ZBrush And Dynamesh

As I prepare a digital model in the computer that will be enlarged and milled in foam by Synappsys Digital Services I am playing with settings. At this point the sculpture is in Zbrush and I’m working on creating the mass where I want it. I want to do a mjority of my sculpting in the traditional clay, and not have it totally milled in foam in great detail.

I like being able to spend time on the body shape and head shape and flip it around in my computer, comparing my phtogoraphic referece to the shape I’m creating in the computer.  This is much easier than standing on my head downstairs in the traditional sculpture studio.

I’m also playing with a new feature in zbrush called Dynamesh.  I have mentioned this elsewhere on this blog. Dynamesh is a button that remeshes the entire sculpture to fix any problems with the mesh.  It is a good thing to have, but because it is new, I’m trying to learn how to use it.

Double click on the photo on the right and you will see the top photo is my head in the original, the second from top remeshes using Dynamesh at 648 resolution, the next at 904 and the last at 1024 the highest setting.  I’m wondering if this is what is done at Synappsys.  It is hard for an artist to visualize how much of their form will not show up depending on the resolution and the size they ask Synappsys to mill in.

If you are interested in reading more about Dynamesh at Pixlogic- here is a link

HAIR using new tools

Another new tool in zbrush is a curve tube.  I wondered If I could use this curve tool along with Dynamesh to get a better form for my subjects hair.  Seems like it will be highly possible, if I want my sculpture remeshed.  Here is an example of using curve tube and dynamesh. Notice

you have control the tube while it has the dotted line, then simply smooth it into the hair once it has been added to the original mesh with Dynamesh.