IMMs and Z spheres

IMM Brushes -

IMM brushes can be used to quickly add details to your model. There are pre made detailed IMM such as buttons, cogs and body parts, as well as base IMMs that are just basic shapes that can be manually shaped into things. When bringing in an IMM it will mask out the main model to begin with so that you can focus on just editing your new IMM. To access these you can use BI, the B bringing up the Brush menu, and the I narrowing down the results to just the IMMs. Below i have used the button IMM to demonstrate the masking function and to show what they could be used for. You can also use path IMMs which could be useful for making things such as horns or cables.

Something i had to research in this lesson was how to make a new workspace, beforehand i had to keep closing Z brush and opening it up again which is time consuming. I found that under the Documents tab, you can press new document which will make a new project where you can start from scratch, without having to exit the program. This is very helpful and will hopefully save me some time in the future.

Inverting IMMs -

Similar to Maya's booleans you can use IMMs to remove segments of your model. To do this it is best to start out using dynamesh sphere, I found that using anything else makes it hard to actually remove segments, i am unsure why this is however. To do this reverse dynamesh you should select which IMM you want to use then press Alt whilst dragging it over the model, then control click the dynamesh button. If you notice the removed area isnt as smooth as you would like it, undo then set the dynamesh resolution to 1024, this will add more polygons to make the shape remain smooth. This technique can be very useful for accurately removing sections to add more detail to your model.

 Z spheres -

If you are wanting to make a creature in z brush, it can be quite difficult to model something like that just out of the base sphere. To make things easier you can use Z spheres or create a base in maya which you can then refine by sculpting. Z spheres use basic spherical shapes linked together to make a base mesh. To use them, find the simple brush section under the tool tab, then select the Z sphere and drag it into the window. You can then use q to draw more spheres and use the move, rotate and scale tools to position your base to your liking. It is best to use the symmetry when constructing your mesh to ensure everything stays equal.

When trying out this tool i wanted to see how i could use it to make a quadrupedal character, I created the base mesh using Z spheres, previewing how it will look with the A key. when i was content with how it looked, i then used the adaptive skin option to make my base able to be sculpted on top of. from here i used the standard brush and deformers to create the body of my pony. I also used IMM spheres for the eyes, and i tried to use the dynamesh to be able to make the irises smoother but i had some trouble getting it to work. I really really like this tool and i will definitely have another go at trying to make something using it.

Here i used IMMS to create the head and torso of a figure, i was also trying to create arms and legs using the Z spheres but i couldnt quite get it to work, i will have another try at this when i next have the chance so that i can better understand how these tools work.