3D Toolkit - Curve Brushes (25/11/24)

Curve Brushes

This uses Stroke > Curves combined with a standard sculpting brush to make a precise curve.

Creating a Curve IMM

Got Brush > Create > InsertMesh

Whilst you have the InsertMesh button selected, you can do the following:

• Stroke > Curve Modifiers - Selects the Size and adjust Curve Falloff (changes the start and end of the geometry, this is useful for hair).
• Stroke > Curve > Turns off snap
• Brush > Modifiers - Turns on weld points
• Picker > Depth > Once Z - Changes starting angle

I then tried to create a Curve Brush

I created the strap in Maya and made sure it had a start, end and middle. I'm not very proficient in Maya so I only created a simple strap. My skill in Maya is something I strive to improve over the course of this year.

Here I imported the 3 parts into ZBrush and assigned PolyGroups.

I then merged the subtools and created an InsertMesh Brush. I struggled to find the properties I wanted so I took some screenshots of the menu's I used to help me have an easier time finding them.

This is the Stroke Menu where I turned the brush into a curve brush.

This is the modifiers menu where I turned on Weld Points.

I tried to create a strap using this brush on the base mesh I am currently working on. I really struggled to try and wrap it around the model and the strap itself looked really blocky and I'm not too sure why. I plan to experiment more with curve brushes to hopefully fix the issues I am having.

Hair Curve Brushes

Creating Hair Cards in ZBrush

Using Maya:

• Create a PolyPlane with a subdivision of 2 in both width and height.
• Move the pivot to the end of the plane. Duplicate this twice and snape to the ends one after the other.
• On the second duplicate, extrude it out and add 2 divisions. Start curving some of the end vertices. This will be where the hair starts to grow from the root.
• Now we should have 3 poly planes. A start, middle and end.
• Export as an OBJ.

Then in ZBrush:

• Import the object in ZBrush. The curved vertices should be at the top.
• Assign each plane a different polygroup. You can do this quickly via Polygroups > AutoGroups.
• Create an InsertMesh Brush out of the Subtool (Brush > Create InsertMesh).
• Under Stroke, turn on curve mode, lock start and lock end. Make sure snap is also active.
• Go to Brush > Modifiers and turn on click, stretch, tri parts, weld points and increate the curve res so the points weld properly.

The planes consist of several square planes instead of just being one mesh so the points need to be melded to get a solid poly group.

• Modify > Topology > Weld Points
• PolyGroups > AutoGroups