84 chapter 3 ■ Designing a Character Bust
Figure 3.8 shows the underlying mesh in Frame mode. Notice how the areas of tighter
edges at the small of the back are denser than the tail (Figure 3.9). If I make a long curved
stroke with the Standard brush, you can see the difference between the stroke at the small
of the back and the faceted quality at the tail. This is because the edges are not distributed
as evenly in this area due to inconsistencies in the base mesh. With higher subdivisions, this
problem would be less pronounced, but whenever possible try to keep the edges evenly dis-
persed across the base mesh (Figure 3.10).Frame mode (Shift+F) will display the model in polyframe. This display shows the current
polygroups as well as the edges of the polygons. It allows you to see the edge distribution
and flow as you subdivide.Now you can see how evenly distributed edges and a low polygon count can help you
get the most out of your ZBrush subdivision levels. Unless you have a specific plan for your
mesh and a need to bring finished topology into the program at the outset, the best work-
flow is to work on a design mesh optimized for ZBrush and then use the ZBrush Topology
tools to generate a mesh suited to your needs—be they in games or film-res models ready for
animation.Figure 3.8 Goblin mesh in Frame mode