Sculpting the Forest Spirit - ZBrush Creature Design: Creating Dynamic Concept Imagery for Film and Games - page 452

We will begin this sculpture using a generic human ZTool from Pixologic. This model is available on the
DVD or download files as basemesh.ztl . This mesh I use often for my generic bipedal characters because
it has a nice even edge layout—it does not have too much detail—and lends itself well to being divided to
a high subdivision level when the computer RAM can handle large models. Follow the steps below to load
and start to modify this mesh. Be sure to see the DVD or download files for this full process captured on
video for more tips and techniques.
1. Load the basemesh.ztl file from the DVD or download files. This is a generic male figure of average
build ( Figure 8-12 ) .
2. Immediately I want to relax the pose, as I find the arms outstretched in a T formation, while sometimes
preferable for rigging, is far too stiff. Many setup artists actually will prefer to have a copy of the model in
a more natural relaxed pose, but since we are concerned here with design rather than technical consider-
ations, we will focus on posing the character in a natural, appealing manner. Select the Transpose Rotate
brush by pressing the R hot key. This will select the Transpose Rotate brush.
3. Using the masking brushes as well as Transpose Masking, make sure the body is masked and the arms
are unmasked. Ctrl + Click on the masked area to feather the masking edges. Draw a transpose line from
the shoulder to the middle of the arm ( Figure 8-13 ). Click and drag on the last circle of the line to rotate
the arm down ( Figure 8-14 ) . The mesh will get slightly distorted as you rotate and shift the arm geometry.
Don't let this worry you—it will be fixed easily with the Move brush later.
4. Select the Move brush and correct the volume of the torso mass. This has collapsed as a result of rotat-
ing and lowering the arms ( Figure 8-15 ) .