Posing Characters in ZBrush

In this ZBrush tutorial, we go through how you can easily pose your characters using Zspheres and Transpose Master. This is one of the most efficient ways of posing characters in any 3D software and it's simple to set up, compared to traditional rigging.
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[@thatoneartfellowroob]

Controls: Zplugin> transpose master> zsphere rig> Tpose mesh enable symmetry (X) draw mode (Q) move mode (W) Click on the chain to make more Zspheres Ctrl+Drag to make chains from spheres When done hit Tpose|SubT Bonus: To fix symmetry Transform> Posable Symmetry

[@sketchygaz]

You should add the rigging > bind mesh so you're able to pose

[@nikelombambo]

Not all heroes wear capes.. Thank you..

[@badwolf8995]

How about instructions on deleting joints. seems obvious but not mentioned...

[@AKno47372]

only difficult when trying to twist parts

[@witchknight1244]

This is 4 years old and still helped me with basic rigging. Cheers for that!

[@Nnnuu888]

I cannot thank you enough foor how helpful this video was, i love your content and i wish to always have it in my life. Thank you, your awesome!

[@piwypd0]

great video guys!!! I always end up coming back to your content to refresh my memory.

[@bigbadmonsters]

Love the content you guys are putting out, concise and to the point but without missing any vital information. Thanks!

[@FlippedNormals]

Thanks Chris! :) Glad we can be of use.

[@TonyG718]

Thumbs way up for this. I know I fuss at you guys a lot, but that’s only because this learning process is very overwhelming. But it’s all starting to make sense now. I owe this channel and a lot of great 3D artist on KZbin and Reddit for that.

[@ohmayea]

Truely helpful and rather speed than rigging with AdvancedSkeleton.If you want to test or pose your model quickly, try this!

[@SouthernGFX]

I love going back and re-watching this video.

[@FlippedNormals]

Thanks Glen! You were a huge inspiration for us

[@zackaryfry1825]

I absolutely love your guys' content. It's helped me so much!

[@fernando3061]

This is incredibly useful, thank you guys so much.

[@VeraFX]

Damn why can't actual rigging be this easy? Thanks for the tut

[@Meteotrance]

I know zsphere for long time, but as a pre sculpt shape, i didn't knew it could be use for posing another pré build mesh thanks.

[@yamadhimas]

Amazing! Helps a lot! Thank you so much

[@WastedCheez]

Do you think for a Collectibles/Miniatures pipeline, this is the way to go for posing or traditional rigging would do the job better? I am really confused on that part and I am not sure which way is better for my needs.

[@ladislaschachignot1701]

Thanks guys, it was super useful !

[@minuscolochao1557]

thank you for this amazing tutorial . but i still find zsphere so difficult to use..... is there some other way to approach posing a character and sculpt it other than masking and moving ? What if i have to first sculpt a character in posed moldel and then need to change it to a t-pose ?

[@anthonykerns1828]

Thanks! Keep you the good work!

[@franciscom149]

Thanks a lot!! Great and indeed elegant way to do it :)

[@xxTacolord]

Super awesome tutorial, I've got an amateur question, though. I don't seem to have the transpose master menu? Where is it in Z19 or how do I add it to my side bar?

[@Sei783]

How do you control the direction the zsphere is rotating? Mine always want to twist about the axis rather than rotate up or down.

[@pedrocodeco6914]

after you pose your character and hit "TPose | SubT" is there a way to go back and edit the rig, or does it merge with the mesh and forces you to make a new rig?

[@user-pu6vs4fg1y]

Amazing tutorial. I just ca from lmms (a free daw software) and i decided to switch since it didn’t offer enough convenience. It was

[@user-kb4nr1xc1v]

Hi ! this video is very helpful !

[@ucphamhuynh6020]

thank you guys

[@stellersandria5471]

Hello I made my model with clothing, may I ask if I should merge the body and the clothes together before I get to rig or not? Thank you.

[@Sonamsingh-vz1ex]

In The setup thank you so much!

[@TizianaFRuiu]

This is sooo helpful...Thank you!!!

[@FlippedNormals]

Fantastic - Thanks!

[@witchreturns2263]

Thank you for the tutorial. I did like you said but I keep running into an issue: my character has clothes, so the anatomy bends well, but at the elbows and at the knee, the cloth passes through geometry, instead of coliding... Any way to fix this? ( for clothed characters)

[@cirusthevirus1001]

can you scope after posing model? or do you have to finish scopting before you can pose?

[@LumberingTroll]

Is there a way to do this, but have a hard surface on top that wont deform, but moves with the body underneath? Im trying to pose a character that has hard surface armor, and I dont want the armor to deform.

[@dariabonecrack5607]

Great content 👍

[@marcosmiranda7393]

you guys are great

[@okaymi]

Thanks for the Tutorial.May I ask a question?I cannot rigging ...I don't know why,I created a Z sphere,but after I press select mesh ,the body mesh don't appear...Is that something I missing

[@juanalejandromeyer3192]

I fixed it , Tools > Geometry > Lower Res . and then i did the same in the video.

[@MrQcSkateboarding]

thank you very helpful!

[@none53]

hey like one has made a creature for the film and tv right, so we need to make different poses in zbrush ? for the animation and do the morphing or is there any other process, i would love to know , thanks and must reply hat would be really helpful :)

[@GrbesicM]

Hi guys, great tutorial..is it possible pose textured character, I was sculpted character in z brush, I was made retopology and uv in max, and I was textured in substance, everything is good, but how pose it without losing texture in z brush, is it possible..? Big thanks!!

[@rosenormand2059]

Could you guys make a video about painting weights and the component editor in Maya ? I feel like it's such a tricky think to do and you guys would definitely make it easier to understand :D

[@lambdaweaponscache5394]

Does the speed of your laptop/computer matter here? Because whenever I try to do this the zsphere skeleton doesn’t move smoothly but very brokenly, if that makes sense? Otherwise this has been a great help, thanks for your videos!

[@pawangamingpr7597]

Thanku this video is very helpful 🤗

[@anishoe9287]

Awesome, I had no idea about this. I'm not seeing the "Rigging" tab in my zbrush (4R7 P2), which version does this feature start in? Or is there somewhere else I can find it? Although I do have the zphere Rig option under Tranpose master.

[@FlippedNormals]

Hey! The rigging tab has been there for ages, and it's definitely t here in 4R7. Did you look under Tool - Rigging? :) It only works if you are on the Zsphere subtool.

[@alinerdelav]

@@FlippedNormals i followed it but is taking ages to move each part, i feel over whelmed because u said it was using the lowest subd and is still taking ages

[@jayc6787]

how about the character cloths ? that mean After Pose Only goes Final detail?

[@emilieboisvert5437]

thank you!

[@marrius3736]

Good tutorial

[@kristanbenson803]

Should you sculpt a straight pose *then take it to posing or can you just sculpt in the pose?

[@therkan2101]

big thanks

[@berlynn23]

Love the tutorial, thank you. Just one problem, when i hit bind mesh it isn't binding the mesh, and for the life of me i cant figure out why, can you help with this?

[@edwinj.rodriguezmarte2397]

I'm having the same problem. When I press Bind Mesh and try to pose the character, only the zsphere rig skeleton moves. What am I doing wrong? kzbin.info/www/bejne/sGjOg5Shet-ZabM

[@ic.xc.]

I have different subtools as my mesh, so e.g. head and torso is two different subtools. I thought the T Pose would combine them for posing, but it's still separate. Am I doing something wrong. I still have 1 subtool when activating T Pose. NVM! I was using the transpose tool when masking.. Regular masking worked perfectly.

[@elenavid5222]

awesome, thanks!

[@FlippedNormals]

Happy to help!

[@zzisn6760]

Thank youu!

[@usmanakhund5586]

thanks alot . soo usefull .

[@jmacomic82]

Thanks a lot!!

[@laawley]

Thank u so much bro

[@shakal_]

very helpful video, tho for some reason the posable symmetry button is missing for me, did i not do some setting properly? edit nvm my bad i was trying to turn it on before using TPose, so if anyone has same problem just use SubT first. thanks again for the video

[@nosalis]

so once I hit the T pose | subT, I effectively bake the pose ? so I can't go back to the rigged one? so that If I want to tweak the pose again, I have to do a new zspheres ?

[@jamesbrady1930]

came across your video. nicely done. :)

[@FlippedNormals]

Cheers James :)

[@ripulse1839]

how to we change the color of the zsphere to look like a polygrouped-color-coded-like one? Thanks!

[@JoshPurple]

Fantastic! Thank You's :) !

[@asia4385]

Hello , i used to use this tutorial but now im trying all the same things tposemesh with zsphere rig - bind the rig and then click TPoseSubT when im done but it merges together all the meshes I have , what am i missing?

[@thatsjustmyoppinion7004]

I want to ask , when I have a full armor and clothes made on the character how do I pose the other subtools like armor , clothes with it ?

[@kovra1305]

Use Transpose Master TposeMesh in Zplugin menu to make a low poly version of the entire tool and the you do this step with Zspheres , pose it click Tpose to sub tool and there you go. This might work I didn't tried it personally.Good Luck.

[@reshma7542]

nice one thank you

[@pdiddly5609]

I imported my model in but have no other subtools, how do I add a subtool to start the process

[@Anemites]

Hello how can i make this with a previews zspheres?.. i star the model with base zspheres, and whant to change the caracther in diferentes poses- Thanks so much

[@livevideoart_inc]

Can I also use Z Spheres to pose a non character mesh like a octopus ?

[@blakehodgetts7184]

So, I am trying this with a model, and I cannot get the elbows and knee joints to bend properly. The ZSpheres don't stay within the skin; instead the limb bends like a noodle and leaves the joint spheres outside the skin. Why is this happening? The surface doesn't seem to bind to the ZSpheres, no matter what size I make them. What am I doing wrong? Is it something about the way the model is made? (I am experimenting with a human model I downloaded.)

[@bhanuwongnachiangmai3191]

Hi guys I’m using zbrush for 4 month I’d like to ask what key are you tapping seem like decimation or something.

[@ArtistTask]

Awesome

[@aimyc]

Can you use this for quadrupeds?

[@azz1998]

how do I go back from the posed model to edit again the zsphere model?

[@timdiem2585]

Your guy's tutorials have helped so efficiently. Thank you so much. I do have a question; I started my sculpt with zspheres. Is it possible to bring in that rig that I started with for this process? Or do I just have to start from scratch?

[@tarz1109]

I'd also like to know the answer to this. I'm guessing you would create an adaptive skin through the sphere you used to sculpt your model then rig the model on top of that with another zsphere, but I don't want to have to recreate the zsphere when I already have them.

[@PeepoFrog]

Good question. Too bad no one has answered yet. Would be insanely useful.

[@audioglass]

​@@PeepoFrog Looks like these guys don't post replies. When I click Tpose SubT it prompts me for a file from disk. Pretty disappointing if I cannot get it to a mesh and no one is gonna reply anyway.

[@PeepoFrog]

@@audioglass that happened to me aswell if i inserted a new subtool into the scene or if i accidently started sculpting something.

[@audioglass]

@@PeepoFrog Seems like sculpting raw with Sculptris Pro Mode is how I will end up doing it. I wanted to try rigging so I could make multiple poses for a client, but rigging seems too prone to undo-able errors which will take longer. Damn... Another year passes where I don't understand rigging :/

[@omerthe3rd1]

i cant find 'transpose masking' in my tools slot in 4R8.. is it different from 4R7??

[@mylesxavier4196]

its under zplugins just incase anyone else is wondering

[@soraku2012]

It might be a very simple question, I clicked the Tpose mesh button , but it says not recognised as a TPoseMesh. Pose cannot be saved. I only have one layer in subtool. What am I missing?

[@alexyun4757]

theres a different tutorial saying if you mask out and extract a tiny piece somewhere on the figure you can have multiple subtools to tpose mesh without disrupting your aesthetics.

[@gnightrow4020]

what would this type of rig used for because you wouldn't use it in games ?

[@marcus_ohreallyus]

I'm trying to understand why you added the rib bones way below the problem area, which is the armpit.

[@corzosports]

Hi, excuse me, is there a page where i can buy these models, with all the zsphere structure? male and female? I really need it. Also i have another question.

[@Haruyuki_Art]

cool thank you

[@CapitanBarbaschiuma]

when i rigged and posed my model it canceled the unwrap i had on it, did i fuck up or the tool works that way?

[@filipexavier8750]

have how I modify the mesh even being tranpose master?

[@ulisses2019]

When i press TPosemesh i doesn't go for the lowest devision, intead it appears a message saying "Please select a model with subtools and try again"... i have the model selected or i couldn't brush it... can you help here?

[@thyv1]

can we adjust the pose again after TPose|SubT?

[@takindia5581]

I took two months to learn Adobe After Effects and Premier Pro. Now I am learning soft soft to make soft so I can have more verity

[@ekoi1995]

How do you rotate arms?

[@mikahina3909]

Zbrush lags to hell when im starting to rotate the joints. i subTd a model with 3m polys, so i asume that is the issue. but do you know a way to solve this without having to retopologise again and reproject my details?

[@FlippedNormals]

Hmm, that's weird. How many subdivisions do you have on it? Do you have display subdivisions on?

[@ukko-pekkakuivalainen2895]

What if I wanted to have environment objects that are not posed in the scene as refenrence as I pose the character? For example walls or a ground plane which is not just a plane and has maybe rocks on it etc..

[@ukko-pekkakuivalainen2895]

And thanks for the great tutorial!

[@lucamoos5884]

DId someone know a way how I can pose a model again after I translated everthing back to the high res model without building the hole skeleton new?

[@Haruyuki_Art]

thank youu

[@rodrigoferriz8267]

thanks

[@bensong8518]

Wait, wouldnt you have to dynamesh/zremesh to get rid of really pinched topology? Wouldn't that destroy the posable symmetry forever?

[@hanspetterwiken4379]

This is my question exactly! Any answers to this? I am posing a from t-pose, and I have to make quite drastic changes in the pose.

[@HiredGunGames]

go to transform and click the button that says use poseable symmetry

[@michaelvaughan2986]

can this be done after retopo and uvs have been made in maya and brought back into zbrush?

[@FlippedNormals]

Yup! That's how we normally do it.

[@nishatanwar3016]

Hi, after spending time on all the rigging, Zbrush is giving "Error number: -32: has occurred. Operation aborted" while pressing the "TPose | SubT" button. If you guys know a solution do let me know. Thank you.

[@asia4385]

hello , when i try to rotate it takes like 15 seconds to do one command , what can I do?

[@argusink562]

If you were making a science fiction character with a floating electromagnetic arm and an empty space where the shoulder or elbow should be, will the zSphere structure underneath disappear​ when you finish and "t pose|sub t" it?

[@FlippedNormals]

Yes - it should.

[@argusink562]

Excellent.

[@juanalejandromeyer3192]

How i change the sphere size?

[@ghostrecon1299]

There a way to hide the transparency?

[@gauravidesigns]

I am lost after rigging , where are my polypainted subtools , everything appear colourless ??

[@drgedyatmadja]

Any reason why my zsphere is so large ??? I cant resize it...

[@blackkyurem720]

Is there a way you can go back and edit the rig though after you bind & save the mesh?

[@shayan2053]

how to join the joints and how to delete a joint

[@Geostationary0rbit]

anyone know how to reuse a transpose mesh on a different but similar sculpt? can't seem to crack it...

[@birdieohsi6253]

Search for Reusing a Zsphere Rig in Zbrush (by Gary Calhoun) here on youtube. That should help.

[@ProOrLooser]

tried using this but when i try to move the rig after clicking bind mesh, it just freezes when click to try and move the joint

[@martinds93]

Are you using a low poly version of your mesh? Cuz if you have too many polygons it will freeze...

[@mycsculptures]

I got everything going that way.. but I dont have any lower sub devision on my model. its about 6Mio.. the other subtool are not very high poly. But after bind mesh... I can not move anyting.. If I click a limb.. hold mouse button and drag... I get just the save symbol and after a while I can move curser again but nothing moved or changed... any idea whats going on?

[@aricornejo]

I'm not sure I understand your situation but if your model only has 6 million poly you will have to follow these steps in order to properly get it to work: 1.)Duplicate the model hide the duplicate under subtools and click on the original 2.)Zremesh the model (with groups if you have any) to 5K 3.) Subdivide once and unhide the duplcate subtool but dont click on it continue to have the zremeshed model selected 4.)Under subtool go to project and click project all 5.)Subdivide the model again and click project all 6.)If the model looks clean stop or go ahead and subdivide once again and project all 7.)You can delete the duplicate subtool and now your model has more subdivisions which will now allow for zsphere rigging or subtool posing under Transpose Master

[@mycsculptures]

Thank you so much ! I will try