Posing Characters in ZBrush

[@SouthernGFX]

I love going back and re-watching this video.

[@FlippedNormals]

Thanks Glen! You were a huge inspiration for us

[@witchknight1244]

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

[@morgyj4322]

For all the people saying this tutorial doesn't work, it does. You just need to make sure you're properly following the tutorial. I have a model that I "rigged" using this video and it works great!

[@ANaz92]

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!

[@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.

[@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.

[@ohmayea]

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

[@VeraFX]

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

[@piwypd0]

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

[@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.

[@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 ?

[@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.

[@zackaryfry1825]

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

[@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.

[@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?

[@kevwe23]

Amazing. I can't wait to test this out 😃

[@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

[@VertexHero]

Can someone help please. When I finished posing my model, it never transferred my high-poly model details. I was left with just the low-poly -___-. I followed the steps exactly. I even tried storing the rig and pasting it, but it doesn't work.

[@mikelemahchi3700]

The ssme happens to me, did you find a solution???

[@VertexHero]

@@mikelemahchi3700 nope, it's so frustrating. I sort of ditched the project lol. Hopefully you have better luck.

[@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

[@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?

[@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.

[@tubesurfer007]

All I get is lines appearing in the body all over. It deforms everything badly. I've put zspheres in all the possible places to stop it from moves other parts whcich works, but it still deforms everything really terrible, and computer is extremely slow to move a sphere when posing, each moves takes like 5-10 seconds, now near as fast as yours moves. Any reason this might be happening? Thanks

[@karimdaouiji9146]

Same issue here, I get some strange stairs locking behaviour in my mesh while deforming.

[@karimdaouiji9146]

Answer I found: Transpose Master works best with, and is designed around the idea of, posing a combined tool of all the selected subtools at their lowest level of subdivision, and transferring those changes back to the original tools at their highest level of subdivision. This means that for best results, each subtool involved should have a low poly base, and multiple levels of subdivision. The fewer points there are in your low poly base, the easier it will be to pose without distortion, and the easier it will be to repair when some inevitable distortion does occur. Lower poly meshes will also perform much better in this mode. If your mesh does not have a suitable base level of subdivision, you can use ZRemesher to create one, subdivide it sufficiently to establish multiple subdivisions levels and high res detail, then project the detail from the original back onto it.

[@mechazone]

@@karimdaouiji9146 I'm having the exact same issue. I'll give this a shot and see what happens.

[@mechazone]

OK, this did actually work, but I had to take my 2.5 mill model down to about 10 thousand and the stair-step distortion still happens ever so slightly in a few spots..

[@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?

[@fernando3061]

This is incredibly useful, thank you guys so much.

[@antarasengupta9000]

will it work if my character is wearing clothes? how will it go?

[@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.

[@gauravidesigns]

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

[@marcus_ohreallyus]

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

[@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.

[@1089-w4g]

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

[@kristanbenson803]

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

[@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.)

[@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?

[@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.

[@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 :)

[@filipinhox]

have how I modify the mesh even being tranpose master?

[@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)

[@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.

[@asia4385]

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

[@10dev785]

What if you have texture maps on this model??? Will the texture maps get messed up????

[@FlippedNormals]

They will deform just fine if your UV map is set up correctly

[@10dev785]

Set up correctly??? I did the map in another program. Can you explain what you mean when you say correctly. Thanks for the response

[@pdiddly5609]

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

[@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.

[@ghostrecon1299]

There a way to hide the transparency?

[@aimyc]

Can you use this for quadrupeds?

[@ToyCartoonStoryforKids]

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

[@my3dgifts]

08:43 - not get more subtool Only I got single object

[@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?

[@MordecaiUniverse]

i want to understand why we need to have more then 2 subtools to make this?

[@fernando3061]

Great question, I just threw in an extra cylinder so I could accomplish this. Don't really see the point.

[@squibblets]

tpose mesh is for posing things with multiple subtools, so that plugin requires multiple subtools to start

[@cyffrowy2882]

just zbrush things

[@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!

[@nguyencanh7571]

when I rotate, it's very laggy and annoying, any problem solve?

[@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.

[@ian-exe7531]

Ok but i made my model out of Zspears And then sculpted it and now it says that it wont work and it needs to be a polly mesh?

[@gioolioplus]

you want to check other videos of this channel about how to sculpt. This is about rigging, something that you do after you already sculpted your model. By the way, what you are looking for is how to create an adaptive skin.

[@Switchpoppy]

It would be nice to be able to *save* the zsphere rig, when I TPose my mesh a second time, I have to rebuild the Rig from scratch

[@Switchpoppy]

Oh wait, there is a 'StoreTMRig' option available in the Transpose Master menu

[@Switchpoppy]

Detailed instructions here: www.zbrushcentral.com/t/how-to-save-and-load-zspheres-rig-answered/328562

[@cirusthevirus1001]

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

[@livevideoart_inc]

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

[@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

[@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

[@WizardVal]

what if you don't have subtools?

[@yamadhimas]

Amazing! Helps a lot! Thank you so much

[@gnightrow4020]

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

[@jayc6787]

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

[@juanalejandromeyer3192]

How i change the sphere size?

[@ladislaschachignot1701]

Thanks guys, it was super useful !

[@shayan2053]

how to join the joints and how to delete a joint

[@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 ?

[@ripulse1839]

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

[@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!!

[@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.

[@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!

[@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

[@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?

[@TizianaFRuiu]

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

[@FlippedNormals]

Fantastic - Thanks!

[@elwa_chin8604]

what if i have no subcomponents

[@Sonamsingh-vz1ex]

In The setup thank you so much!

[@Blacksheep3DLabs]

Hi guys i have a question, if i need to pose my character with cothes , then do i have to sculpt clothes after posing the base mesh or i can simply pose the character with clothes ?

[@FlippedNormals]

You can actually do either - whatever you prefer. If you make the clothes in Marvelous Designer, you can make them in Tpose and then pose the character afterwards, and they will sim. We talk about it here: flippednormals.com/products/concepting-with-marvelous-designer-zbrush/

[@Blacksheep3DLabs]

thank you

[@Blacksheep3DLabs]

Btw need to do this in zbrush .

[@joshgodin250]

​@@Blacksheep3DLabs So I haven't watched it yet, but this video claims to do it: kzbin.info/www/bejne/n527nYSkqMR5i5I

[@ekoi1995]

How do you rotate arms?

[@Geostationary0rbit]

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

[@birdieohsi]

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

[@ucphamhuynh6020]

thank you guys

[@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.

[@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.

[@blackkyurem720]

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

[@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

[@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...

[@zyrkugilgamesh]

The tool doesn't really work the same as in the video for me, besides the horrible lagging on a high-end pc, the rotation is pretty random, plus the mesh deforms in a scalonated way, in contrast with the more smooth way it transforms here.

[@RootsThunder]

Yep same issue here, I'm sure I'll find an answer but all those are happening to me. My mesh isn't that high poly.

[@박펄-d4l]

Hi ! this video is very helpful !

[@pawangamingpr7597]

Thanku this video is very helpful 🤗

[@MrQcSkateboarding]

thank you very helpful!

[@franciscom149]

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

[@marcosmiranda7393]

you guys are great

[@anthonykerns1828]

Thanks! Keep you the good work!

[@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 :/

[@dariabonecrack5607]

Great content 👍

[@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

[@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?

[@eginl6311]

Hello, i tried this one on my Zbrush but why it's so lag on my zbrush when i bind the mesh

[@FlippedNormals]

Probably happens if your mesh is too high res.

[@aleccalvo1036]

@@FlippedNormals is this possibe if I have fibermesh?

[@shawndavis5725]

Imm brush geometry gets really twisted up by the joints, To the point of being unfixable. Wish it was a little better dealing with low poly sub tools.

[@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.

[@trieutran4521]

the only thing help me is the posable symmetry, thanks

[@sosa0]

You are the goat

[@emilieboisvert5437]

thank you!