ZSketch and Hard-Surface Brushes
In this chapter we will look at ZSketch. ZSketch is
a mesh generation tool that allows you to create organic meshes in ZBrush
by applying strokes on an armature. This is a very quick and effective tool
for building complex gestural forms quickly and easily.
We will also be looking at ZBrush’s new hard-surface modeling toolset.
These brushes were originally introduced in ZBrush 3.5 but further refined
into a full suite of brushes for ZBrush 4. The ZBrush hard-surface brushes
are intended to allow artists to sketch and design machined objects in the
same way they sketch organic forms. They are highly versatile and intuitive.
ZSketch
ZSketch is a brush-based mesh generation tool that allows artists to build meshes by apply-
ing tubes of digital clay to a ZSphere armature or other base. Figure 10.1 shows a ZSketch
model of a vehicle that comes with ZBrush. The forms are created by a number of individ-
ual strokes, which are each composed of a series of spheres. I liken it to sculpting by laying
down ropes of clay. The ZSketch tools are fast and gestural, and lend themselves to quickly
building up geometry for sculpting.
In this section we will use ZSketch over a ZSphere armature to quickly build a gesture
sculpture of a figure. Remember that gesture is the overall motion or action of the figure. A
gesture sculpture is not as concerned with form or proportion as much as capturing the life or
action in a pose (Figure 10.2). We are using ZSketch in the same way a sculptor uses a lump of
water clay to create a quick gesture sketch of a figure, as shown in Figure 10.3. These figures are
intended to only capture the gesture or action of the pose and are fantastic exercises in learning
to see what makes a figure exciting to look at. By creating these 5-minute sketches in clay, sculp-
tors hope to teach themselves to quickly spot the nuances in the figure that make it seem alive
and full of character.