artist toolkit 3d

Creating Alphas in ZBrush

This week in class, we discussed and learnt how to make alphas in ZBrush and import and use them. Alphas are a feature for ZBrush that allows you to texture models instead of individually drawing and sculpting them on. This can be especially useful for things like pores and bricks etc.

Importing Textures from Online/Photoshop

The first method we learnt was to import a texture from an external source. This can be useful when trying to texture things such as bricks, concrete and pores etc as these textures can be highly detailed. To do this, first find a texture online and import it into Photoshop on 500 x 500 canvas.

Convert the texture the black and white, and adjust the settings to your liking. When your happy with the texture, create a mask on a separate layer and create a vignette around the edges. We do this to make sure that when we create this as a texture, that it will not be too sharp around the edges and blend into other textures and faces of the model well.

When you are happy with your texture, export through photoshop (or whatever other software you are using) as a TIFF file so that it can be read by zBrush and imported easily. You can also do this as a png.

Then in ZBrush, Press the BrushAlpha tab at the side of thetoolbox and scroll to the import button at the bottom of the list of alphas. This will allow you to now use this texture within ZBrush. When using highly detailed textures like this, You must allow your model to have a high poly count for the best results. Then, you can freely use the brush on a model! You can adjust the intensity and size too in the tob toolbox bar.

Making Textures in ZBrush

Another method to make textures/alphas is within ZBrush. Opening a new project and importing a plane. You can then freely draw a texture ontop of this plane which will act the same as the texture from the previous example.