How to create razor sharp 3d print keys in ZBrush with zero visible seam lines

[@nathanlaidler9606]

Sean, you have the most informative Zbrush videos on KZbin. If I ever run into a problem, my first move is to check your channel for a solution. Your tutorials are simple and concise. Keep up the great work Sir, cheers!

[@SeanForsythTutorials]

Ah thanks man! That's really lovely to hear!

[@eveliene6923]

your tutorials belong to the best. Fast, informative and solid Thank you so much, everyone should upvote voor more followers and reach!

[@SeanForsythTutorials]

Aw thanks Evelien! Much appreciated.

[@ramtin-s8722]

I really needed this info as I am making my first model which I want to print and wanted to do it in several parts...couldn’t really find a video and here it is coming to me trough youtube autoplay...Im in luck!

[@SeanForsythTutorials]

Ah great!

[@jakemorrell4648]

Absolutely fantastic tutorial, thank you!

[@SeanForsythTutorials]

You're very welcome!

[@MALVERDE245]

You saved my life !!!!!!!!, thanks for the video

[@SeanForsythTutorials]

No worries!

[@321357w]

Brilliant method

[@SeanForsythTutorials]

Thanks, glad you liked it.

[@cfriedalek]

Nice video. Thanks for showing that the two faces after a Close Hole operation are the same. I wondered about this but never thought about trying to verify. btw, have you tried to get a single water tight mesh from merged multiple parts by Gizmo: Remesh by Union? What's nice about this method is that it gets rid of all the interior polygons and only changes the mesh where parts intersect. So detail is preserved and you don't have to worry about trying to preserve detail with a suitable choice of Dynamesh resolution. That can be a pain to do if the model has features with large differences in scale. Cheers.

[@SeanForsythTutorials]

Sounds like a good idea, haven't tried it myself yet though. Thanks for the suggestion!

[@Olly_Tor]

Thank you so much!

[@SeanForsythTutorials]

You're welcome!

[@billthornhill1921]

This was great, thank you so much :)

[@SeanForsythTutorials]

No worries, glad you liked it.

[@pablomoya5923]

perfect video... thank you! I have a question, in another video you said that the dynamesh project button was only functional on rare occasions to maintain hard edges when we lower the resolution of a model. this does not apply when instead of lowering the resolution it is raised as in this case?

[@SeanForsythTutorials]

Yep, it all depends on what you're making, and whether you want to use the feature or not. I'd say test it out on what you're making and see if it suts your purpose.

[@Benjamin-vx2ot]

awesome content, thanks! If its for resin print, and you would need to hollow out the different parts (head, torso) how would you proceed with that? any sugestions?

[@SeanForsythTutorials]

I'd probably use MeshMixer these days. I'm thinking of doing a tutorial on it soon, so hopefully in the next couple of week it'll be up. No gaurantees though, but there are plenty of other Meshmixer tutorials out there (it's free by the way!).

[@diegoleonardosanchezmunar4635]

Thanks a lot man!

[@SeanForsythTutorials]

No problem!

[@TimV777]

Awesome but doesn't the model need more thickness? 🤔 Can we just do a dynamic thickness inside?

[@SeanForsythTutorials]

If you're printing with an FDM printer, you'll be using infill, and if you're printing with a resin printer you'll need to hollow it out and put some escape holes in it, normally done using your printer software (such as Chitubox), and when hollowing it out that's when you define your thickness.

[@claudiosettiart]

Brilliant!

[@SeanForsythTutorials]

Cheers!

[@zk5472]

This video is Great! But i don't know what i did wrong😢 i have followed every single steps of your video but now that i have printed my model the keys don't fit together😢

[@SeanForsythTutorials]

What happened? Is the male peice too big to fit inside the female part? If so, you might need to increase the difference between them - done at this part here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/rn_biGuPoZVsbpI. Unfortunately, it's very size dependant and you might have made the male piece too close to the female piece in size, which is easily done, as it's easy to zoom in close when making these, but ultimately what you see on your monitor when zoomed in is nowhere near the real world scale when you zoom out to real world size. Fortunately, you might need to just rescale the male part down a bit to fit, so you won't have to reprint both parts. At least, hopefully!

[@TheEZhexagon]

thank you master zbrusher

[@SeanForsythTutorials]

You're welcome!

[@hanson251985]

Ok cool, but with resin you need to do shell and some little holes for resin is there some easy way to do that?

[@SeanForsythTutorials]

Yes, absolutely. Make sure your subtool is already a dynamesh object, and then you can press B, I, T to get the Insert Primitives brush, choose the 3rd one (Insert Cylinder from the choices at the top menu bar), and then hold down Alt and drag a cylinder out onto your subool. Move it in or out so it's intersecting your subtool about half way in. Then clear your mask by CTRL + dragging on your canvas, and then under your Dynamesh rollup, hit the Create Shell button. Whatever the thickness setting is at, that's the thickness you will get. You may need to undo and redo until you get the desired thickness. But apparently most resin based printer software these days also does this hole creation for you, it might be worth looking into if you already have a printer. Hope this helps!

[@hanson251985]

@@SeanForsythTutorials THX Sir :)

[@SeanForsythTutorials]

@@hanson251985 No problem!

[@kollwitzer9091]

Great tutorial! How did you turn off the lines of the poly frame but keep the colours of the poly groups? When I click the polyframe button the lines and colours disappear…

[@SeanForsythTutorials]

Cheers! It's probably best shown in this little video (really short!): kzbin.info/www/bejne/iJOtiqFsaMyMg6c

[@kollwitzer9091]

@@SeanForsythTutorials thanks for the prompt reply! That’s perfect! I had no idea these buttons could be multi functional!

[@SeanForsythTutorials]

@@kollwitzer9091 No worries! Yeah, it's not the most intuitive thing...

[@kalanstrauss5500]

Did you ever print this? Would love to see how it turned out!

[@SeanForsythTutorials]

Unfortunately my printer died.

[@KarelChytilArt]

Sean, any tip for 3d printer?

[@SeanForsythTutorials]

Not really. Form printers are rock solid, but I haven't tried enough others to give advice really. I had an ultimaker but am presuming you want a resin based printer. My elego mars 3 has it's issues.

[@KarelChytilArt]

@@SeanForsythTutorials Thanks Sean, i will try that resin. Sure for few printed models a year :) nothing crazy

[@SeanForsythTutorials]

@@KarelChytilArt Yeah, the Form is an expensive printer alright, probably notworth the investment if it's only a few moels a year. The Elegoo mars was good, but it was tied to Chitubox as software, which you only get a one year license for when you buy the printer. Not sure if that's change lately, but I'd certainly be looking for printers not tied to Chitubox if possible, as it's FAR too expensive, and you should be able to use a free slicer.

[@KarelChytilArt]

@@SeanForsythTutorials Thanks a lot, really

[@Haruyuki_Art]

thank you

[@SeanForsythTutorials]

You're welcome!

[@leatherandpoemscharmyman5774]

hey there , is it useful for miniatures? and watertight? means there is not gap? (I mean you sealed the intersection body and head with close holes and dynamesh) but inside there is air? I mean, you close the holes very perfect , but inside must be nothing? I mean , it is hollowed inside? or solid? I know using zbruhs a lot but very begginer in 3D printing stuff. thx:D

[@SeanForsythTutorials]

Yes, dynamesh should make everything watertight. Your slicing software will sort out the interior filling.

[@leatherandpoemscharmyman5774]

@@SeanForsythTutorials ahh I think I would fill the inside of the mesh... so I only need to watertight ? Inside the mesh is empty or solid? thx

[@SeanForsythTutorials]

Yep, watertight is all you need if you are printing with PLA, then choose your infill percentage in your slicing software.

[@leatherandpoemscharmyman5774]

@@SeanForsythTutorials thx!

[@alvinsilva2859]

Whenever I do boolean operations or remesh by union I always get some isolated polygons or pockets of them inside the main subtool. For instance, say I have a torso and I sculpt clothing over it, i get some shapes that float inside the mesh where the subtools arent in contact with each other if you get the idea. I can guarantee that the mesh is watertight but I keep getting this issue. Is there something I’m missing or possibly the way I sculpt the subtools is the problem?

[@SeanForsythTutorials]

I suspect it's in the way you're sculpting the subtools. If they are islands, as in, not attached to anything, you can easily get rid of them by going to your Tools menu and using Autogroups, then Ctrl + Shift clicking the main group you want to keep, and as that will hide any islands that are not attached to the group you've just isolated, then you can safely use Geometry - Modify Topology, Delete Hidden to delete them.

[@alvinsilva2859]

Yes, I usually do a "post-process" deletion of those stray polygons with the method you've mentioned. Just curious if there's anyway I can avoid the tedious proess altogether. Any tips on how to better the sculpting process to create to avoid these island polygons/meshes? Thanks for the advice

[@SeanForsythTutorials]

@@alvinsilva2859 Well, there is one thing you can do, but you might not like it. Rather than doing a remesh by union, doing a high resolution dynamesh instead often does a great job of clearing that kind of stuff out. Not for everyone, as it does mean you are changing slightly the geometry of areas you might be supremely happy with, but generally you get away with it for 3D prints. It's certainly more likely to remove interior faces.

[@iBENiceMan]

I have a question, the creature you've sculpted in Zbrush lets say you'd sculpted it in a perspective value of 28. What makes you sure when you export it from Zbrush to a 3d printer it will keep that perspective and not make the model completely different in person than what you see in Zbrush?

[@SeanForsythTutorials]

Apparently 28mm is the same as human vision, or at least very close. I can't rememeber who said it, it was at one oof the ZBrush summits a few years ago, some guy had worked it out. Anyway, if it is correct, then what you see in ZBrush should match what your 3D printer gives you.

[@iddeegee]

@@SeanForsythTutorials in photography human vision is closer to 50mm, so I don't know where 28mm came from

[@SeanForsythTutorials]

The older versions of ZBrush didn't have the Universal camera that is there now. As far as I know, it was an attempt to mimic real life cameras, but wasn't particularly good, hence the development of the new camera system. It used to use Angle of View rather than Focal Length, and that 28 Angle of View was apparently closer to the 50mm focal length you are talking about. But... I honestly am not a camera guy, so am relying on others smarter than me to educate me on this stuff. I found the video i was referencing, this what I was basing the 28 on: kzbin.info/www/bejne/n2eufKNuitWdj6s

[@126vi]

Because of u zbrush problem is not problem

[@SeanForsythTutorials]

Ah thanks man!

[@nsrstudio7301]

Want to ask sir...how to export file part by part to 3d printer..?if cut like this video..export one by one or what..?i scary size not same if i print..😓sorry my simple english..

[@SeanForsythTutorials]

Sure, go to the Zplugin palette and under 3D Print Hub, click Update Size Ratios and choose the correct size for that subtool. In Export Options (the last button at the bottom), make sure All or Visible is turned on (depending on which you want), and then just click Export to STL, and the pieces will be exported at the correct size in relation to each other.

[@nsrstudio7301]

@@SeanForsythTutorialsif you have time..can you make the tutorial sir...thanks a lot..👍👍👍

[@SeanForsythTutorials]

@@nsrstudio7301 Sure, hope to get to it soon, I'll add it to the list! :)

[@bengifford9713]

When I try to push the key inside the body, one part of the key moves and the other stays, any idea why? I am extremely new to Zbrush

[@SeanForsythTutorials]

Perhaps it's masked? Try holding Ctrl down and dragging on the canvas (not over a model, just the canvas area) to remove any mask.

[@nsrstudio7301]

How to export zbrush to 3d printer for size 75mm..?

[@SeanForsythTutorials]

Go to ZPlugins, Scale Master, choose MM, Set Sliders to Subtool Size, then type in new values and hit Resize Subtool. Once done, you can go to ZPlugins, 3D Print Hub, hit Update Size Ratios, and then Export to STL. Hope it helps!

[@nsrstudio7301]

Thanks..i try..👍

[@krebbichris818]

you can skip 90 % of that by simply making smarter IMM boolean Key brushes that do all the work.

[@SeanForsythTutorials]

Yep, you can, although they'll always have some thickness to them that will be cut out of the model. But yes, certainly easier.