ZBrush for Digital 3-D Printing - ZBrush Creature Design: Creating Dynamic Concept Imagery for Film and Games - page 699

Chapter 11
ZBrush for Digital 3-D Printing
As we have seen in the previous chapters, ZBrush can be used for all manner of concept design and illustration
purposes. One technological innovation that makes ZBrush even more powerful is the ability to create phys-
ical 3-D prints from digital geometry. This can be accomplished by various kinds of machines. The two most
common are 3-D printers and 3-D mills. 3-D printers are the most common for creating small- to medium-
scale figures and parts from 3-D data. 3-D mills are used for making larger-scale objects. In this chapter, we
will focus on 3-D printing, as it is the most pertinent to the process of creating design maquettes from 3-D
objects. The quality and level of detail in 3-D printing is far higher than what is achieved with 3-D milling
technology.
The ability to print a physical object from a 3-D model gives designers an incredibly powerful tool, as
digital designs on the computer can now be turned into physical objects in a matter of hours. What was
once locked on-screen and only visible in the computer can now be placed in a client's hand. A director can
see, light, and interact with a character design in a manner that was previously only possible through the
use of traditional-sculptor and model-making techniques. This physical maquette can be used throughout the
pipeline, helping various departments that need a reference figure of a character.
Beyond the application of just concept-design maquettes, 3-D printing has allowed ZBrush to become a
standard tool in the toy and collectible industry. Gentle Giant Studios, a leader in collectible and toy produc-
tion, uses ZBrush heavily in their pipeline. I established the ZBrush presence at Gentle Giant in 2005 and we
did some of the first work in crating collectible figures entirely using ZBrush. In a few short years, ZBrush
sculpting had become the best solution to most projects in the workshop, as opposed to more traditional wax-
and-clay approaches. In this chapter, I hope to share some of the workflow I used to create a physical model
from digital data.
The Brief: A Finished Physical Maquette
The brief for this chapter is to create a fully realized physical maquette based on the Interdimensional
Traveler design. The 2-D illustration has been approved and now the director wants to see what this char-
acter might look like fully finished. To accomplish this, we need to revisit the original model and resolve
any unfinished areas to a high level of detail.
In this chapter, we will look at the various methods of creating 3-D objects from digital data. This will
include 3-D printing as well as milling. We will focus on 3-D printing technology as it offers much higher
detail and is a more common solution for creating small- to midsized-physical objects in high detail. We
will examine the various applications of 3-D printing from film and games to collectibles and even fine
art. Finally we will look at the process I took to create the final 3-D print of the Interdimensional Traveler
maquette.