XSI Zbrush Displacement Tutorial Part 1

[SlappieBob]

Ohhhhh It's a tentacle:P

[Jordbro86Bulldog]

how to cut the foot or arm in zbrush?!?!?!?

[Jordbro86Bulldog]

Can you cut of the arm or foot and if you can how do you do it? please send a msg to me relly need to know that

[jakechapy]

may I have the link to the forums

[narutokunkun1234]

just want to know. i have model a organic, and i rigged it and unwrap it correctly. then i put it in zbrush and create displacement. is this tutorial will work? does rigging affect the displacement?

[JamesCGI]

The displacement map will not affect your rigging per say. However, you will want to make sure that your displacement map does not 'push' out the geometry too far. In other words, if your displacement map is incorrect or too exaggerated you encounter problems. You will also want to double check your model and how it looks once you have the displacement map working and the model animated.

[narutokunkun1234]

actually.. i'm not planning to make an animation.. i just want to pose the model, then convert it again and delete the biped..

[narutokunkun1234]

and btw can i generate a right Normal map in this tut?

[JamesCGI]

Zbrush can generate a normal map. Do a search for "Zbrush normal map" or "Zbrush Zmapper" and you should find many discussion threads and tutorials on normal maps and Zbrush. You can also go to the offical Zbrush forums and search by 3D application (Max, Maya, XSI, etc) to learn about how to incorporate Zbrush into your workflow.

[narutokunkun1234]

well i guess i need to try XSI.. i have the software but never tried it... so what's do you think the best software for modeling organic object?

[JamesCGI]

All the big packages (and many small ones) can generate organic looking models. Much of it comes down to your personal preference. I would recommend downloading trial demos and seeing how you like each package. Zbrush itself is especially good at making organic models.

[narutokunkun1234]

whats cons and pros...?

[JamesCGI]

I was just pointing out that every software package has a slightly different way of doing things. Thus Max, XSI and Maya will all have their own interface and workflow to generate a UV map. You often need to tweak the results to get something that works well for you.

[narutokunkun1234]

and btw do i need to used roadkill to unwrap it or UV Layout?

[JamesCGI]

There is no need to use roadkill. You can create a UV layout inside of XSI (and most 3d apps) without any addons. I used roadkill because I was experimenting with it at the time and found it useful in building a UV layout for my model. If your new to UV layouts I say start with the build in UV editor and once you get a feel for it try out other 3rd party UV generators as options.

[narutokunkun1234]

is uv map can affect my mapping? if yes can you teach me a tutorial on how i will unwrap my organic model

[JamesCGI]

Your UV mapping can indeed affect a great many things. Textures need to know how to lay across your model and a UV map is how they do it. You can create a UV map either inside of your native software (XSI, Maya, Max, etc) or in Zbrush. There are pros and cons to each. I can't explain everything, but do a search for UV Tutorial on google and you should get some answers, also check your software's manual. A solid UV map is critical as a bad one can cause problems with displacement mapping.

[rennjee]

is it possible that zbrush can make...

a marvel character? you know the colors the facial reactions ar the armors?

can it?

[JamesCGI]

Zbrush can certainly be used to model, paint and pose a character. Do a search on Youtube for "Zbrush Character" and you will find a number of examples. Also check out Zbrush's official forum, there are tons of finished images and works in progress.

If you are thinking of animating your character you will have to look to using Zbrush and another 3D package.

[rennjee]

well thanks for the reply Sir

your such a big help ^_^

[LeoAdd0]

How would ZBrush work for urban landscapes?

[JamesCGI]

My guess is not very well. You could certainly use some alpha maps that had squares in them to raise up geometry in a rectangle shape...but your not going to easily get buildings. If you were going for a more organic city, an ant hill or rolling hills Zbrush might be more usefull. If you are going for a modern city, with skyscrapers and whatnot, other apps such as XSI, Maya and 3D Max would probably be much easier to use.

[LeoAdd0]

Maya seems pretty interesting. How do those you've suggested differ from say Photoshop CS3?

[JamesCGI]

Maya, 3D Max and XSI are very solid 3D applications. Photoshop CS3 is a 2D paint program that now has some very very very basic 3D tools. I would never want to create a 3d object in Photoshop as doing it XSI would take far less time and I'd have far more control. It's nice thta Photoshop CS3 has some 3D tools, but I would not use it as a primary 3D application.

[Domzdream]

Another question. Can anyone tell me how to zoom in, in the view. What is the short cut key please. Thanks.

[Domzdream]

Can I ask u something. After I create my model. Import the obj into zbrush. Draw it on by dragging. Now, if I accidentally press T (tool), then I try to rotate the obj by clicking outside the obj. However it keeps on creating the same mesh over again. How do I get into normal workflow to have the usual functions like rotate, scale, etc? Without the extra mesh being created?

Thanks.

[MORIARTY2]

Thank you, jamesCGI.

[1000000smiles]

thank you very much for this great vid, this is much help to me :)

[okan313131]

yes i was looking for this.. thank you..im new with xsi

[JamesCGI]

You can find the 2nd part of this tutorial under my videos.

I hope you find this tutorial useful.

~ JamesCG

[fritzdoom]

Great stuff man! But could you explain how to control the displacement map when it pushes the mesh too far out?

[JamesCGI]

check out part 2 of my vid tutorial, I talk about what happens if the displacement goes out too far. Essentially try to lower the max displacement number as well as the pos and neg displacement number found in the sib_linear render node in the render tree.