ZBrush Character Block Out Tutorial

[@aaa-mt3tz]

In case anyone is as confused as I was: at 9:23 while Follygon is in TPoseMesh mode he clicks on a "subtool" and the others get masked. The way to do this is to hit "W" (even if you're using Gizmo, not Transpose) and CTRL+Click on that part of the model. Then hit Q to return to brush mode.

[@viniciusbastos1943]

Thanks!

[@tanisha.mp4]

so helpful, thank you!

[@kianth2451]

Omg - thank you so much. I was trying to figure out how to phrase it to get results on Google for a hot minute.

[@b1na276]

i'm confused on the Thumbnail

[@terrych6175]

how does that work exactly? when i press W it throws me into the Move controls and then when i hold Ctrl and click on the head nothing happens. i tried even holding the W and Ctrl to do that

[@Roxirin]

For everyone watching: Please remember to save your model as a 'ztool'/tool. I saved mine as a document and lost all modelling progress because saving as a document saves it as essentially a 'screenshot' of your model (doesn't save any 3d info). Also if you accidentally exit editing mode and end up only being able to draw your model out again on top of the previous one, hit 'Ctrl+N' to clear the canvas, then draw the model out again and immediately hit 'Edit' to get back to editing.

[@anzolomyer4584]

That really sucks :(. But there’s no way that you will be WORSE at sculpting a month from now if you keep doing it. So you lost the actual 3D model, but you can make something similar much faster now. Every time you make a model, you are making it easier to do it again. The first time I made a skull, it looked god awful and it took me literally all day. Now I can make one that looks way better in like half a day. If I keep doing it, I could probably get to the point where I can make a pretty good skull in like 1 hour or so. So don’t lose all hope, my dude! Sorry you had to learn the hard way about Zbrush’s weird ass ZTOOL/ ZProject/ Z document distinction. Oh. And that’s another thing. Look up the difference between a zproject and a ztool. You might quickly take up a lot of computer space by saving everything needlessly as a zproject. Good luck to you.

[@shineayandrews1869]

Or a Pro

[@birdy5516]

Oh man wish I read this a couple seconds ago, now I know

[@drewgamble8380]

This broke my heart, lol. I'm a bit of a veteran, it's easy to forget how silly Zbrush is set up. For anyone else who fears they lost their work. Always try hitting the comma key ( , ) and click the QuickSave menu. It'll give you access to a backlog of quicksaves (by default Zbrush does this about every 10-20 minutes)

[@Roxirin]

@@drewgamble8380 Thanks for the extra tip! Yeah, I just don't understand why it's so unnecessarily complicated?? No other program has such absolutely bizarre saving/opening/modeling/editing workflow, not to mention the 'canvas' system... honestly, I never completely figured it out, even though I studied Game Art at university. I use Nomad Sculpt now hahah

[@anzolomyer4584]

You’re a super good teacher, actually! The more you use Zbrush, the more you come back to these videos and realize how much precious gold they contain. Thank you for your content.

[@heyimald7304]

I've been looking everywhere for a video of someone sculpting out a good female base mesh and wasn't able to find any until I saw this one and it was perfect! thank you so much :D

[@pienotacake]

Your video helped me understand blocking so much better! I was actually trying to do a 3d model but I didn't understand where to start.. Thanks man!

[@KraoticRoshi]

man this way of blocking out and zspheres are probably the easiest to blockout good thing i learned another way of starting a character thanks :)

[@Duranggobr]

Awesome tutorial ! Cheers from Brazil !

[@gx3305]

so comfy. you seem so chill man, thanks.

[@SimpleSesame]

Thanks so much. Before this I've been starting out my bodies with zspheres but it was much harder to make drastic changes or making stylizations like planes. I think this way encourages me to view things more broadly.

[@PixelMarker]

this actual made it lot easier to work with thx

[@VikramAVN]

Extremely satisfying having watched it. Thanks.

[@davidshampwili8535]

I have been looking for this for a long time thanks you are a good teacher

[@squidpickle1]

This is just what i needed this very second, awesome! thanks!

[@clo-cgtutorials4633]

Zbrush sculpting tutorial by Vahid Ahmadi,including character and environment making. Tutorial link:www.yiihuu.com/a_7732.html?TG=3193715_7732 Concept by Seunghee Lee-Forest Knight English dubbing&Chinese subtitles provided. Software:ZBrush 2018.1 /Photoshop CC 2018 More than 62 hours.Only 74.48USD for now.It will rise to 120USD when the video update is completed. After buying the course,any question about learing the course will get answer from Vahid. The page is in Chinese,you can contact me on Facebook if you need any help: facebook.com/han.chan.3781

[@alexchang8180]

Hi I really need help ! at 5:02 after control duplicate the upper leg into the lower leg.. how did it suddenly become one whole subtool? mine only able to move the bottom part and pressing shift up arrow only move to the hip section of the subtool.. HELP!

[@philosophyfrog2653]

This is great but can you please show us how you make hands and feet? I've been struggling with that quite a bit.

[@earsbleed]

check proko tutorial, its 2d but he gives the most important fundamentals, and i think you could apply to 3d, hope it helps, cheers.

[@terrych6175]

when creating the two segments of the leg and copied one segment for the other how did you switch between the two segmets that are in one subtool? im trying to follow the tutorial but im stuck here in the begining because i copied the top part to create the bottom but i can only edit the bottom part. how do i edit both?

[@aymanfatani]

When you make a copy the original part will be masked .. so you can keep on editing the duplicate, to edit the main all you have to do is inverting the mask by Ctrl+Click anywhere on the screen this way you'll switch the mask between the main and the duplicate, or you better split unmasked to separate those to subtools and make them individual parts, if you still want to keep those as one and still can edit independently you better polygroup em, while one of the parts still masked click on Ctrl+W and you are good to go, Hope I could help out

[@henrylazaga]

thats kinda most systematic way to block em out. thanks a lot for sharing.

[@Follygon]

You're welcome!

[@icefish17]

Thank you sooo much, this helps me for my study

[@kakaiya]

awesome video thank you!

[@preetsharmaa951]

Thank u so much sir u r great 😊

[@therisingarmy101]

Hi follygon. This video was so very helpful and I followed it to the very end. I tried and have been trying to use the blockout to sculpt a character but it's proved rather difficult. I can't seem to get it right and no matter how much I dynamesh or zremesh, my model seems to break. I'm still at the blockout part from going back each time I try to move forward. If it's not too much to ask, can you please do a tutorial on how to go from blocked to smooth or a step forward. I can't really afford your course now even though I'd want to but I find your content here really nice and helpful. If you can, I look forward to it. Thank you☺

[@Follygon]

Thanks for the kind words. I also have mentorship sessions available for these kinds of specific questions

[@therisingarmy101]

@@Follygon oh really? I didn't know. When does that come up please?

[@joanaandrade1026]

I just want to thank you for everything !!!!!!

[@TheMeMo1999]

this helped me a lot! thank you very very very much

[@Matrinique]

thanks for this!

[@SagorHossen2020]

Very important tut for a beginner like meeee🔥❤️❤️❤️

[@sasimi6921]

IT HELPS A LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT! THANKS.

[@NQWG]

4:53 how does he select the whole leg? i only have selected 1 part at a time

[@S1RBRAD3TH]

Both the top and bottom of the leg are under the same subtool. He isn’t selecting the top half, but is instead unmasking it. If you are looking to edit multiple subtools at the same time, look into the ‘Transpose Master’ plug-in that comes with zBrush by default.

[@paigeindysharp3409]

This is amazing! And totally do-able in blender too! I've always put off making characters (and stuck to being a prop artist) but thanks to you I now have a good character base and I feel pretty happy about learning more about characters :) Thank you!

[@theeternalgus9119]

Thanks! :) Really appreciate this!

[@ruslandad365]

Thanks!!! Great Tutorial

[@fernando3061]

Love this tutorial thank you so much for posting this.

[@jayceenova9860]

How do you select a couple of sub tools? Like you did on 4:56, selecting two legs

[@reillywadsworth5633]

Did you ever figure this out?

[@dianacunha5228]

He was unmasking the upper leg so ctrl and click and drag with the mouse outside of any shapes

[@joanaandrade1026]

@@dianacunha5228 OMG YOU'RE AN ANGEL TYSM OMGOMGOMGOMG

[@racingindie2168]

Hi! When i duplicate the mesh using control drag ( 4:30 ) , my upper leg is merged with the lower leg, and for some reason i cannot select the upper leg anymore. Using Alt click on my upper leg will select my lower leg. Any idea???

[@luizadonica6363]

Ctrl + click on canvas, to switch between the parts

[@MultiNutterbutter]

Oo not bad, I would use this for posing body parts but if I'm just sculpting characters I'd rather use zspheres, thanks!

[@Aci_yt]

Is there any reason you use the 3D-Gizmo instead of the normal one? It seems to just be a more complicated version of the standard one

[@tarkserbest513]

its just he is used to old gizmo

[@stargana7585]

@@tarkserbest513 plus he was using it several times to quick measure proportions i noticed

[@tarkserbest513]

@@stargana7585 it is more precise than the new one about the measuring purposes

[@BarKeegan]

Excellent tutorial!

[@clo-cgtutorials4633]

Zbrush sculpting tutorial by Vahid Ahmadi,including character and environment making. Tutorial link:www.yiihuu.com/a_7732.html?TG=3193715_7732 Concept by Seunghee Lee-Forest Knight English dubbing&Chinese subtitles provided. Software:ZBrush 2018.1 /Photoshop CC 2018 More than 62 hours.Only 74.48USD for now.It will rise to 120USD when the video update is completed. After buying the course,any question about learing the course will get answer from Vahid. The page is in Chinese,you can contact me on Facebook if you need any help: facebook.com/han.chan.3781

[@alinauser]

thanks for the awesome tutorial!

[@iliaslatik6911]

how did you do to select two subtools , so that you make mirror for leg ?

[@terrych6175]

i have another problem. i decided to pose my character in the Tpose option and when i came back to subtools the symetry just when bonkers. i cannot seem to fix it. am i supposed to use symetry in posing the kid and was i not supposed to use the tpose option? what is even the use of it?

[@rarebrowntal1643]

This is perfect! If you got any tips for the workflow/process after blocking in id set, idk really how ro go further int a intermediate lvl with my sculpts

[@Follygon]

In the future for sure

[@rarebrowntal1643]

:DDDDD

[@aleksandersanya1817]

Thanks, just what I needed after managing to shape simple heads

[@witchreturns2263]

How about you do your blocks once and have it as default(for all new characters), and when you want to create a new character, you rearrange or change their shape, instead of creating a new one for every new character?

[@คุ้มคิ้ม-ข4ป5ป]

Thank you so much ❤️❤️❤️

[@gilgaladxx8393]

Hi, when i have duplicated with CTRL the lower leg from the top leg, the upper leg are 'greyed out' and not yet modifiable. How can i turn on again ? THX

[@Follygon]

It is masked. Ctrl + click and drag on your canvas to clear the mask.

[@Chester-mz2ep]

Would you also use this for a non stylized character?

[@laganjaestranja6352]

Yes, always start with the overall form/shape of the character/body parts. Try to tire out the resolution of the mesh first before you add more subdivisions.

[@terrych6175]

i found my problem. so i managed to select an individual tool from the tpose mode and my program was just bugged when i tried to edit the arms. instead of selecting them it duplicate selected them. i thought i was doing something wrong but i decided to deform that strange copy over the original and when i clicked the button to tronsform the tpose back into subtools ZBrush froze and crashed. i guess it was not my fault

[@kingspride2008]

LOVE IT! MOAR PLS

[@netbofh]

What's the advantage/reason of going to TPoseMesh and back? I'm not using Zbrush so looking at alternative methods.

[@HeartFullOfForest]

Im struggling even at the first bit. I sort of managed to copy the sphere but it turns to one single subtool.

[@terrych6175]

how do you edit the seperate segments of the body when its in Tpose? you didnt show us how to isolate them and edit them seperately and it doesnt say how to do it enywhere on the internet////

[@danishzolkefle4167]

Hey, I've tried to ZRemesher 0.1 and it turns out my low poly seems weird? the polygons are everywhere. How do you make low poly from scratch in Zbrush?

[@syl3d678]

Ancestor of zsphere

[@Follygon]

zspheres are for chumps ;)

[@BoldCatStudios]

is zbrush free to use or do you have to pay a monthly fee or is it a one time pay ?

[@darkknight4353]

This can be used for Realistic Sculpts too? the blockout method i mean

[@rickflorida3838]

when I move the objects mine doesn't look like yours i have a circle with an axis. how do i get hat you have?

[@javanaguirre4425]

For the duplicating and dragging part at 4:28 what key, exactly, did you use and how would I be able to recreate that in mac?

[@Follygon]

CTRL on windows. So I would guess the command key. Can't have subdivs and you can use the transpose line or the 3D gizmo.

[@Xdarkness83x]

Hi man awesome tutorial. I think I'm gonna watch some more now haha. Got a question though. Some of your subtools like your legs at the end look smooth even after they got remeshed. How come ? Didn't look like you added subdivs.

[@Follygon]

Dynamic subdivisions. It’s temporary and under tool/ geo I believe. D hotkey

[@Xdarkness83x]

@@Follygon Thank you sir, YOU are a great tutorial maker :D

[@pp_h]

why does his ZB look different from mine?

[@NellyNellzz5283]

whats the difference between append and insert?

[@EliaForce1984ita]

How do I merge all the sub tools together??? When I use the merge down button, it makes seams and if I try to smooth those seams, the parts get pulled apart and torn!

[@EliaForce1984ita]

Dynamesh doesn’t seem to merge all the tools together for me

[@Follygon]

In Dynamesh uncheck groups. You most likely ticked it by accident. That or your objects aren't actually merged into one subtool.

[@EliaForce1984ita]

Follygon thanks, I’ll check it out later, I was thinking to try using the classic booleans method eventually, but first I’ll check if there’s that thing ticked on my dynamesh and I’ll uncheck it

[@d1nae]

4:55 HOW DO YOU SWITCH BETWEEN THE LEGS

[@ceeazy1833]

Hey Folly, thanks for your content! Appreciate it. Where do you recommend to go from here?

[@Follygon]

Happy to help! I would watch this video and the second part: kzbin.info/www/bejne/i4bLiomFrrR7grs Then I would recommend you check out some of my courses on my gumroad for more detailed info 👍

[@JiggywattArt]

Newer zbrush user here. Is it just preference to use the older transform tool or is it actually a "must learn" essential tool? I watch a lot of tutorials online and a lot of them are before the new transform tool released.

[@Follygon]

It's a preference, but there are a ton of cool things you can do with it. I made a video about it here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/eWKndnidjrR9qck

[@kellykarner2285]

How do you make the mesh smooth at 15:45?

[@Ale-gc6xf]

shift + R

[@wildgrem]

how does he select the torso abdomen and pelvis 9:55

[@abeest2286]

He is using SelectRect, to do it press ctrl+shift and click in the body part you want, then ctrl+shift and click and drag to view the other parts, after that repeat the first steps to add more body parts to the selecction. Next do ctrl+tab and click on the canvas for mask all what you see .For unhide the body parts do again the ctrl+shift and click on the canvas.

[@wildgrem]

@@abeest2286 thanks ive been waiting 4 months for someone to answer this! I can finally finish the tutorial!! 🙃

[@yourpalsal42]

@@abeest2286 u saved me so much time, ur a hero!

[@BarPBarPkoyanee]

THE CONTROLS THOUGH

[@joydeepchatterjee3218]

why can't i can create multple geometry in perspective mode?

[@peruvianpuffpepper904]

Sp, around 4:30, how did you keep switching back and forth on the legs?

[@Follygon]

ctrl tap on the canvas to invert my mask

[@peruvianpuffpepper904]

@@Follygon Hey, so when I try and replicate the arms it keeps saying "The resulting mesh does not have any Polygons, Operation cancelled", even though it worked just fine with the legs. what can I do?

[@peruvianpuffpepper904]

@@Follygon One last thing, I am curently creating my own character, but i think the symmetry is messed up. the left side of my model is not as sculpted as the right side is. And I think that when i try to reset the symmetry by going to transform, it just moves the head down, and nothing changes.

[@deathtotubez]

can someone tell me how to select different subtools in tposemesh mode?

[@Alessia_Iarossi]

If you want to switch subtool on the model click on the keyboard ALT and select with the cursor the subtool that you need

[@aaa-mt3tz]

I'm guessing you figured this out by now, but in case not - Alessia's answer works in normal mode but not in TPoseMesh mode. For the latter, hit "W" (even if you're using Gizmo, not Transpose) and CTRL+Click to select the part/polygorup. Then hit Q to return to brush mode.

[@terrych6175]

@@aaa-mt3tz it does not work that way for me. when i hit W and then ctrl + click it just sends the gizmo to the middle of the figure and doesnt mask any of it.

[@gopstopvasya5343]

Please - can you drop your start material?

[@Follygon]

It's available here follygon.gumroad.com/l/fhfMe

[@wolfoseses4349]

Hey Im having trouble at the part where you use the t pose master. I am trying to select the torso but I cannot select anything. How do you select individual pieces when you are in tpose master?

[@Follygon]

Masking. I like use ctrl click and drag with the transpose line/ 3D gizmo.

[@wolfoseses4349]

@@Follygon thank you. after i complete the blocking is there a video you made for the next step towards making the body?

[@akuma0009]

best Technic

[@felipebrockveld]

Why you are not with that were then? She is paying well to mess with my life

[@root4098]

No, I don't automatically have a sphere on my screen. (did you place yours?) No, the X button does not automatically enter symmetry mode. (and when I did, the sphere rotation is different from yours) already this tutorial is difficult to follow and it's 30 seconds in :/

[@maikymadnesskreation8646]

How you change the subtool by just clicking in the next sphere?

[@Follygon]

alt + click different subtools to quickly swap

[@maxgrechkovskiy7798]

Tnx Bro for tutorial ^____________^

[@uber1015]

Throw them dogs a bone already. Thanks for the up tho. Exactly what I need.

[@SeaSerpentLevi]

Follygon you are a god thank you for making it so simple that even a dumb one like me can understand 😂

[@MissyMona]

Hi, make sure you save this as a project and not a tool or you'll lose your subtools for the different parts.

[@Follygon]

That’s not true. Save a a ZTL, not a project.

[@joysanimationstudio2375]

why any tutorial not finished hand and foot, i need that part too :(

[@Follygon]

Check the gumroad link in the description for more.

[@ЮрийСайко-е4с]

Спасибо !

[@terrych6175]

my dynamesh is deleting part of my arms every time XD

[@artiv.9285]

Great video- until 9:42. It falls apart there. How you select/hide the subtool isn't shown. How you select multiple subtools for the torso isn't shown. I looked up information in the comments and there was some help there, but I still can't select the entire torso. Very frustrating in an otherwise solid tutorial.

[@victoragsnar6281]

Thanks senseeei ^^

[@Finnecky]

I TRY

[@shodan2002]

why should i do this instead of zspheres?

[@Follygon]

Literally what I talk about in my last vid :) kzbin.info/www/bejne/h5Oxg5qFqLSlr6c

[@baron.whimsy]

​@@Follygon A point you didn't mention is that ZSpheres are useless for rigging models for use outside of ZBrush (you can't export the rigging), which really them a bit of a time waste, IMHO, when added to everything you mention in that video.

[@nehalal-refai6234]

WOOOOOOOOOOOOW ...

[@BarPBarPkoyanee]

13:21 how did he isolate that mesh ? can somone help me lol

[@krashadar3d134]

maybe a little too late, but he pressed the "Solo Mode" button, down right.

[@RDD87z]

can i have the colours of your interface?

[@alienpolygon6926]

Can you try using blender for us poor people

[@Finnecky]

AND NEVER WORK WTF

[@existencelogs]

I nearly went insane listening to the amount of dogs barking in the background the whole video. jesus christ

[@Follygon]

Hardly noticeable in this one, but one of the many reasons why I moved from that location.

[@darkknight4353]

how do you copy and its already are different subtools. when i hold Ctrl and copy all spheres are in single subtool

[@terrych6175]

you duplicate the subtool and just drag it down into position. if you copy it in the same subtool with Ctrl it will stay in that subtool and idk how to switch betwean object in the same subtool.