ZBrush newb questions

Hi folks,

I'm trying to learn ZBrush, mostly to use it for texture-painting, but it might be convenient to do some modeling in the program too. (I usually use Max for modeling, but I like ZBrush's modeling process -- sort of.) I have no trouble creating, say, a stick-figure model. My problem is saving and reloading it.

I know not to save it as a "document" but rather as a "Tool." The trouble is, when I reload my saved "tool" (model), I can't edit it. I load the tool; click and drag to draw it on my canvas; immediately hit T to edit. OK, I can perform one or two edit actions. But sooner or later, usually sooner, I lose any ability to edit the object. Instead, I start creating new instances of my stick figure with every mouse click. Gah! What am I doing wrong?

I've posted this question on the ZBrush forums, but they seem not to work. Any advice?

Be sure you are staying in edit mode on that object. You may be doing something that brings you out of edit mode and drops your model to the canvas. Once that happens you can't edit it any more. The edits you make will also update your tool, so you may be able to simply clear your canvas and redraw your model and keep going.

There are special considerations for taking models from zbrush to making sl sculpties. I'll point you to the right threads for that in a moment.

Edit:
Here is a link for an object to load into zbrush for making sculpties. /8/20/183764/7.html#post1521794
Here is a way to make the sculptie map
/8/20/183764/1.html

Well, sometimes I want to add a new zSphere to the model. Doing so apparently drops me out of edit mode and makes the model uneditable? If so, basically this means you can forget about reloading a half-finished model, because you can't add any new points to it.

I wouldn't mind so much if the program weren't crashing every half hour.

I haven't had problems with zBrush crashing, but I know what you mean about the quirks and steep learning curve. I'm amazed with some of the tools, but zBrush does have an odd approach to organizing and combining tools. I would love to learn more of the tools, but for now I am pretty happy with the shapes I can make and texture.

I believe that there is a way to group several tools (3d objects) together using the 3D layers feature. It seems to work a bit like the layers in Photoshop.

I found some great video tutorials, with free access offered on this zBrush forum post:
http://www.pixolator.com/zbc/printthread.php?t=47494

Go to 3DTrainer and use 3dtedu for the User ID and Password to access the zBrush 3 tutorials. I learned a lot from these, and I see that there are new ones now that I haven't seen. Yay!

http://www.3dtrainer.com/page3/page44/page44.html

I have managed to learn a process from creating fully textured, sculpty shapes with zBrush and Wingd3D. Every shape I make begins with the UVmapped spheres that Silvia mentions, made by Hapatia Calypso.

I have been thinking about creating a video that shows how I am making sculpted prims. I think others may be interested in seeing the process. I will post a note here if I find some motivation and record a demo...

Thanks for your replies. I managed to finish a model tonight. I think I was crashing the program when clicking too fast and furiously. I slowed down a bit, and things stabilized -- no crashes at all.

I'll certainly check out those tutorials. I've been using the "official" tutorial, but it glosses over pretty important stuff -- like, say, which brushes to use in order to transform my stick figure into something more recognizably human.

Wow, those are great tutorials! Thanks for the link.

Hypatia Callisto

Actually, it's really easy to make the starter objects, with UVMapper Pro. (that's how I did it actually) But the Wings exporter should come with the starter objects by now.

I'm using a different method these days but Wings is a good one to get you started in exporting maps. You can also try Blender as well. I'm using Carrara Pro these days for it, but it's not free. It does give me the ability to work with smaller meshes and then apply subdivision surfaces, which gives me a lot more control with fewer control points on a model. -> http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/User:Hypatia_Callisto/Carrara_Sculpt_Baking

Whatever floats ones boat... Wings is an excellent program to start with.

I just got Zbrush 3 a couple of weeks ago and I love it.

I haven't noticed the particular problem you are having other than needing to make sure
your are in 3d or 2.5d mode.

One thing that gets to me is that whenever I change brushes in edit mode it goes to the
texture and alpha of the last time I used that brush or none in a new session. I figure that
it must be something in the edit preferences area but I have not found it yet.

I am hoping there is a way so to get my texture and alpha settings to remain while going
from brush to brush tool.

On a different note it will be really great if we can bake rgb maps in zbrush like we can in
blender.

It seems that Z is very powerful in dealing with uvs and displacement and normal maps
I am still looking for how it would be done to bake to rgb.
Perhaps someone has already posted on this.

But Zbrush does remind me of blender in a small way in that you must be in the right
modes in order to get the results you expect.