ZBrush Character Creation - Advanced Digital Sculpting 2nd Edition

238 chapter 7 ■ Transpose, ZSphere Rigging, Retopology, and Mesh Extraction

When drawing complex areas like the ear, switch to red. Drawing these edges in red

makes them easier to spot in tight areas. When planning the topology, try to keep all

faces as quads or triangles. ZBrush will not make a face with more than four sides; it will

instead create a hole in the mesh.

When planning the edge flow

for an animation mesh, keep in

mind how the character will move.

The areas on a face that are the most

mobile are the eyes and mouth, so

these areas are edge loops to allow

a more natural movement from the

face. Many schools of thought exist

on proper topology for a face and

body, and most studios or setup art-

ists have their own preference. The

best way to learn about topology is

to look at the meshes of others and experiment building your own. Gnomonology (www.the​

gnomonworkshop.com) has animation meshes available for purchase, and many online forums

offer free samples. Sculpting facial animation targets and applying them in Maya will help illus-

trate what kinds of topology work best. Just like with sculpting, experience is key to getting a

handle on this discipline.

Using the Topology Tools

Now that we have the topology planned out in the form of a polypainted template, we are

ready to start using the ZBrush Topology tools. The Topology tools are based on ZSphere

chains, so we’ll start by creating a ZSphere as the root. Follow these steps to rebuild the

topology on a character head:

1. Drop any tools and clear the canvas. Make sure that the head ZTool with the polypaint
   topology is loaded in the Tool menu but not active on the canvas. From the main Tool
   menu select a ZSphere. Draw a single sphere on the canvas and enter Edit mode.


2. This sphere will be the root of your topology
   chain. You’ll link this sphere to the mesh you
   want to use as the base for your retopology.
   With the ZSphere on the canvas in Edit mode,
   open the main Tool menu and dock it to the
   side screen by clicking the Radial button.


3. Scroll to the bottom of the Tool menu and you
   will find the Rigging menu (Figure 7.25). Click
   Rigging to expand this menu. Click the Select
   Mesh button to open the Tool palette; from
   there, select the head ZTool. This will link the
   head tool to the root ZSphere and specify it as
   the base for your topology tools (Figure 7.26).

Figure 7.24 Topology sketched in

Figure 7.25 The
Rigging menu is
where you load
the ZTool for
retopology.

Figure 7.26 The head ZTool is placed

in the same world space as the root

ZSphere.