and Skinning
The Rigging has been improved in ZBrush 3.5 and will provide more expected results. To bind a Polymesh:
- Create a ZSphere skeleton that fits the model to be rigged.
- In the Tool >> Rigging menu, click on the Select mesh button, and in the floating window, select the mesh to Rig.
- Click on the Bind Mesh button to create the Skinning. Your mesh is ready to be deformed.
Tip: A good trick is to create the ZSpheres as a SubTool of the mesh you wish to rig, and when the skeleton is done, clone it and use it to bind your polymesh model.
Unified Skinning of ZSpheres
While in ZSpheres mode, Press A to generate an adaptive preview. Then press "Subtool:ReMesh all" to have a new Unified skin added as a subtool.
Note 1: In R3, you can use the "Subtool:ReMesh all" to generate unified skin for any combination of ZSpheres, PolyMesh3D and parametric subtools objects.
Note 2: In R3, after generating a unified skin from ZSphers, you can select the new subtool and click "Project All" to project the ZSpheres volume to the new unified skin.
For more information see Unified Skin
ZBrush ZSphere modeling tool
Zbrush tutorial - 11. Creating ZSpheres
Zbrush ~Tutorial: Zspheres
ZBrush ZSphere basic modeling tutorial
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