140 chapter 4 ■ ZBrush for Detailing
- Create a new layer for the wrinkle details. Choose Tool → Layers and click New. Rename
this layer wrinkles. While at the highest subdivision level, also store a morph target. To
do so, choose Tool → Morph Target and click the StoreMT button (Figure 4.42). ZBrush
stores a copy of the mesh as it looks at the highest subdivision level. This will allow you
to use techniques for blending details later in this section.
By storing a morph target of the highest subdivision level, you can use the Morph brush
when you are on the highest level to blend between the current model and the stored
shape. This brush can be used as a blender, helping you to feather texture or erase it
completely without disturbing the form. If you only used layers, the texture could only be
faded as a whole; the Morph brush allows you to stroke over areas you would like to fade
out, retaining the detail in other areas.- Select the Simple brush and Alpha 43 and a Freehand stroke. Lower your Draw Size
and ZIntensity to 12. Using short, sketchy strokes, rough in an overall wrinkle map
for the entire head. This pass will give you an idea of how the wrinkles will flow and
where they will be most concentrated. Figure 4.43 shows this initial wrinkle map pass.
In the first image, I have painted color with the stroke to more clearly define the direc-
tion and gesture of the lines. I never consider this initial pass to be final; in fact, many
of these strokes will be covered up by subsequent passes of texture and smoothing.
The point here is to plan out the face as a whole instead of starting in one area and
working around the head bit by bit. This approach helps you keep everything unified.
Figure 4.43 The wrinkle map pass. The strokes in the first image are colorized to help illustrate the
flow of the lines.- Load the alphas from the Gnomon Alpha library. Remain on the Standard brush
but change to a DragRect stroke. Selecting the Leathery Skin alphas, stamp in more
areas of texture; take care to vary the scale and placement as well as the alpha selec-
tions (Figure 4.44). - Continue to manually adjust the patterns applied by the texture stamp, resculpting
where necessary and blending the textures into one another. Notice the crosshatched
waffle pattern at the cheek in Figure 4.45 where the wrinkles from the eye meet and
cross those on the cheek.
Figure 4.42
Storing a morph
target