236 chapter 7 ■ Transpose, ZSphere Rigging, Retopology, and Mesh Extraction
- By using masking in conjunction with poly-
groups, you can effectively pose the proxy mesh
with the attachments. In this example, you’ll
pose the legs. The leg consists of the leg itself,
the kneepad, and the boot. Ctrl+Shift-click
the body to hide all other polygroups, and then
mask down to the right leg. Ctrl+Shift-click the
background to view all polygroups again, and
using the masking marquee, mask the attach-
ments, leaving the boot and kneepad on the
left leg unmasked. Remember, you can isolate
polygrouped parts with Ctrl+Shift-click to make
masking easier. Once the rest of the parts are
masked, the leg and its accessories are ready to
transpose (Figure 7.19). - Draw an action line down the leg and pose by
moving the endpoint. Notice that the unmasked
accessories follow as they too are linked to the
action line since the proxy mesh is a single poly-
gon object (Figure 7.20). - Repeat this process for the arm, masking all other parts of the body and posing the
arm and its accessories. Note that the undershirt is masked to the shoulder so that
the sleeve will deform with the arm as it raises. - The head follows the same process for posing. Mask all but the head and those acces-
sories you want to pose, using a Transpose action line pose as desired. When posing
fingers, you’ll find it helpful to hide all the other accessories since they will not be mov-
ing; this saves the trouble of repeatedly masking them. Figure 7.21 shows the final
proxy pose of the DemoSoldier character. - You are ready to transfer the pose from the proxy mesh to the original ZTool. Under
ZScript → Transpose Master, click the TPose → SubT button to transfer.
Figure 7.18 The original ZTool is shown on the left; the
proxy posing mesh is on the right. The proxy posing mesh
created by Transpose Master is polygrouped for ease of
masking and selection.
Figure 7.19 Masking other
accessories
Figure 7.20 Posing leg Figure 7.21 The final proxy pose