ZBrush Character Creation - Advanced Digital Sculpting 2nd Edition

■ ZMovie 275

Timeline Hotkeys

Remember these important hotkeys when working with the timeline:

•   Click the timeline to create a keyframe.

•   Drag keyframes to move them along the timeline.

•   Drag a keyframe off the timeline to delete it.

•   Ctrl+Shift-click a keyframe to replace it. Shift-click multiple keyframes to select them

together. Shift-click to select multiple frames, then Shift-click the timeline to copy and

paste the selection.

•   Shift-click under the timeline to play back animation.

•   Ctrl+Shift-click under the timeline to record a movie.

•   Double-click a keyframe to zoom in.

Timeline and Layers for Blend Shapes

The timeline combined with the new and improved Layer options allows you to use ZBrush as
a powerful blend shape creation tool. Blend shape animation is a technique in which two ver-
sions of the same model are added as deformers to a base. This allows you to blend between
the different vertex positions to create a variety of shapes on a single mesh. This technique is
most commonly used for facial animation. With its organic sculpting tools, ZBrush is ideal for
sculpting facial animation targets.
For example, I may have a head with the mouth in a neutral position and a head with the
mouth in a smile. Blend shape or Morph target animation will calculate the difference between
the vertex positions on each head and then move one head shape to look like another based on
the amount you dial in. Figure 8.15 shows an example of how blend shapes work. Let’s take a
look at how to create some simple blend shapes and animate them in ZBrush. Be sure to check
the accompanying DVD for a video of this process in action.

Figure 8.15 Examples of blend shapes

1. From the accompanying DVD, load the fi le fatHeadVamp.ztl. Draw it on the canvas
   and enter Edit mode.


2. Dock the Movie palette to the side of the screen and show the timeline.


3. We will create a new layer to store the blend shape for the smile. Under Tool → Layers,
   click the New button. This layer will be set to record (Figure 8.16).


4. Click the record label next to the layer’s name to stop recording. You can rename the
   layer now by clicking the name button and typing a descriptive label. This layer will
   represent the smile blend shape (Figure 8.17). We will now create a new layer and add
   a second facial expression.

Figure 8.16 The

smile layer set to

record