Zbrush Beyond Digital Sculpting

This video goes beyond that of a normal training video. Its a combination of training and an in-depth look at the workflow of a true ZBrush master. Take a tour through the lifestyle that is a digital sculptor. Learn tons of tips and tricks along the way.

This video will take you through the process of creating a high-detailed character model in ZBrush. We will have a look at how to adjust the ZBrush interface, how to work with brushes and how to adjust them. You will see me sculpting the models head by starting with a custom base-mesh on a very low resolution level. You will learn some useful tricks about how to use reference material and how to focus on the main shapes of the figure.



Chapter Descriptions

Notes From The Artist

I’m using six different types of brushes: the standard brush for adjustments on a low and medium mesh resolution level, the clay brush for adding mass or material to the model, the move brush for moving parts of the model, the flatten brush for flattening out certain areas, the pinch brush for sharpening folds, creases and wrinkles and of course the smooth brush for creating a smooth surface. An important aspect is that you can change the brush behavior by tweaking the brush curve, the Z intensity, the alpha and last but not least, the brush mode.

Use poly-groups as often as you can! They are very helpful when it comes down to hiding certain parts of the mesh. Create some poly-groups for the areas around the mouth, the nose and cheekbone, the ears, the front and rear side of the neck, the area where you will sculpt the hair and the eyes.

Use custom brushes for smoothing out the face but preserve the details you just added at a lower resolution level. You will see me sculpting the face-features and characteristics of the face. We add eyes to the head and detail them to match our reference images.

We have a look at detailing our model and how to add the curls, the beard and the skin pores. I create ZBrush layers for every details I add to the model. Try to deactivate the symmetry mode and work on both sides of the head separately.

We will have a look on how to create hands and feet with ZBrush. I start again with a very low resolution base-mesh. You will see that you don’t need many polygons and special edge-flows to get the nails right.

Foot modeling becomes a lot easier when you sculpt them together with the rest of the leg. That’s the same with every other body part. Modeling the head becomes easier when you model also the neck and shoulders and modeling the hands is easier when you model them together with the rest of the arm. I’m using the move brush and focus on the main proportions and the outline of the model.

I’m going to show you a slightly different approach for creating shoes. Because I’m not sure what kind of shoes I would like to do or what fits best, I start with a concept sculpture directly in ZBrush. I’m not importing a basemesh that I have previously made in another 3d program.

I did the jacket, trousers, shirt and cravat base-mesh in 3ds max. I have used some really simple and basic poly modeling techniques again. Whenever you have to do some clothes for your character, it’s best to have an underlying 3d body as reference. So it’s easier to get the proportions and size of the clothes right. I start tweaking the base-mesh with the move brush. If the brush size is small enough, you can move single vertices around easily.

Short Bio Benjamin Leitgeb is a young Italian 3D-artist and digital sculptor who is working as a freelancer for a few years. He is specialized in high-poly modeling and sculpting of human characters. He discovered his interest in computer graphics as a teenager and never stopped producing CG art since then. He constantly try to improve my skills and workflow. For Benjamin, making drawings, paintings and sculptures is a simple and direct process of giving emotions form

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