130 chapter 4 ■ ZBrush for Detailing
- Press the spacebar to bring up the coin operator, which allows you to move, rotate,
and scale the alpha in relation to the ZTool. Left-clicking and dragging in each quad-
rant will execute that action (Figure 4.21). For example, move the alpha over the fore-
head of the ZTool. You can still move and rotate the ZTool with the standard mouse
movements. Press the spacebar and click in the quadrant marked Move. Drag the
mouse to place the alpha. - To scale the alpha, press the spacebar and click in the bottom section marked Move.
Notice the top section is marked Mov Rot; this will move your alpha along the sur-
face, rotating it to the surface normal. You will almost always want to use the Move
option and not the MovRot. - To scale the alpha down, click in the right section marked Scale. Notice that there are
two other smaller sections here marked H and Z. H allows you to scale in horizontal;
V scales in vertical. The stencil should now be placed as shown in Figure 4.22. When
rotating and scaling a stencil, note that the action occurs around the spot where the
coin operator is. So if you want to scale a stencil from the left side, move to the left
side, press the spacebar to bring up the coin operator, and scale. - The alpha is now placed and ready for use. In the Alpha palette at the left of the
screen, change to Alpha 01. Since Alpha 62 has been converted to a stencil, you can
select any other alpha to sculpt through it. Sculpt some strokes through the stencil.
Notice how the white areas block your stroke (Figure 4.23). - Move the stencil and continue to sculpt. Try to rotate and scale the alpha as well.
If you are accustomed to using the right-click menu to access your brush settings, be aware
it’s disabled when you’re in Stencil mode. Instead, use the brush control sliders at the top of
the screen or the hotkeys: S for Draw Size, I for RGB Intensity, and U for Z Intensity.You may notice that the stencil sits just above the surface of your model. It does not
conform to the shape beneath it, so sculpting across areas like the nose or cheeks can be
tricky. It is possible to make the stencil conform to the shape beneath it. For this and other
more advanced stencil options, we’ll look at the Stencil menu.Figure 4.21 The
coin operator.
Left-clicking
and dragging in
each quadrant
will perform the
labeled action.
Figure 4.22 Placing the stencil Figure 4.23 Using the stencil