Paul Gaboury is the ZBrush Lead 3D Application Engineer for Pixologic, the makers of ZBrush. He helps clients such as Pixar, Disney, Hasbro, Sideshow Collectibles, Weta Workshop, and others incorporate ZBrush in their pipeline and recommends features that will improve their efficiency and the quality of their projects. Paul is an accomplished digital sculptor and also travels the world to demonstrate ZBrush at studios and schools. In addition, he was the technical editor on Introducing ZBrush 4 ; ZBrush Character Creation , Second Edition; and ZBrush Studio Projects: Realistic Game Characters , all from Sybex.

Foreword xii

Introduction xiii

Chapter 1 Understanding the Basics 1
Customizing Your ZBrush 2
Customizing Your 3D Brush
Fly-Out Window 2
Customizing Your LightBox Tabs 3
Adding a Folder Shortcut to LightBox 4
Adding a Texture or Alpha to a 3D Brush from LightBox 5
Recovering Your Subdivision Levels 6
Using Reproject Higher Subdivision 8
Using Relax Deformation 10
Using Local Subdivision 10
Creating a Custom Tileable Alpha with 2.5D 13
Using Alphas to Create Meshes 17
Creating Wallpaper 20
Creating Your Own Palette 25
What's Next 26
Artist Spotlight: Joe Lee 27
Artist Spotlight: Magdalena Dadela 35

Chapter 2 Special Project--Creating Accessories for a Bust 43
Creating the ZMan Logo 43
Placing the ZMan Logo on the Hoody 48
Creating the Zipper 49
Making the Zipper Shape 49
Making the Zipper Mask 50
Creating the Stand 52
Completing the Stand 55
Creating a Skin Texture 57
What's Next 59
Artist Spotlight: Morgan Morey 60
Artist Spotlight: Zack Petroc 68

Chapter 3 Sculpting--Developing Your Next Piece 75
Using Hard-Edge Brush Techniques 75
ClipCurve Brush with BRadius 76
ZSketch Brushes for BaseMesh 78
Adjusting and Creating Brushes 81
Using a Custom Brush with Tilt 81
Creating a Stone Column 84
Creating a Surface Noise Brush 87
Understanding the Power of ShadowBox 88
Getting Started with ShadowBox 88
Silhouette Drawing with ShadowBox 89
Using ShadowBox to Create Accessories 92
Making Difficult Items with ZSpheres 93
Creating Chain Mail 93
Creating a String of Bullets 97
Using Morph Difference to Create Thickness 99
Artist Spotlight: Tomas Wittelsbach 102
Artist Spotlight: Vitaly Bulgarov 110

Chapter 4 Sculpting Hard-Surface Details 115
Creating a Hose Component 115
Creating the Front Eye Piece 128
Using NoiseMaker for Patterns 135
Artist Spotlight: Sebastien Legrain 138
Artist Spotlight: Steve Warner 146

Chapter 5 Adding a Splash of Color 151
Understanding the Basics of Polypaint 152
Using AO to Colorize 153
Using Mask By Cavity to Paint Out Detail 156
Painting with UV Master 157
Texturing with Projection Master 160
Using Photoshop to Paint 163
Using ZAppLink 163
Using GoZ Photoshop 167
Using SpotLight 170
Adjusting Hue 172
Masking Out a Texture 174
Using the Pin Feature 175
Texturing a Face 178
Artist Spotlight: Michael Defeo 181
Artist Spotlight: Rudy Massar 188

Chapter 6 Working with Scan Data 193
Starting with Scan Data 193
Understanding How to Manipulate Scan Data 194
Capturing Color from the Scan Data 198
Making the Back Mesh of the Ball Cap 201
Sculpting the Hair with FiberMesh 205
Artist Spotlight: Mike Jensen 211
Artist Spotlight: Bryan Wynia 215

Chapter 7 Posing--Bringing Movement to Your Work 221
Setting Up a ZSphere Rig with a Single Subtool 221
Rigging a Single Subtool with Sculpted Detail 226
Using a Rig with Transpose Master 227
Creating Multiple Poses with Layers 229
Assigning Multiple Poses to the Timeline 231
Exporting Blend Shapes from ZBrush to Maya 233
Artist Spotlight: Geert Melis 236
Artist Spotlight: Marco Menco 240

Chapter 8 Special Project--Creating Hockey Skates 245
Creating the Laces 245
Using the CurveTube Brush 245
Using ZSpheres 248
Using a Custom Stitch Brush 250
Creating the Model Used for the Alpha 251
Creating the Alpha from the Model 252
Using Decimation Master to Reduce Poly Count 254
Artist Spotlight: Joseph Drust 258
Artist Spotlight: Christopher Brändström 264

Chapter 9 Rendering--Bringing Life to Your Image 271
Rendering a More Realistic Eye 271
Creating the LightCaps 272
Adjusting the Materials 273
Creating the Second Material 276
Adjusting the Shadow Settings 276
Creating an SSS Material 280
Adjusting the Lights 281
Building the Material 281
Making Adjustments to the Render 285
Using the Filter System with BPR 288
Artist Spotlight: Mark Dedecker 292
Artist Spotlight: Julian Kenning 296

Appendix About the Companion DVD 303
What You'll Find on the DVD 303
C

Learn to work effectively and creatively with all versions of ZBrush!ZBrush is used by top artists in Hollywood to model and sculpt characters in such films as Avatar, Iron Man, and Pirates of the Caribbean. In addition, this amazing technology is also used in jewelry design, forensic science, aerospace, video games, toy creation, and the medical field. Written by Pixologic's in-house ZBrush expert Paul Gaboury, this full-color, beautifully illustrated guide provides you with the ultimate tips and tricks to maximize your use of all versions of ZBrush.
Reveals numerous little-known tips and tricks that exist within ZBrush, but often go unexploited
Shares an abundance of helpful techniques and insights that the author has acquired from years of helping professional artists in various industries
Offers dozens of version-neutral solutions and shortcuts in areas such as sculpting, texturing, posing, rendering, and more
Features "Artist Spotlights" from several ZBrush experts, offering their how-to's for using the feature-rich software in today's studios
Improve your productivity and quality of work with this helpful, easy-to-understand resource.