ZBrush Character Creation - Advanced Digital Sculpting 2nd Edition

54 chapter 2 ■ Sculpting in ZBrush

To create a mask marquee, hold down the Ctrl key and drag from a point off the model. A dark

marquee will appear. Anything inside this box when you release Ctrl will be masked. If you have

an alpha selected, the mask will be shaped like the alpha unless you release Ctrl. If you press

Ctrl+Alt, the mask will invert and you will be unmasking what is within the marquee.

Roughing in the Shape of the Skull

At this stage we have roughed in the form of the head, taking into account its most basic

shape from front, top, and side views. These changes were made at a lower subdivision level

since it is easier to make large form changes when the model has fewer faces. In the next

series of steps, we’ll subdivide the model and start adding secondary masses with the Rake

and Clay brushes.

1. Subdivide the mesh so there are enough faces that the Clay brushes will be effective.
   Usually 500,000 or more faces will suffice. Press Ctrl+D to divide the mesh three
   times, or choose Tool → Geometry → Divide.


2. Now switch to the Rake tool. Using the Rake set to ZAdd, begin to mass out the side
   planes of the head. Work around to the lower-back portion of the skull. Then move
   to the front and crosshatch across to create the plane that will ultimately become the
   face. There should be a slight curvature to this plane.


3. Once these surfaces are indicated, switch to ZSub by pressing the Alt key and start
   carving back and defining the edges between the planes with more clarity. Throughout
   this process we are alternating between ZAdd and ZSub with the Alt key (Figure 2.30).


4. Using the Rake, place the zygomatic bone, also known as the cheekbone (Figure 2.31).
   This is a major bony landmark on the face. Be sure it angles back and up on the side of
   the head. This bone will point to the center of the ear.


5. From the side, continue the curve up the side of the skull suggesting the temporal
   ridge. Switch to ZSub and start to hollow out the temple of the skull (Figure 2.32).


6. Note that the skull tends to look sad because of the slight downward angle to the eye
   sockets (Figure 2.33). Switch to the Standard brush and with ZSub active begin to
   carve out the hollows of the eye sockets, keeping this ovoid shape in mind.

Figure 2.30 Refining planes with rakes