Ltd. - Zbrush Monsters (2011)

3DTOTAL.
COM eBooks Series
Chapter 01 | Sewer dwelling

Page 04 | Federico Scarbini
Chapter 02 | Subterranean
Page 20 | Marc-Olivier Plouffe
Chapter 03 | Volcano
Page 32 | Jesse Sandifer
Chapter 04 | Aquatic
Page 44 | Olive Titouan
Chapter 05 | Jungle
Page 50 | Jonas Skoog
Chapter 06 | Mountain
Page 60 | Marthin Agusta
Chapter 01
SEWER DWELLING
Monster
ZBrush Monster Character Creation Chapter 01: Sewer Dwelling / Swamp Monster
Chapter 01 - Sewer
Dwelling / Swamp
Monster
Software used: ZBrush
Gather information
and references
In order to create a believable creature you
deciding what my creature should look like
as a tadpole and have no lungs but have gills
and which features it should have was a tricky
and then later on they develop lungs. All of this
adventure.
knowledge gave me a lot to play with. It was
Creature Design
just a matter of finding the right answer to our

organic puzzle!
Since the most obvious feature of the

environment Im dealing with is its humidity, my
My idea was a creature that uses gills and
first concern was the respiratory system.
skin to extract oxygen from the humid air, and

that has nostrils as a backup for its respiratory
have to do a lot of research. I read every book I

had in my library about this kind of animal and in
Generally you could have two kinds of animal in
system.
addition I gathered tons of references from the
a swamp: one with and one without gills. Gills
internet and from Wikipedia. This is an important
are present in a lot of different animals and
So the skin is permeable to oxygen and carbon
first step, because it is the foundation of your
not just in fish; you can have modified gills on
dioxide as well as water, and it has blood
creative process. Without some kind of guidance
mollusks, crustaceans, insect and amphibians. I
vessels near the surface of the skin that, when
you just randomly think about cool designs. That
very much liked the flexibility that the gill design
underwater, transmit oxygen directly into the
can be fine in some situations, but when you
could lead to, so I wanted to explore this idea
bloodstream.
are asked to design a creature with very specific
more.
The bone structure was another crucial thing
features you have to be very analytical.

Gills extract and dissolve oxygen from water
to think about. When thinking about sewer or
The habitat in which my creature lives isnt
that flows into the mouth of the animal. For my
swamp dwelling creatures the salamander
really a habitat technically speaking, its mostly
creature I wanted something less dependent
was my first thought, although I also liked the
an environment with some typical features.
on water; something that could also live in very
turtles carapace design, or the spiky skin of the
For example it is very humid and the ground is
humid land environments. Nature, as always,
crocodile. Since this step influences the final
generally flooded by shallow bodies of water.
has the answer! There are animals that use
look of the creature heavily I decided to do some
their gills on land to extract oxygen from moist
sketches.
There are a great variety of animals that
air, and there are also fish that use a primitive
could live in this environment: rats, frogs, fish,
nasal cavity and lungs. As well as this there are
I had a clear idea in my mind for its hands
crocodiles and insects. Because of this variety,
frogs with a very interesting life cycle. They start
and feet. I wanted them to be finned because

this way the creature would have the right
thrust underwater and also a good grip on the
wetlands. For practical reason the creature
needed to have the ability to catch prey, so I
imagined a hybrid mutation where thumb, index
and middle finger were present and the ring and
the pinky finger were mutated on a fin.
For the feet I went for real fins, although the
internal bone structure is very evident and solid.
Sketching
When considering the creatures appearance, at
first I thought about crocodiles and turtles, with
maybe a primitive carapace and a head like a
snapping turtles. With this in mind I developed
a sketch in Photoshop after some doodling
with pencil and paper. The design I came
out with was very close to what I had in mind
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Chapter 01
Chapter 01: Sewer Dwelling / Swamp Monster ZBrush Monster Character Creation
(Fig.01) but for some reason it appeared too
naturalistic for a monster. It was not easy to
admit that the design, though nice in itself, was
not the right design I wanted for this creature...
so I decided to explore some different designs.
I picked up ZBrush and, with a technique
learned from Neville Page, created a 3D plane
and converted it into a Polymesh. I filled the
plane with a neutral gray and then with just the
RGB for my brush turn on and symmetry active,
I started to sketch on the plane with Polypaint.
At first I tried to not subdivide the plane too
much, just two or three times. This way you
cannot go crazy with details and you pay a lot
more attention to the primary forms, since you
are restricted to the mesh resolution. I came up
some nice elements I found interesting like the
whilst painting lets you have some feedback
with five different head designs (Fig.02) in the
flower-like ears on 2. 4 was nice too, maybe too
quicker than traditional painting, and within
end.
aquatic but a nice silhouette. I couldnt really fall
two or three hours you can end up with five-six
in love with 5. To me it was because its features
different designs. Another way I use ZBrush in
were too similar to a humans.
combination with Photoshop for sketching is to
Sketch 1 and 1v.2 looked very cool. I liked them

a lot because they had the monster feeling that
start sculpting from a sphere and then take what
I was looking for, but to me they were a bit too
I found that using ZBrush in this way has some
vampire like. 2 and 3 were ok, nothing shocking,
really cool potential. Having Symmetry on
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I have and do a paintover in Photoshop (Fig.03).
Chapter 01
Getting back to my creature, I went on to
use ZBrush for a pure 3D sketch. I started
using ZSpheres to build an armature for my
creature, and then I used zsphere2 to sketch
the masses of the body on top of the armature.
My suggestion here is to use a thin armature,
and use the ZSketch feature to fill the masses
with bigger volumes. Try to use few strokes and
manipulate them to give the look you have in
mind using the Move and Bulge tools.
Once you have the forms roughly in place
convert your ZSketch to a Unified Skin. With this
newly created mesh you can start to develop the
forms as you normally would with the sculpting
toolset that ZBrush offers (Fig.04). I used a
combination of the Move and the new Move
Topological brushes to adjust the silhouette
and the masses, and then with the Clay and
Claytubes brushes I sculpted the mesh (Fig.05).
answer, its just a visual way to collect ideas, get
Base mesh and first

sculpting stage
inspired by forms and explore your thoughts.
Since I didnt have a super clear idea about
Generally its hard for me to look at a sketch and
the final look of my model, I started out using
say Ok, this is what I was looking for!; more
ZSpheres. The goal here is to capture the
often its just for inspiration, a guideline, and
gesture and some of the silhouette of the
most of the time I use different elements I like
creature you have in mind, so I generally dont
from different designs.
create very specific features at this stage, but
To me sketching is not trying to find the right
I focus on the feeling that I want in the figure

As you can see I went for a very different design
(Fig.06).
with very singular features, inspired by nature,

but with a flexible degree of interpretation. With
When I was happy with the ZSphere armature
all of this in mind, and with my references and
I converted it to an adaptive skin, to get my low
sketches in front of me I started what would be
poly base for the model.
my final design.
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Chapter 01
Now I had my base I started to adjust the
the basic form of the model. Right now the form
shapes as usual, using the Move and Transpose
is temporary and its time to try and find how
brushes. The combined use of these two tools
you can develop that form. Sometimes I can
is fundamental to get the best out of your base
spend hours just with the Move brush, looking
mesh, because at this stage is too early to even
at the model from every angle and doing minor
use the Standard brush. A very valuable tool
adjustments. I then undo and redo rapidly to see
in ZBrush 4 is the Move Topological brush.
the difference, and decide if I should make the
This lets you move the surface of the sculpt
changes.
accordingly to its topology, so it automatically

masks what its near to. This is something I used
Once you have touched every polygon you
to do manually with the Transpose Masking tool,
will need more room to play, so its time to
but this new brush works perfectly, so no more
subdivide.
back and forth between Transpose and Edit for

masking!
Lately I have been using a technique that
As I already said, at this stage I mostly work with
consist of blurring the viewport while sculpting.
the Move, Move Topological, Standard and Inflat
After some tweaking I came up with a pretty
There is a button called VBlur (in ZBrush
brushes. Sometimes I also use the Transpose
decent looking base. The most important thing
3.5 it was under the Draw submenu on the
brush for some tweaks on the orientation of the
is that it has a good and defined gesture and
Preferences Menu; now in ZBrush 4 you have
limbs.
silhouette, plus some initial hints of some
it on the BPR menu under View Blur). When
features (Fig.07).
its pressed a VBlur Radius slider appears - I
As with traditional sculpting, primary forms and
usually set it to 3 or 4. Sculpting with the blurred
looking for planes is an important thing to focus
viewport is very important in my sculpting
on. When you have some more subdivisions you
process, because at this stage the primary focus
can focus on placing landmarks such as bone
is the primary forms and with the blur active you
structures that will drive the muscles placement.
Refining the base

and building the
foundations of the
creature
This stage is one of the two hardest steps in the
can focus on this. I find that its a good way to

force yourself into good habits.
creation process. You have to slowly try to refine
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Fig.08 shows the evolution from the tweaked

base mesh to a level 3 subdivision. The
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Chapter 01
changes are not huge; its more of a controlled
After spending some time looking at my
use the Backface masking features a lot when
adaptation of the mesh to include some specific
references, I started tweaking the mesh. In
dealing with very thin surface like the ears.
features I saw on the initial model. In step 5 I
the end without subdividing it more, I used the
This prevents the stroke from passing through
started to add landmarks like the knee bones
polys I had and moved them until I reached the
the surface and affecting the Backface. The
and cap, as well as some initial muscle sculpting
design I was hoping for (Fig.09 10). I colored
Backface button is located in Brush > Masking.
like the shoulders and arms.
the parts that I changed in the process. Nothing
Bring the model to the

next level
drastic but the model was now starting to have a
These two brushes work really well when
better defined structure.
building muscle surfaces and when you have to

construct planes because the strokes are very
By now the model had most of its major features
Then I started using the brushes I mentioned
in place, so it was time to develop the existing
before, along with Clay and Claytubes with
shape. The first thing I did was take what I had
alpha06. When using these brushes I usually
After a bit of work I decided to retopologize the
and compare it to references from nature and
turn on Fast Sample (Brush > Sample) to
model to have a better density distribution. To
with the initial sketches. I was looking to see if
increase the accuracy of the surface samples,
do this I used the new GoZ plugin that allows
there was something that I could add or modify.
giving more predictable stroke results. I also
you to send you model back and forth between
organic looking.
ZBrush and other software, in my case Maya.

In Maya I used standard polygonal modeling
tools like the Split Edge tool, Append Poly,
and Extrude along with Merge and Collapse to
manipulate the mesh to my needs. The head
and the hands were the parts that needed more
attention because of the nature of the ZSpheres.
When finished I sent the mesh back to ZBrush
and the software managed to re-project the
high poly details on to the new mesh. Keep in
mind that GoZ is just an automated process of
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Chapter 01
importing and exporting, which is something
took inspiration from fish like the frilled shark for
open a bakery in the middle of the desert - the
that you could already do if you imported an .obj
some elements. The design of the gills was from
same goes for wrinkles. You would never place
where the lowest subdivision level was active for
an iguana and the look of the skin from a giant
wrinkles where there is no need for them to
your tool. This means that you have the same
salamander.
exist. This could seem obvious, but sometimes
projection issues you would have in the manual

process, so keep this in mind.
its very easy to get lost in a frenzy of detailing
Detailing
without taking a moment to plan.
This is the second of the two hardest stages

As a side effect of the retopologizing process
in the creation process. Detailing is a danger
Now, dont get me wrong, I dont have a reason
you will lose the polygroups. To prevent this I
zone and you have to treat it very carefully. It
for every single bump and lump I place, but
use this little trick: Before sending the mesh with
can turn your model into a great model that
for most of them there is a logical placement
GoZ, use the UV Master plugin to do a rough
people can enjoy and that generates interest,
inspired by nature. Having fun is part of the
unwrap, activating the polygroups button on the
or it can destroy all the hard work you put in
game, but always control your strokes and judge
plugin panel. This way when your mesh is sent
and turn your model into a mess. There is a
their necessity at this stage.
to the external software and brought back to
simple but very important rule to keep in mind
ZBrush you can always restore the polygroups
when approaching detailing: details (or tertiary
from the Auto Groups with UV feature in the
forms) have to be supported by a hierarchy of
Polygroups menu. Obviously if you edit the
secondary and primary forms. Brushing your
topology you also have to fix the new UV, but
model with alphas doesnt make it look prettier.
its way faster than redoing the polygroups from
Every wrinkle has to have a reason. Every
scratch (Fig.11).
spike or little bump should be placed in the right

position.
With the right topology to work with, forms

started to adapt better to my strokes and I was
Think of the surface of your model as a map:
free to define some more precise elements and
mountains, valleys, lakes, streets, cities, stores
patterns, like the top of the head, the ears and
and bus stops have a very logical distribution.
the loose wrinkled skin on the elbow (Fig.12). I
The point of this example is that you wouldnt
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Chapter 01
That being said, I tried to identify the areas
swimming, like a Jellyfish). I placed wrinkles at
An example of the logical placement of a
where the skin would compress during
the end where the feet-fins are (Fig.13 14).
particular detail is the little depressions I

sculpted just above the mouth (Fig.15). These
movement and I started to create localized

wrinkles, with a logical direction that followed
At this stage I also created some very rough
depressions are not there for fun, but have a
the articulation. I used the DamStandard brush
geometry with Maya and some simple box
very natural explanation. Snakes, for example,
for this process. You can find it in the brushes
modeling for the gums and teeth, and then
have these and they are called labial pits.
section of Spotlight.
imported then into ZBrush.
They are very unique sensitive organs that allow
Besides wrinkles you have tendons and bone

structure visible on the surface, and also veins
and little bumps. A good aid when placing these
kinds of details are references of real animals.
Generally I use the Standard brush with very low
intensity and I build the details both conceptually
and concretely using sculpt layers. By using
layers you have full control over the overall
intensity and its always a good thing to have the
ability to just turn off a layer if you dont like the
result.
I moved then on to giving the gills on the
monsters back a solid structure, and I looked
at the neck. I used the Inflat and Pinch brushes
in the areas where skin gets folded. The same
goes on the tentacles, which I compressed
near the legs (I didnt mention this before, but
the creature has tentacles for stability while
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Chapter 01
the snakes to see the radiated heat of warmblooded prey, like infrared receptors.
I spent some hours detailing the whole body and
finally my final model was finished (Fig.16).
Texturing
Before starting the polypainting I exported the
models lowest subdivision layer to Maya and
created some UVs mainly using the Unfold
feature with some relaxing and using the UV
lattice deformer where needed.
With the UV done I started the polypainting,
using salamanders and amphibians as
reference. I filled the model with a medium-dark
the skin is supposed to be more irradiated with
green color and painted the surface with the
blood vessels.
Standard brush, with Stroke set to Color Spray

and a combination of alpha 08 and alpha 22.
I then baked the polypaint to a texture and
When painting skin try to use different colors
create a displacement map to be used on top
and go for variety; variation gives skin a much
of the texture to get some depth when used as
more realistic look.
an Overlay layer, and also to have a guide as to

where to paint in Photoshop (Fig.18).
In the first pass I wanted to have general

variations and to set the first color scheme
I imported the texture into ZBrush and baked the
(Fig.17). I placed some red/pink colors where
texture to polypaint from the Texture palette on

the Tool menu.
I then used Cavity Masking to paint different
tones for different depth levels. Since the texture
seemed to me a bit dark and green I tried to
get a different color variation in the skin. When
most of the features were in place I decided
to bake the polypaint to continue the paint job
in Photoshop. Here is the texture before using
Photoshop (Fig.19 20).
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Chapter 01
Once in Photoshop I was free to use some
material to study, as is the paint job done by
idea inspired by iguanas in mind for his pose.
photographic textures. The best ones for this
maquette artists or make-up artists like Jordu
When you see them moving slowly, their arms
kind of texture come from the Total Texture
Schell or Rick Baker.
seems to grasp the air whilst they move forward.
and flexibility. I used some masks to get the
This is the final look of the texture I then used in
For posing I use Transpose Master, the new
right placement for the textures in order to place
Maya for the rendering (Fig.21 22).
plugin for ZBrush4. There is a button named
DVDs by 3DTotal because of their great variety
the right patterns where I needed them to be.
Layer which is a real time saver. It creates a

The gums and teeth were also polypainted using
new sculpting layer for each subtool with the
Then, using the Standard brush along with some
the same method described earlier, and then the
new pose so you can switch back to the original
custom brushes, I started painting. At first I tried
polypaint was baked into a map and the models
pose at any time.
to follow the details I already had and reinforce
were UV mapped using the PUV Tiles inside
them. Using the depth information I had from
ZBrush (Fig.23).
the displacement I had a very clear idea where
Using Topological Masking I started rotating the

torso to conform it to the action; the same goes
to place additional elements. You dont want to
Posing
hide your sculpted details but paint on them to
Posing a character is not easy. You have to
to the legs and feet because I wanted to show
reveal the nature of the surface.
grasp not only the action but, above all, the
the hybrid nature of the feet. They are fins
essence of the creature. This gives credibility to
but because of their solid bone structure they
At this stage I used some reference to get
its structure and the impression that the animal
could also be used as anchor points for moving
inspired, besides nature is a very valuable
is actually living and doing something. I had an
around.
for the limbs and head. I paid particular attention
Once happy with the pose I transferred it to the

high res sculpt and with the Standard brush I
adapted the skin where needed locally (Fig.24).
Ground modeling
To create the ground element I used a 3D plane
converted to a PolyMesh and positioned it under
my creature. Then in the lowest subdivision
layers I adapted its surface to support the
creatures action with the Move and Move
Elastic brushes. Once it was subdivided I
sculpted it with the Clay brush to mimic a mud
environment.
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Chapter 01
Next I applied different surface noises to
resolution mesh and another version decimated
in the surface depth going around the cylinder.
different subdivision levels. Surface noise can
at 2% to be the low poly mesh and to be used
Then, using a Non Linear Deformer called Twist,
be found in Tool > Surface and it displaces the
as a proxy (Fig.26). Once in Maya I create UVs
I twisted the cylinder to give it the appearance of
surface following a profile curve in the surface
for the ground by setting the viewport as Top
steel tubes placed in reinforced concrete. I then
slot. If you grab a curvature point in the noise
and using the Create UVs based on camera
create some UVs for the tubes using cylindrical
curve, drag it out of the graph and then come
button from the Create UV menu.
mapping.
the curve which is very useful when it comes to
The gums and teeth were exported at their
The grass was made with Paint Effects. First
creating interesting valleys.
highest level because they were not that heavy,
I made the proxy ground paintable (Make
and before exporting them I used the PUV to
Paintable button on the Paint Effects menu).
bake the polypainting onto the textures.
Then I searched in the Visor for the type of
back to the graph, you will have a linear break in
I applied different curves to different subdivision

levels, taking care to change the Noise scale
grass that I needed, and I started painting on
each time just to give some variety and
The rusty iron tubes were made using a
the surface of the ground by placing the grass
randomness (Fig.25). Dont forget to press the
polygonal cylinder with 12 subdivision axis and
where I wanted it to be. Strokes like this often
Apply to Mesh button when youre happy with
an evenly spaced number of subdivisions for its
need some adjustments so you can modify them
the look of your surface noise since its behavior
height. I extruded every other face to get variety
after they have been painted using the Stroke
is to show the end result but not automatically

bake it. You have to press that button to transfer
the noise displacement to the mesh.
Maya import and

Environment elements
modeling
For the creature I exported a mid-resolution
level mesh and baked a normal map to get the
higher subdivision details.
I then exported two different ground meshes:
one decimated at 30% to become my high
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Chapter 01
Attribute editor. I played with its settings a bit
and when happy with the look of the grass I
converted all the strokes to polymesh by going
to Modify > Convert > Convert Paint Effect to
Polygon (Fig.27).
The background is half of a cylinder with
the face normals inverted, just to give the
impression of a round concrete surface.
Lighting
Since I was going for a real environment, trying
to mimic that environment lighting was the key
to creating a realistic mood. Lighting is important
to tie together all the elements of the image.
With fake environment lighting its very difficult
to give the viewer the impression that the
situation portrayed is actually happening.
For this image my idea about whats happening
is that the creature is emerging from the
darkness of the underground, maybe to find
some food or just for curiosity. It is slowly
approaching the land above, where the
underground tunnel comes from.
Generally speaking, viewers eyes are attracted
more to the light than to the dark, and the same
could be said for warm and cold colors. For
this reason I created a Spotlight with a warm
orange-ish color facing the creature to serve as
my main light. I then created a second Spotlight
positioned to the right, a little higher than the
camera, to be my fill light and represent a sort
of environment lighting or bounced light coming
from the environment. Both the spotlights have
the Decay rate set to Linear to give a gradual
falloff on their intensity. Behind the creature
I placed a direct light to create my rim light.
This helps a lot to enforce the silhouette of
the creature and to make it stand out from the
background. To create an overall dramatic mood
To have better specular on the ground I then
other element of the scene I opened the Light
I also placed an area light above the creature
created a Point light, activated just the specular
Linking editor (Window > Relationship Editor).
to mimic the sky or an opening in the ceiling
component and disabled its Diffuse Contribution.
Here you can set the inclusion or exclusion of
(Fig.28).
Then I placed it at the right angle to affect the
single objects from each light.
ground surface specular the way I wanted it to.

Because I didnt want this light to affect any
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Chapter 01
Shading
For the creature I used the mental ray Misss_
fast_skin shader. It can seem a bit tricky to set
up but the key to mastering this shader is to split
its setup into several steps.
To precisely set up the SSS componant I set the
Diffuse weight and the Specularity overall weight
to 0. Then I started from the Backscatter Layer
and turned the Epidermal and Subdermal Layer
weights to 0.
You then basically have two parameters to
set. One is Weight, which can be seen as the
intensity, and Radius (and Depth that I usually
set at the same value of the Radius), which is
how far the light penetrates into the skin.
I then did a test render to see how the shader
looked with the default values. I wanted the
Intensity to be very evident, so I set the Radius
in such a way that if the Intensity value was too
low it would be easy to understand how much
it would change if I turned it up a bit. Then
I started tweaking the Radius and Intensity
values. If the Radius or Intensity are too strong
then you can halve their values and do a render
and so on until you get the settings you feel are
right for the kind of skin youre going for.
Once the Backscatter is ok, I usually write the
Intensity value in a notepad to remember the
setting and then turn it to 0 so it has no effect
and move on to the next layer, the Subdermal.
Its difficult to say how the Subdermal layer
should look. My idea is that this is a deep layer
that should soften the shadowed area, but not
be too intense. I used the same process for the
Backscatter layer and once done copied the
weight value on the notepad and turn it to 0.
Once the three layers were ok, I copied all
The specular component was easy to set
the values Id written in the notepad to the
up and this shader does a very good job of
Then for the Epidermal layer I used the same
respective layer weight fields and I had the SSS
representing the specular component. I also
process. This is the nearest layer to the surface
component set up. Then I turned the Diffuse
created a specular map for it so I could set the
so its intensity is higher than the Subdermal,
weight to 0.6 or 0.7 depending on the kind of
intensity of the specular where I wanted. This is
and it contributes more to the diffusion of the
texture I had and did a test render.
very important to give a realistic feeling to the
light through the surface.
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skin (Fig.29).
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Chapter 01
For the ground I used a simple Phong shader.
the material to all the objects in your scene and
In its color slot I placed a 3D snow texture and
set the near and far clip plane just as they were
plugged in two different ground textures from
in the extreme limits of your depth of field. Once
the Neanderthal set of the Total Textures V9:R2
rendered you will have a depth pass to use in
DVD in each color slot. I used the specular and
Photoshop later (Fig.32).
bump maps of the same texture for the specular

color and bump of the shader.
Final Photoshop post

editing
The concrete and the rust come from handmade
This is the relax stage. All the work has been
humid, but also a bit cold. Then as a final touch
textures created from a photo and custom
done and now its just a matter of tweaking the
I added some strings of saliva in the creatures
brushes and they are a simple Phong shader,
image and getting the best out of it!
mouth using a Standard Round brush.
At this stage I generally start doing some level
Conclusion
Ok so every shader was set and the lighting
and curve adjustments to push the value of my
This project was very challenging. I tried to push
setup was done. Time to render the final
image until I like it and to pump up the contrast
myself to do better in many fields, not only the
image (Fig.30)! Besides the beauty pass I also
a bit.
modeling but also the design, shading, lighting,
nothing too complex here.
rendered two separate passes, a Color ID pass

and a ZDepth pass.
composition - all the different aspects involved

To create the effect of the moist air I used the
when creating an illustration from scratch.
ZDepth pass as a mask and filled a new layer

For the Color ID pass I used a different surface
with a white/bluish color. This created a sort of
I hope that this long article can show you much
shader for each element in the composition so
fog effect that I tweaked until I felt it was right for
more than the techniques I used to create the
I got a flat colored result without the shading
the image.
final image. I hope it also lets you understand
component (Fig.31).
I then used color balance to give the image
a method you can use to develop a believable
the right mood and added some more curve
character (Fig.33).
For the ZDepth pass, since its a bit tricky to
adjustments to get the Cross Processing effect,
setup in Maya, I downloaded a great shader
which is where you use the lighter value to have
Thanks very much to the 3DCreative magazine
called p_z that is part of a downloadable pack
a different tint than the darker one.
team for this great opportunity and thank you
of shaders and utilities created by Ledin Pavel.
very much for reading the article!
You can download the whole pack from his
I used some more post processing to get the
website: http://www.puppet.tfdv.com/download/
depth of field using the Lens Blur filter with the
For any info or to share any feedback
shaders_p_e.shtml.
depth map I rendered earlier.
please feel free to contact me here: fede@

federicoscarbini.com
Once installed you will find it on the mental ray
I then added a bit of breath smoke to give the
shader tab. The setup is very easy. Just assign
impression that the environment is not just
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page 17
Thanks again, and happy sculpting to everyone!
Chapter 01
Federico Scarbini
For more from this artist visit:
http://www.federicoscarbini.com/wp/
Or contact:
fede@federicoscarbini.com
Chapter 02
SUBTERRANEAN
Monster
ZBrush Monster Character Creation Chapter 02: Subterranean Monster

Chapter 02 Subterranean Monster
Introduction
Hey there, my names Marco and heres the
tutorial on how I modelled the Land Shrimp
subterranean monster. I decided to make it in
ZBrush from start to finish, in order to show
that ZBrush 4 now has a lot of new cool tools
to assist you through the complete workflow of
character modeling, from making base meshes
to final renders.
There is a lot to say about digital sculpting but
this tutorial will focus on the basic tools and the
complete workflow in ZBrush.
1. Conceptualization
References
The best way to achieve impressive and catchy
results is through good references. It is possible
to accomplish great things from nothing, but
people seem to react better to things they can
relate too. This means that if you inspire yourself
from existing images, and build an original
model from a good starting point you most
probably will end up with a good response. Also
mutant creature in an unknown underground
Concepts
I find it best to look at real life references instead
environment. Its useful to think about this stuff
I started by doing some very rough sketches,
of other artists work if you want to do something
while making your concept because it justifies
mainly flowing lines and scribbles, and drawing
out of the box.
the specs of your character and people really
something more concrete once my mind saw
notice that. The same with muscle anatomy or
something in there (like when you see cats,
For this model, I went and checked on the
mechanical stuff: if it doesnt seem plausible,
swans or Nazi zombies in the clouds). Also,
internet, TV and in National Geographic
people wont buy it.
sometimes an error leads to a better result than

what you aimed for.
magazines for typical and unusual underwater

and subterranean creatures like mammals,
So, for my Land Shrimp, I imagined an
amphibians, fish, insects, weird slimy things,
underground cavern only accessible by water
After I made some quick sketches, I looked
etc. I wasnt sure if I wanted to do a large, small,
(a bit like a big water bubble cave in the depth
at the concept and mixed what I thought was
puny, epic, disgusting or cool monster, but by
of the ocean) where some fish (or a shrimp!)
cool in each of them to give it a mutant look
looking at these references I found a direction I
might have grown some legs over time like
but without losing too much plausibility. Fig.01
liked. Even if you dont stick to it, at least picking
pre-historical fishes/amphibians did on the
shows some sketches that led to my final sketch
a direction gives you a starting point.
land a couple of hundred thousand years ago.
for the concept phase and some rough poses
From there, I downloaded a lot of pictures of
for the final beauty shots.
Character Background
shrimps, lobsters, dinosaurs, insects and weird
My goal was to take an animal that we all know,
exoskeleton species and began to conceptualize
Since Im a better modeler than concept artist, I
but that might have evolved into a monstrous
its look.
prefer to leave my sketches incomplete in order
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Chapter 02
Chapter 02: Subterranean Monster ZBrush Monster Character Creation
to continue the concept during the first phases
It is important to keep your meshes at a low
I did that for every part of the model except for
of the modeling in ZBrush.
subdiv level for future steps. If you feel that the
the little arms/legs, which use the basic ZSphere
lower subdiv level is not low poly enough, you
techniques. Use the Subtool Master to mirror
Helpful tool: Alchemy
can recreate it with fewer polys. To do this hide
subtools that are symmetrical.
If the white page isnt inspiring and you need
every subtool that you dont want to recreate,
to find original shapes to start your concept,
and use the Re-mesh All button and the Res
I strongly suggest the freeware Alchemy! It
slider (Fig.03) to re-mesh every visible subtool
doesnt require any technical skills and its a
into a single lower resolution subtool with
First pass: Nailing the volumes and finishing the
great way of expanding the mind.
the appropriate resolution. This will create a
concept
smothered mesh, but you can project it onto the
In this pass, I subdivided the placeholders and
old mesh using the Project All button (Fig.03)
just quickly built them towards the shape I was
Creating base meshes using Shadowbox
to regain its shape. The X, Y and Z toggles on
looking for in the concept. This helps to expand
One of the greatest additions to ZBrush 4 is
the Re-mesh button will give you automatic
on the concept and find other cool modules or
the Shadowbox. It is a great way to create
symmetry after the re-meshing if desired (kind of
shapes. I like to use the Clay Build-up brush
base meshes in an instant. In Fig.02, I took a
like Mirror and Weld in the Subtool submenu).
with a square alpha, and the Move and Move
2. Modeling
Now its time to sculpt!
Sphere3D from the 3D Meshes submenu and

made a 3DPolymesh with it, because in the
Subtool submenu, it enables the Shadowbox
button. Before pressing the Shadowbox
button you can choose the resolution and the
smoothness of the mesh you want to generate
with the Res and Polish sliders. Once the
Shadowbox appeared around the sphere, I
removed the sphere by using the Unmasking
Selection (Ctrl + Alt+ draw a square on the
canvas). Basically the Shadowbox works by
painting a mask on the three planes. Each
masked area will project a shadow and where all
the shadows cross, it creates a mesh. You dont
need to make a detailed shape at that point, just
a placeholder. Once you are happy, click on the
Shadowbox button again and the job is done.
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Chapter 02

Elastic brushes for that phase. I find the Clay
brushes better than the Standard brush for
adding volume since they seem to flatten the
surface you brush over instead of accumulating
all the roundish brush strokes of the Standard
brush. Using them will help you avoid the blobby
look. If you want to make rounder shapes using
Clay brushes, just use the Smooth brushes.
Tip: Try the Alternative Smooth brush if you
want to smooth/relax the mesh without affecting
its shape too much (hold Shift + start brushing +
release Shift + continue brushing).
Fig.04 shows the head, claws and back being
sculpted during the first pass. I used the
Snakehook brush with the Move brush and a
high Focal Shift to make the spikes. If, at some
point, you feel like you stretched the mesh too
much or completely nuked it, give the Relax
slider a try and it might fix the problem without
smoothing the mesh too much. Try its radio
button too.
Once youve been through every subtool
need to use different brushes to make cavities
and you know where you are going, you can
and harder edges. Fig.06 shows some useful
subdivide it even further and really start detailing
brushes.
the model: this is the second pass (Fig.05).

The goal here is to use the volumes built during
www.3dtotal.com
Second pass: Defining the surface
the first pass and sculpt the surface in order to
In this phase, we focus less on volumes and
make it look like a ridged shell that has been
begin giving the shapes some personality.
softened by water and the humid environment.
This is achieved by making shape and surface
The inspiration for the look came from some
imperfections (if you are doing something
references of dinosaur bones combined with the
organic). Keep in mind that unless its
shell of a lobster and hermit crab. You can still
manufactured or comes from an assembly line,
leave some sketchy brush strokes for the look:
almost nothing is smooth and slick. To begin
they will be polished further in the third pass
removing the soft look of the first pass, youll
(Fig.07a 7b).
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Chapter 02

Sculpting again is a useful technique if youre not sure what treatment you
want to give to a surface. You do it by using an alpha and choosing the
Spray Stroke (adjust the values in the Stroke Menu if desired) and then
lightly spray the alpha over your surface (as seen in Fig.07a where the
head is getting its second pass). Often youll find a cool effect accidentally
that you can then use as a great starting point to continue sculpting. In
Fig.08 you can see what alpha I used for my draft, and how I sculpted
over to obtain the final results on its belly.
Even if this is a step-by-step, it is not an absolute: you can always come
back to fix things or take a step ahead and try to add micro details to know
where youre going. Fig.09 shows the model with some subtools in their
second pass and others with third pass experiments.
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Chapter 02
Third pass: Polishing and adding hyper details

This step is an extension of the second pass since it is still about the
credibility and realism of the model, but in this one the focus is on
sculpting the surface texture and getting rid of the sketchiness and
softness. In Fig.10, you see the kind of tools I used for this phase. Mainly,
it is done by using the Standard and Clay brushes, the DragRect or Spray
Strokes and most importantly, the desired alpha. If you are to use the
Spray Stroke you will most probably need to play with the options in the
Stroke Menu until you find a good amount of everything. There is a gray
area here: dont go overkill on the surface texture! (Fig.11a - 11b).
I often use the standard alphas provided with ZBrush since then you can
achieve many results by varying their treatment or the Stroke options.
Also, dont hesitate to duplicate and modify some subtools. Thats what
I did for the shells on its back and its little leg things: I duplicated the
subtool and lowered the subdiv level until I couldnt destroy the details
on the high subdiv level, and started modifying the shape with the Move
brush and evened the Clay Build-up brush to change the volumes
(Fig.12).
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Chapter 02
3. Materials and
texturing
A cool new addition to ZBrush 4 is the rapid

SSS shader. I used it on the belly a little bit,
I prefer to texture my models before transposing
just to give a little effect. To use it you need a
them as it means I can still use the symmetry.
material with at least two shader slots: copy
You can do the materials or the texturing in
the Fresnel Overlay shader from the Standard
the order you want because they really come
Material and paste it in the second shader slot,
together. I tend to jump between both of them.
choose some bright red colors in the Modifier

submenu of the second shader, then just play
Materials
with the value of the SSS Slider and the S Exp
What I usually do is take a Standard Material
slider in the Shader Mixer submenu and choose
(just under the Matcap submenu) that has at
the desired Blend mode (dont forget to enable
least two shader slots available, in case I want
SSS in the Render menu too).
to copy-paste a preset shader into one of its

slots to mix the effect using the Shader Mixer in
I put some transparency on the tail fins. This is
the Materials menu (Fig.13). If you are not using
done by first enabling the Transparency in the
a slot, just turn it off with the radio button beside
Render menu, then clicking on the third icon
the slot number.
above the desired subtool (Fig.15).
I start by applying the material to the desired
I used three materials for this creature: a strong
subtool by clicking the M button in the space
specular for the exoskeleton, a wide specular
bar options (Fig.14) and then filling with the Fill
using a purple SSS effect for the belly and
Object button in the Color menu. Then I go into
fins, and a variation of the Toy Plastic material
the Material menu and start playing with the
for the eyes. On the same subtool, you can
Diffuse slider, the Diffuse Curve, Specular slider
paint different polys with different materials
and Specular Curve until I get the results I want.
by painting with the M button in the space bar
The PhongBlinn slider at the bottom comes in
options. I painted the skin joint of the claws and
handy too. I leave the Ambient and the rest of
legs with the SSS material while the rest of the
the options in the Modifier submenu for later.
subtool is using the exoskeleton material.

I found that the best way to understand the
behaviour of the material options is using the old
fashioned method of testing the different options
until you get the desired result. Keep in mind
though that you will need to fix the materials
later when adding render effects and lights,
so dont spend to much time with them at this
stage. And dont forget to take a break once in a
while so that you dont lose your objectivity. You
might run the risk of rushing through your work,
and if this is the case then your work will suffer.
Texturing
Before starting the polypaint, I needed to
run some tests in Photoshop. I rendered the
model with a gray-scaled Matcap, brought it
into Photoshop and ran some tests using the
Overlay Filter on a new layer. Fig.16 shows
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Chapter 02

some tests. I found that it is vital to have a little
bit of every color spread all over a character.
Not a lot of things in real life are monochromatic,
except maybe manufactured stuff.
I began texturing by adding a flat dark green
color and then started painting with the brush
(RGB button in the space bar options). I used
a Spray Stroke and a chaotic alpha to avoid
seeing the brush strokes and having hard
borders where the colors blend together. Once
Id given the model its main colors, I made a
second pass using the second Polypaint Mode
on my brush (go in the Brush Menu and move
the Polypaint Mode slider in the Alpha and
Texture submenu). You might want to check
the other Polypaint modes too, like the Multiply
Mode. I finished by coloring the bumps and
cavities by using the masking options in the
of masking either the bumps or the cavity of the
down a texture on the model using Spotlight
Masking submenu of the Tool menu. I found
model. Fig.17 shows an example of these steps.
from the Texture menu. It is a very powerful tool

that allows you to project imported texture maps
that the useful options are the Intensity slider,

the Cavity profile and of course, the Mask By
Another helpful tool: Spotlight
on the model and adjust them on the fly. By
Cavity button. The Cavity profile is responsible
You can also choose to start texturing by laying
painting over the layer on the screen, Spotlight

can either use the map as a diffuse map (with
the RGB button enabled) or as a height map for
sculpting (with the Zadd button enabled). Fig.18
shows some examples.
4. Transpose and
Environment
Transpose: Part 1
Since I made some sketches, I knew what kind
of movement and flow I wanted for his pose and
what shot I wanted for my main beauty shot.
To save the camera angle, I opened the
Zapplink submenu in the Document menu and
clicked on the Cust1 or Cust2 button. Dont
forget to save the views to file here! I used
Transpose Master to create a low poly version
of the model in order to pose him using the
Action line tools (W, E and R button on the
keyboard). This is the part where youll notice
if your subtools have a respectable amount of
polys in their lowest subdiv level! You dont need
to finish the pose at this point: wait to have the
terrain nailed down first.
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Chapter 02

Terrain
Lights
If you disable the SSS button, the SSS will not
I copied the shrimp in top view with Shift + S
First you need to find a good light setting. I used
take effect in the render even if you have some
and used it to as reference for the terrain. I
a main light and two rim lights for this model
SSS materials in the Material menu.
loaded a new Shadowbox and created a rough
(Fig.19). The intensity of each light is set at
terrain. For the sculpting and texturing, I used
almost maximum because using the shadows
Then you have a load of sliders in the
the same technique as the monster, but used
in BPR makes the scene really dark. This is
submenus, so Ill just feed you with what you
the Polish brush to make sharper edges in some
why the preview sphere for the light seems all
need to know. For the rest its better for you to
places (not too much though since its a wet and
blasted, to compensate for the renders. Only the
experiment... what a nice do-it-yourself tutorial
eroded terrain). I also went crazy with Spotlight
main light generates Shadow and SSS (located
you got here eh!
to sculpt the surface texture of the rock using a
under the Intensity Curve, Fig.19). You will
rock texture map Id imported.
notice that the Shadow submenu in the Light
Make your render tests with around 10 rays.
menu doesnt control the shadow when using
This will cut down on your render times while
BPR.
you get the look just right. If you feel like your
Transpose: Part 2
When the terrain was done, I finished the pose: I
shadows still suck, raise the amount in the Res
arranged where the claws touched the floor and
Render settings
slider. Vdepth and Ldepth will come in handy if
I gave each arm/leg part a nice flow for my main
First go to the Document menu and choose the
you feel that the lights on the shadow parts of
camera angle. I didnt need to use Transpose
resolution you want for your render. Dont worry
the model (often itll be a rim light) have lost their
Master for that step; I simply went subtool by
about making the resolution twice as large for
intensity, because the shadow actually darkens
subtool.
anti-aliasing: the new BPR will make the anti-
the light even if normally the light lightens the
aliasing automatically (Fig.20).
shadow.
5. Lights, renders and

post-production
The Spix (Subpixel) slider (Fig.20) is mainly to
With the new BPR (Best Preview Render) you
tell ZBrush what level of quality you want for the
can produce quality renders within ZBrush.
anti-aliasing and the amount of ray calculation
The only drawback is that the render result will
during the rendering. Spix will take into
really differ from the preview material and light
consideration the amount of rays established in
spheres in the menus and what you see on the
the submenus, but will multiply it depending on
real-time canvas.
the level of the Spix slider. The higher the slider,

the longer the render and therefore the better
the quality.
In the third window of Fig.20, youll need to
enable what you want enabled in your renders.
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Chapter 02
Each time you change a value, itll affect every
You can check out my ZBrush turntable on my
practice and experimentation. Without hours of
other aspect. This is why, while playing with the
website at: http://www.marcoplouffe.com
practice and experimentation, along with the
render setting, itll be important to adjust the
help of my teachers, classmates, friends and the
light settings and the material modifiers because
Conclusion
everything here works in harmony, in order to
That concludes ZBrushs workflow tutorial for
here telling you the tricks I learnt. I owe these
achieve the best final results.
modeling, texturing and rendering a character. I
people a lot and I am really grateful for that!
many critiques I got on the forums, I wouldnt be
hope you learnt something! Now the only thing

Composition outside of ZBrush
left is to achieve the results you see in your
If you wish to contact me, dont hesitate to send
To prepare for the post-production, dont forget
head, but in my opinion that only comes from
me an email; itll be a pleasure to answer you in
to click on the Create Maps button on the top

of the Render menu before rendering. After the
render, youll be able to click on the five icons
just below to save to file the Render, Depth
map, Shadow map, AO map and the Mask.
The only treatment I applied in Photoshop was
level adjustments on specific maps and putting
in a background (Fig.21 - 26).
If you want to make a turntable but you feel that
the renders need some adjustments, try to use
the options available in the Adjustment submenu
of the Render menu.
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Chapter 02
my free time! You can also visit my website to

check my complete artwork.
Marc-Olivier Plouffe
http://www.marcoplouffe.com
Or contact:
contact@marcoplouffe.com
Chapter 03
VOLCANO
Monster
ZBrush Monster Character Creation Chapter 03: Volcano Monster

Chapter 03 - Volcano
Monster
When I first started thinking of concepts for
volcano monsters, I knew I wanted to try
creating a big, burly, walking version of a
creature. To capture this I knew I needed
to incorporate key design elements like the
blown top, flowing lava, and cratered surfaces
all over. Also, I wanted the monster to have
a little personality, emotion, and movement
so I planned on posing him out as well. To
round everything off, I decided I would add a
base so that he felt grounded and part of an
environment.
ZBrush 4 upgrade so I was able to use some
find some really great photos. I cant post them
of the new features now available. As far as
here for copyright reasons, but I just wanted
ZBrush is the perfect tool to create such a
reference material goes, just look up volcano or
to let you know thats how I found my unique
character. I started off in ZBrush 3.5 and about
lava keywords on an internet search engine to
reference. I just dont happen to have an active
halfway through the process I received my
volcano in my backyard unfortunately!

To begin in ZBrush 3.5, start with a single
ZSphere and start adding arms, legs and a
head. Once you have a simple low-res adaptive
skin solution from the ZSpheres, export it out as
an .obj file and import it into 3ds Max to edit the
mesh. This is purely a matter of preference at
this point as Im just faster with topology editing
in 3ds Max.
Next open up the back faces and extrude a
crater on his back. Then add some eyeholes
and more tessellation for the mouth area. The
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Chapter 03
Chapter 03: Volcano Monster ZBrush Monster Character Creation

main focus at this point is to have a good,
even spread of the quads and a decent flow
of topology that will work well in ZBrush. This
doesnt have to be a perfect representation of
my design right now as we just want to have
something to get started with in ZBrush
(Fig.01 03).
Once the rough base mesh is complete, export
it back over to ZBrush to get the rough blocking
started. This part of the process can actually
take up the most time as its where were really
finding the character, and there is a lot of
pushing and pulling around of the silhouette
and proportions. For this phase you really only
need to use a couple of different brushes: Move,
Smooth, and some Inflate and Clay. Also its a
good idea to do some quick polygroup setup
on the arms and legs so you can quickly isolate
these areas for a more efficient workflow.
Were purely focusing on the silhouette, weight,
center of mass and overall proportion (arm
length, leg length and head location) for this
phase. Once your pleased with the shape, start
honing in on the body masses by using the Clay
brushes.
NOTE: This is when I got my copy of ZBrush
4 so Im going to start referring to some of the
new features and brushes available. One of the
best updates is the addition of the Clay Build-up
brush which behaves like the Clay Tubes brush
but has a nice building effect that feels really
natural. Its great for blocking in shapes as well
as doing some refining work. Another brush
thats good fun to use and is quite helpful with
the nooks and crannies is the Move Topological
brush. This one basically respects the topology
of your mesh and doesnt affect surrounding
areas when you are moving things around. For
instance, you can move the upper eyelids and
not affect the lower ones.
Back to the sculpt! Once we get some good
masses placed on the body, lets define the
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Chapter 03

facial features so we can further find the
character within. To do this, first we need some
eyeballs that we can work around (Fig.04 11).
In the Subtool tab, simply click on the Append
button and add a Polysphere to the subtool list.
Now we can use the Move, Rotate and Scale
buttons to place the sphere on the face. Then
use the Subtool Master plugin to generate a
quick mirrored eyeball. Next work with the Clay
Build-up brush to build up some brows and
some simple lips and little nose without getting
really detailed. I like to stay on lower subdivision
levels until I completely fill them out and can
no longer add anything without moving higher.
These keep my process honest, forcing me to
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Chapter 03
think about the basic principles and not jump

ahead to detailing anything too soon. It also
helps the mesh not to look really lumpy and its
easier to control when you build it up this way
(Fig.12 22).
Also it should be noted that Im placing masses
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Chapter 03
of forms where I think it will be good to have

some rocky forms and lava flow, but at the same
time subconsciously thinking about where his
muscles might go. I think this might help him to
look like he could move and not just be a pile of
random rocky rubble (Fig.23 29).
Now that we have some sort of recognizable
character, move on up to a higher sub-d level
animated character. As a thousand and one
and begin to do a second pass on the rough
tutorials have said before, use the Move (W),
blocking. In this phase, keep using that Clay
Scale (E), and Rotate (R) controls along with
Build-up combined with the Move brushes,
some simple masking to strike a pose. Give him
and give further design to the blocky forms that
a trudging walk with emphasis on his weight and
are all over. Inherently, when you move up
size (Fig.30 34).
the sub-d levels, youll find a lot of your work

smoothed over so you have to do some clean-
When I pose my characters I really try to identify
up on the rough blocking so it still makes sense.
an action line and find some sort of appealing
Refining will come next and that involves a little
silhouette. It really helps me to not only look
more detail and thought.
at the characters shape, but also the negative

space (the open space surrounding his form).
So now we need to really focus on identifying

the design masses. What do his arms really look
Once the pose is sorted, we can confidently
like? How is this lava going to actually flow out
move on with further definition. With our
of the crater? Should his face be symmetrical?

When creating any sculpt, these are the kinds of
questions I ask myself as I go along.
Since his forms are pretty much worked out
now, I think it would be best to pose him since
were approaching this as purely a conceptual/
sculptural model and not a production-ready
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Chapter 03

forms taking a little more life, bring the Dam
Standard brush into the mix and use it to punch
in crevices and to help form out the transition
areas and lava flows (Fig.35 39).
It helps to make sure youve got decent positive
and negative relief on the surface, especially
when dealing with the textural effects that
volcanoes can create. To finish the roughing
phase, methodically cover the entire surface
brushes, begin to focus on creating the lava flow
some sort of hard surface and a somewhat
of the character to be sure that every area has
details and transition areas (Fig.40 48).
multi-faceted feel. Basically were trying to
been addressed with some sort of design. From
There should be some sort of indication of flow
avoid perfectly smooth areas because that
here, we can move on to the refining phase and
along the sides of the rock that the lava pushes
would make the sculpt look unfinished. The only
add secondary forms.
through. We want to focus on creating this all
smooth areas will be where the rock surfaces
over the surface of the character. Also use the
are melting into the base, for example, the legs
hPolish brush to do give the soft blobs of rocks
and hand transitions. I think those areas should
Using the Clay Build-up and Dam Standard
look as though gravity has really taken hold and

hes trudging along dragging his gooey self.
This way he looks like hes in a constant state
of going from a cool hardened rock surface to
smooth molten lava.
Its important to note also that the lava flow has
a look that indicates layers and thickness. If this
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Chapter 03
stuff wasnt viscous, then it wouldnt be nearly
To use this feature, we need to go down to the
Go to the highest subdivision level, store that
as layered. So even though this effect takes a
base level and hide all the faces but the ones
as a Morph Target, go back up to the Layer
bit of time to sculpt in over the entire character, I
where we want to add edge loops. Once hidden,
tab, create a new layer and name it, and then
believe its what really sets it apart as a volcano
click on Edge Loop and it will add two loops to
finally open up the Surface tab to use the Noise
monster.
my mesh. Then we can unhide the rest of the
feature. Click on the Noise button and open up
character and finish out detailing that area at
the curve palette so you can change the profile
Like me you might find that you cant really
the higher subdivision levels. Its not quite an
of the noise. Remember, until you click on Apply
subdivide the mesh another level, and certain
even spread of polygons at the lower levels but
to Mesh then this is just a preview of the noise
parts of the model probably wont handle detail
it works for what we need it to do, which is being
that you dont have to commit to.
very well. You may not have enough resolution
able to have better quality detailing in this area.
in his hands and the lava flowing from them. So
This lets us try out different strengths, scale,
to remedy this without having to do any kind of
To start the detailed surface texture for the
and curves so we achieve the kind of noise we
external retopologizing, we can just add some
craters and rocky feel, were going to use the
want. Since we want something kind of rocky,
edge loops using the Edge Loop button under
Surface Noise feature as opposed to dragging
we need to adjust all three values.
the Geometry tab (Fig.49 52).
alphas all over the character (Fig.53 59).
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Chapter 03

After experimenting with different curves, Ive
found that if we put in a dip in the middle it helps
to make some interesting craters. Then adjust
the scale to around 30 and the strength to about
-.04. Now is when we can click on Apply to
Mesh and it will be baked into the layer weve
created.
You can now turn off this layer to remove the
noise and adjust its intensity slider if you want
further control. The problem is that the noise is
covering every area of the volcano monster. We
need to erase it out of the smooth lava flow
areas. So to do this, use the Morph brush (since
we saved out that morph target earlier) and you
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Chapter 03
can effectively just remove the noise wherever
bumps in the surface noise we just added as a
detail as much when adding the strokes. Try to
you make a brush stroke.
starting point. Select the Form Brush and Alpha
make sure that you made differing shapes and
48 and just randomly add these recesses all
sizes but ones that still made sense for typical
Another big textural addition I think we need
over the rocky surfaces. Use the Form Brush
lava rock craters. Then after youre happy with
to make is to add deeper craters and use the
because it tends to not smooth out the existing
the craters, use the same brush and alpha but
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Chapter 03

use the colorized spray application and lightly
go over all the rocky areas again to add another
level of roughness. Then finally, add another
layer of noise on another layer that will cover the
entire surface (Fig.60 62).
I made this noise to add a small level of texture
to all the smooth lava flow areas. To close out
the sculpt of the character, make sure that
youve got everything tied together and all the
surface transitions make sense and have a good
level of depth and variety.
The base needs a final pass so use the Clay
brush and start adding layers of smooth lava
rocks. You can also use the hPolish and Clay
Build-up brushes to give the border some sort of
varying texture and sculptural feel.
Use a Noise brush to quickly lay in some noise
across some of the smooth layered rocks so
nothing is perfectly smooth.Sculpting uniquely
volcano rocky surfaces and smooth lava flows
turned out to be quite fun and interesting
challenge to take on.
Its a bit tedious to do these kinds of textural
effects but with the new brushes available in
ZBrush 4 along with the Surface Noise feature,
the process can flow quite nicely.
On a side note, I tackle these kinds of fun
characters and more in my character creation
training videos, which is a subscription-based
service that releases two 60 minute videos
a month. You can find more information and
pricing at http://www.cgnuggets.com. Thanks
everyone! (Fig.63 67).
Jesse Sandifer
http://www.jessesandifer.com/
Or contact them at:
jessesandifer@gmail.com
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Chapter 03
Chapter 04
AQUATIC
Monster
ZBrush Monster Character Creation Chapter 04: Aquatic Monster

Chapter 04 - Aquatic
Monster
In this tutorial we will examine the subject of
sculpting and texturing an aquatic monster, and
my workflow from concept to final image.
I always start by getting my ideas down on
paper. I draw several quick sketches, create
several variations of the character and then
Edit mode. On the keyboard press the X key
choose the one that works best (Fig.01a b).
to activate symmetry and draw the head, the

body, and the legs. Finally draw the hands and
Ask yourself some important questions: Where
the fingers. Use Transpose > Move to reposition
does your character live? What does he do?
any of the ZSpheres you have created (Fig.02).
And how does his environment impact on his

physical appearance? Its also good to work with
You can also use Scale to increase or decrease
references; not to copy them, but to make your
the size of yours ZSpheres. At any time you can
work more solid and accurate. For this aquatic
see your mesh by pressing A on the keyboard.
creature I searched on the internet for as
Press A again to switch back to the ZSpheres
many photos as possible with frogs, fishes and
preview. When youre done, put the density to 1
crocodiles in them.
under adaptive skin (Fig.03).
in Maya first. Thats why I just export the model

in Maya and delete the poles (several edges
Theres no point in spending too much time on
Dont forget to convert your mesh into polygons
sharing the same vertex) and add some edges
the sketches since well develop and improve
by pressing Make polyMesh3D under the
loop.
this idea directly in ZBrush, but well keep these
Tool menu. You can activate Polyframe to see
sketches to help us as we go along. With all the
the wireframe. As you can see, the wireframe
This step only takes a few minutes, but will
decisions made with regards to the concept, we
generated by ZBrush is pretty good but not
strongly improve your topology and will help you
can now start the sculpting process!
totally clean.
a lot at the sculpting stage. When Im happy, I
I start in ZBrush using ZSpheres. Go to Tool >
We could start to sculpt directly on this mesh but
start in low resolution trying to get the basic
ZSphere and draw on the canvas, then enter
I prefer to improve and clean up the base mesh
shapes. For this, I use the Move tool (Fig.04).
just export the model back to ZBrush. Now lets
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Chapter 04
Chapter 04: Aquatic Monster ZBrush Monster Character Creation
When the silhouette is better we can start

subdividing the model.
Tip: Under Render, select flat and choose a
dark color for your model. Its really helpful to be
able to see a clearer view of the silhouette and
spot if something goes wrong with the form.
I use the Standard brush first to refine the
shapes further (Fig.05).
Getting a solid overall shape and well-balanced
proportions is the most important part: youll
achieve a good model if you work this way.
In some cases I activate Lazy Mouse. It helps
Ive also opened up the mouth to be able to
Details can be added later. You can use the
a lot when we need to sculpt very smooth
sculpt inside it (Fig.07).
Clay or Clay Tubes brushes as well if you prefer,
lines. To do this press L on the keyboard.
but dont forget to soften your strokes with the
When I feel I dont have enough polygons to
The teeth and the tongue are made in Maya with
Smooth brush. For the eyes, I just import a
sculpt correctly I simply divide the model, but
a simple extruded cube imported into ZBrush as
simple sphere from ZBrush as a subtool and
its sometimes useful to use the Pinch brush
a subtool. The extruded cube is just duplicated
duplicate it. When Im happy I start to refine the
instead. Youll get what you want without having
several times to make the teeth (Fig.08).
individual parts of the creature like the hands,
to add another subdivision level. Dont forget
feet, head etc., trying to increase the detail on
to use references pictures during the sculpting
Adding details to a model is a really cool and
the sculpt (Fig.06).
process and to look at your initial sketches.
exciting part of the work, because it can strongly

improve your model, but you have to be careful
and make sure you spend enough time on this
stage.
Once again, looking at some references will be
very helpful to keep your model convincing and
safe. At this stage its also very important to
concentrate on very specific point of the model;
thats why its useful to hide some parts to keep
your attention on the areas youre working
on. Using alphas is a good way to add details
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Chapter 04
ZBrush Monster Character Creation Chapter 04: Aquatic Monster
without spending too much time, but use them

sparingly to avoid ruining all the work youve
done so far (Fig.09).
I use polypaint to add colors to my character.
Take care when choosing the material youre
using before you paint because some materials
are already coloured in ZBrush and are not
adapted for this stage. Try to choose a neutral
material like SkinShaded4, for example. I start
with a blue on the whole model and paint some
white on the belly using the Standard brush.
I then use a darker blue to create the stripes
and use several tones of cyan, purple and blue
on the different parts of the model. I finish by
adding some smaller and subtle details (Fig.10
11).
You can also use a cavity mask (Tool palette
> Masking Tab) so that you can paint only the
cavities on your mesh. If you want to inverse
Maya. I then import it into ZBrush and sculpt the
your mask you just have to hold Ctrl and click on
same way I did for the creature, focusing on the
the canvas.
main shape first and then detailing at the end

(Fig.12).
When youve finished you can unmask your

model by holding Ctrl and dragging and clicking
I dont spend too much time on the fish though,
on the canvas.
since we wont focus all our attention on it and

because it will be only a small part of the image
For the fish, I use the same workflow, except
(Fig.13).
the fact that I make the base mesh directly in
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Chapter 04
Chapter 04: Aquatic Monster ZBrush Monster Character Creation

I use polypainting for the colors too. As ever,
reference material is important. When the model
is finished, I importe it with the creature as a
subtool (Fig.14).
Now its time to pose the character. For this I
use Transpose Master (Zplugin > Transpose
Master > Tpose Mesh) (Fig.15).
This plugin gives us the opportunity to move the
parts of the model we want with all the subtools.
This way, we can move the head with the
tongue and the teeth together for example.
Here, I try to give some dynamism to the
character. When its done, I go to Zplugin >
Transpose Master > Tpose SubT, and I reshape
the areas that have been deformed during the
posing process. I then add some more details
and break the symmetry (Fig.16).
I add the final touches by painting the finer
details on.
At this point, I chose to export my model into
Maya and to make the render there, but you can
choose to render your model with ZBrush if you
like. Set some good lighting up and tweak your
shaders. You can even render several passes
and composite them in Photoshop... but this is
totally up to you! In Fig.17 Fig.18 you can see
some render tests and the final image in Fig.19.
I hope youve enjoyed this tutorial and learned
some useful things. Thanks for reading!
www.3dtotal.com
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Chapter 04
Olive Titouan
http://digitalia3d.teria.fr/
Or contact them at:
digitalia3d@gmail.com
Chapter 05
JUNGLE
Monster
ZBrush Monster Character Creation Chapter 05: Jungle Monster

Chapter 05 - Jungle
Monster
Introduction
Hi, my name is Jonas Skoog (energise) and
here is my tutorial on how I created a jungle
monster. I aimed for a beautiful image displaying
something creepy. ZBrush was used for almost
everything in this image, except for some stuff
in Maya and Photoshop. I hope to give you a
better understanding of my workflow and ideas
around creating a character. Happy reading!
Conceptualization
Brainstorming/References/Concepts
The first thing I did after getting this assignment
- Does it have any weaknesses?
like jungle, insects and monsters I quickly filled
was to write down all the words I associate with
- How would it catch its pray?
a folder with good reference images. After
the jungle on a piece of paper. This ended up
studying these images and reading my notes I
being quite a few words, so to narrow it down
When I had answered these questions, I wrote
finally had a strong vision on what I wanted my
I picked out only the ones that excited my
yet another list describing the most important
monster to look like. Now I just had to make it
inspiration.
features of the monster:
stick on paper!
To get a good overview and help my inner eye,
- Poison stinger
My sketches always start out as rough
a mind map (Fig.01) was created containing
- Uses its wings to aid long leaps but
thumbnails and there are usually quite a few of
these words (glad I paid attention in school!).
cannot fly
them. This time however my mental image was
To get to know my monster a little better I then
- Hard shell plates for protection
very clear and the deadline short so I settled on
asked myself questions like:
- Long vulnerable neck
around the third concept (Fig.02). The only thing
- Uses sonar to see (no eyes)
to do now was place the final concept on the left
- What does it eat?
screen along with the reference folder and dig in
- Does it have any enemies?
With this all laid out I turned to my best friend
- What are its strengths?
Google for support. By searching for words
to the sculpting!
Modeling
ZSpheres & Silhouette
To kick off the sculpting I went straight to
ZBrush using the ZSpheres. I am not superskilled in using them, but they get the job
done and they do it fast. Within a few minutes
you have a decent mesh ready to be turned
into a masterpiece. Creating something with
ZSpheres is very straightforward. Create the
first sphere symbolizing the pelvic area, activate
Symmetry from the Transform menu and just
start extruding limbs. Make sure you preview the
adaptive skin once in a while by pressing the A
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Chapter 05
Chapter 05 Jungle Monster ZBrush Monster Character Creation
key to rule out any weird results. As you can see

in Fig.03 my ZSphere setup was very simple,
but it was enough for the results I wanted.
When I had laid out the foundation it was time
to start working on a strong silhouette. This is
very important for immediate recognition of a
character and must be easily understood, like
if you see someone you know from afar or from
behind. It could be anything from spiky hair to
broad shoulders telling you who that person is.
To shape the silhouette I mostly used the
Move brush along with some Standard and
Smooth brushes for minor touch-ups. Some of
the new, cool features added to ZBrush 4 are
the alternate Move brushes, which are really
helpful. Especially Move Topology, which is a
blessing when roughing out fingers and other
tight spaces.
I also switched to flat render back and forth to
get a better overview, as seen in Fig.04.
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Chapter 05
First Sculpt Pass and Topology
Whilst inside Maya I also took the opportunity
seen from above that I could use. This image
With the silhouette nailed down the next step
to separate a few of the limbs, such as the
was then imported into Maya as an Image
was carving out all the major shapes, which in
hind legs and tongue, thus giving me a better
Plane, allowing me to quickly rough-out the
this case were the shell plates and large muscle
chance to subdivide the monster higher. I have
basic shape of the wings. A UV Planar was
groups. For this I used the Clay Tubes brush
found that Subtools above 10 million polygons
then applied to the mesh, allowing both sides to
almost exclusively, at an intensity of around
makes ZBrush very unstable on my system.
share the exact same UV space. The result was
20. For smoothing I lowered the intensity on
This results in numerous crashes and renders
the textures applied to the wings being mirrored
the Clay Tubes and made circular motions in
the Decimation Master useless when trying to
on both sides. After placing the UVs of the wings
a subtractive way. It just felt like I got more
include UVs, to name a few.
inside the 1-1 UV space, covering as much of
control over the smoothing that way (this does
the square as I could, a UV Snapshot 2048 x
not mean that I do not use the Smooth brush if
With my new base mesh(es) imported back
2048 was exported as a JPEG.
it feels needed). I am sure you have heard this
into ZBrush all I had to do was transfer all the
before but make sure you push each subdivision
details from the old base onto the new one.
This snapshot was then opened up in
level to its limit before you proceed to the next,
To do this I used a feature called Project
Photoshop, along with the Image Plane of
slowly building more and more details as you
All. Since I chose to change the topology
the dragonfly in a separate layer. After some
go. This gives you more control and your sculpt
before any serious details, such as pores and
cutting and pasting to align the wings with the
stays smooth and free from lumps.
wrinkles, were applied I was able to leave all
UVs, I made some last alterations using the
the settings at default. To ensure good results
Puppet Warp tool (found in the Edit menu).This
When I had reached around level 5, all the
though I recommend doing a projection for each
makes the image you wish to transform into a
flaws in the current topology started to unveil
subdivision level of your Subtool starting from
triangulated 2D mesh, allowing you to create
in the form of serious stretching. This had to be
the lowest. Also since I had separated a few
vertex points and deform by moving them.
corrected before continuing further. Normally
parts of the original mesh I needed to mask out
I would have used the built in retopology tools
the areas where they used to intersect. The
I then finished everything off with some level
in ZBrush, but since I was quite short on time I
projection will otherwise try to recreate these
adjustments, and by cleaning up a few dirty
had to think of a faster way. I quickly GoZd the
non-existing polygons and leave you with pretty
pixels, together with inverting it and converting it
mesh over to Maya and optimized the topology
weird results.
to grayscale to serve my purposes in ZBrush.
04a). Not a perfect solution, but it worked out
Wings
It was now time to return to ZBrush by importing
well thanks to the decent topology already
To create the wings I knew I needed good
the wing meshes as Subtools and applying the
provided by the ZSpheres and the fact that no
reference material. By searching Google for
newly created texture to them. With the texture
animation would be necessary.
a while I found a decent image of a dragonfly
in place I chose mask by intensity to mask
to my liking using the Split Polygon tool (Fig
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Chapter 05
out all the black parts in the texture to protect
definition and damage. For this task I used a
lots of wrinkles using the Standard brush with
the pattern in the wings. With the mask in place
variety of brushes like Dam Standard, Clay
spray and alpha 58 applied to it (Fig.06).
I was now able to apply an inflate deform to
Tubes (on very low intensity), Hpolish etc. For
By storing a morph target and sculpting in a
raise the veins just a little on both sides. Voila!
parts like the shell plates and such I began by
separate layer I could then used the Morph
Finished insect wings (Fig.05)!
laying out an alpha of a broken wall, which I
brush to remove all the unwanted parts. I then
then used to find new shapes and patterns. It
deleted the morph, added a new one and finally
Fine Details
is important though to see the alphas as tools
created a new layer to add new details. This
With new topology, overall definition and a
and not a final solution. To give the monster fine
method might be a little tedious, but it gives
strong silhouette it was time to start adding
details like wrinkles and such I relied heavily on
you total control over intensity and placement
some of the good stuff like tendons, muscle
layers and morph targets. I started by adding
of details. I used the exact same technique

for pores etc., just switching the alpha. Dam
Standard was also used for making wrinkles and
crisping up other details.
Environment
The environment was created in pretty much
the same way as the monster. The basic
shapes were roughed out using the Clay Tubes
brush and Hpolish. For the stone and wooden
surfaces, alphas were laid out and further
sculpted using the Morph target method that
I mentioned earlier. I then went crazy with
the Dam Standard and Clay Tubes brushes
to create the various crevices between the
boulders in the stone sculpture and also the
cracks in the wood (Fig.07).
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Chapter 05

Texturing
Polypainting
When painting my Subtools I begin by assigning
the SkinShade4 matcap to get a proper canvas
to work from. I then fill the model with a color
that represents the final tone I am after to get
rid of all that white. To fill the model, first make
sure that only RGB is active and then press
FillObject found under the Color menu. From
here I start blocking out different temperature
zones (Fig.08).
- Red for warm/sensitive areas like thin skin
stretching over the muscles, knuckles, ears
etc.
- Blue for areas with lots of blood vessels and
cavities like around the eyes.
- Yellow for places where the bones are near
the surface like the forehead and ribs.
Spray (put Flow and Color to 0 in the Stroke
I really recommend buying his book, ZBrush:
When painting these areas I use a brush made
menu) and alpha 07 applied. This will spray
Character Creation, for an in-depth explanation.
by Scott Spencer, which I call the Mottling
tiny dots all over your strokes, making the colors
brush. It is basically the Standard brush with
blend in a pointillist manner.
When the temperature zones are in place I

switch over to the Standard Brush and the color
white for something called a noodling pass,
meaning that everything gets covered with tiny
squiggly eight shapes to break up the surface.
I spray a very light layer of pink (if I am doing
skin) all over the model to blend the colors
further and tone them down. I then spray a
darker, desaturated version of the previous color
around the muscles to gain some definition.
Another temperature pass is then added to
touch up where needed. I finish the paintjob
by filling in the veins with a blue color, adding
birthmarks and add other imperfections where
needed.
An environment can also be painted using this
mottling technique, but to a far lower degree and
with a more extensive use of different textures.
A new great tool in ZBrush 4 is Spotlight,
which I use exclusively when adding textures to
my models (Fig.09). It works like stencils, but
giving you full control over rotation, size, color
adjustments and much more.
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Chapter 05
Posing
Transpose
While posing my monster I wanted it caught
in the moment when climbing over the stone
statue. To achieve this I used the Transpose
tools within ZBrush. This allows you to add
temporary joints to parts you wish to pose
(Fig10). Let us say I wanted my monster to
bend his elbow a little. I would then mask
everything on the body except for the area
below the elbow and blur the mask for a
smooth deformation. Next I would hit R on the
keyboard to switch to the Transpose tool for
rotation and draw out a joint from the center of
the elbow all the way down to the hand. By then
You can use the Transpose tool in the exact
This is something that is very effective when you
moving the end of the joint closest to the hand, I
same way to change the movement and scale
are blocking out your shapes in the silhouette
am now able to rotate the arm below the elbow
by hitting the W key for move and E for scale
pass that I described earlier.
into the desired position.
(you get back to brush mode by pressing Q).
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Chapter 05
Rendering
I must say I am very impressed with the new
colors in place I can then make conscious
Render Passes
BPR render in ZBrush 4. The results it gives
decisions about the other passes at an early
When rendering out my images I always split
makes the old Best Render look like a preview
stage, ruling out what works and what doesnt.
them up into several render passes, giving me
in comparison.
much more control over the final result. The
As more passes emerge it gets very important
passes used to create the jungle monster ended
Putting it all Together
to have an organized layering system otherwise,
up being quite a few since I always do lots of
I usually start putting the image together in
for me, chaos is sure to strike when I cant find
renders with different setting and then pick out
Photoshop right after the first passes have
the pass I am looking for. Therefore I always
the ones I like the most. As long as I have my
been rendered out. This way I can start working
begin by adding three folders in the layer stack,
base passes such as Color, Specular, Shadows
on the background and such while other
back-, middle- and foreground (Fig.12). Within
and Light the rest is pretty much trying out what
passes render in the background. With a rough
these folders everything is separated into even
looks good (Fig.11).
background containing the most important
more folders for specular and shadows etc. Also
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Chapter 05
naming your layers properly is very important.

When all the layers have been tweaked to my
liking I finish it off with a few adjustment layers,
such as Level and Color Balance. With the
image pushed to its limit the last thing to do is
applying depth. To do this, create a new alpha
layer (under the Channels tab next to Layers)
and paste the depth image taken from ZBrush
into it. Next we have to merge all the layers to
one in order to have the depth affect the entire
image. What we have to do now is, under Blur
in the Filters menu, choose Lens Blur. Inside
the filter look for depth map and select your
alpha for the source. This will give Photoshop
an idea of distance in your image and blurs it
accordingly. Feel free to try out the different
settings like Focal Distance and Radius before
you are done for optimal results.
Conclusion
I would like to thank 3DTotal for the opportunity
to write this tutorial. I had a blast doing it, even
though the time limit of 20 days was a little
stressful (being an artist, it was the writing part
that took up most of the time!). I hope you have
enjoyed it as much as I did creating it and if you
have any questions, do not hesitate to send me
an e-mail.
You can also visit my website for more art and
tutorials. Thanks!
Jonas Skoog
http://www.jonasskoog.com/
Or contact them at:
jonas_skoog@hotmail.com
Chapter 06
MOUNTAIN
Monster
ZBrush Monster Character Creation Chapter 06: Mountain Monster

Chapter 06 - Mountain
Monster
Introduction
Creatures and monsters are always interesting
to build in 3D. For this tutorial, I will show you
my workflow from concept through to sculpting
and texturing a character using ZBrush.
Concepts
The theme given for this tutorial is a mountain
monster. After doing some research, I decided
to create a mountain troll, simply because I
thought it would be interesting to design and it
fitted well into the mountain environment.
So first of all, we have to determine the
personality of this troll. I want my troll to be big
and strong, but also friendly and maybe a bit
stupid. He might wear a very simple outfit, like
an animal skin or fur, but it should be minimal
since he is living in the wild.
I made a couple of sketches for this creature,
but heres the one that seemed to work with
the description above. As you can see I initially
wanted to give him a weapon to hunt with like
bat or stone axe, but I later dumped this idea
because I dont want to make him look violent,
which is contrary to his personality description.
Although this concept is rough and far from
finished, it gives us a good picture of what were
going to sculpt later in ZBrush (Fig.01).
Modeling/Sculpting
simply press shift + D (pressing D will have the
some extruded features such as the ear and
opposite effect; it will increase the subdivision).
the nose. When the base form is done you can

continue in a higher resolution. Slide the SubD
After the concept is done, its time to enter
Always work on the lowest subdivision possible,
the modeling stage. I tend to start projects by
so for now we will keep on SubD 1. Press X
building the head in order to get the overall
to work in Symmetry mode and then activate
Add more details to the head using the Standard
feeling of the character. So lets begin by picking
Perspective by pressing P. Now we will begin to
or Claytube brush. The Claytube brush is great
a PolySphere from the Tool palette (Fig.02).
pull the sphere around to form the basic head
for adding muscle definition, like in the forehead
anatomy. To do this, click the Brush palette on
or cheek muscles. The Standard brush is used
the left and choose the Move brush.
for generic purposes like the eye socket, nostril,
You may notice that the standard PolySphere
lips, etc. The default mode for the brushes is
has too many polygons. Go to the Geometry

tab and then slide the SubD slider to 1 or
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slider into SubD 2 (or press D once).
Use the Move brush to shape the face, making
page 61
ZAdd, which is similar to adding clay/material to
Chapter 06
Chapter 06: Mountain Monster ZBrush Monster Character Creation
a sculpture. Holding Alt while you are sculpting
and go to Subtool > Append. In the box click
After you have finished adding one eye, all
will activate ZSub, which reduces the mass of
PolySphere and you will get another sphere in
you have to do is mirror it. Use a plugin called
the model (Fig.03).
the Subtool list.
Subtool Master, which you can find by going to

ZPlugin > Subtool Master. Simply click Mirror
Continue doing this until you reach SubD 3. You
To adjust the eye sphere use Transpose, which
and check Merge into one subtool, with X as the
will notice that 3 is the maximum subdivision
includes Move, Rotate and Scale. All three
mirror axis.
level at the moment. We can add more
can be found on top of the canvas. Press the
subdivision and details, but at this stage I would
Transpose button on the right of your palette to
Using different materials (MatCap) can
like to see the troll with some eyes. So were
make the unselected subtool (in this case the
sometimes help you work better. I usually use
going to postpone sculpting the head any further
head) invisible.
MatCap Gray for modeling purpose, which can

be found in the Material palette on your left
menu (Fig.04).
Now we will begin detailing the face. Press
Geometry > Divide to increase the subdivision.
I mainly use three brushes to detail faces,
which are Standard, Clay and Claytubes. My
usual workflow is to use Claytubes as the base
sculpt and after that apply the Clay or Smooth
brush to soften the texture (Fig.05).
With these basic brushes, continue sculpting
the face. Sometimes we will need to sculpt
very smooth lines; to do this simply press L to
activate lazy mouse.
Next we will add some teeth popping out
from his mouth. To do this, were going to use
another sphere and do the same here as we did
with the eyes. Append a PolySphere from the
Tool palette and pull the top of it using the Move
brush. Then duplicate it with the Subtool Master.
This is how the troll head looked in SubD 6
(Fig.06).
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page 62
Chapter 06

To construct the body, we will use a different
technique. The best way to do it is using
ZSpheres. First, we need to attach the ZSphere
to the head mesh. To do this, click Append
below the subtool list and then select ZSphere
from the list. The head might be covering the
ZSphere so if you cant see it, simply press
Transform. Position the ZSphere roughly in the
center of the body using Transpose > Move
(shortcut W) (Fig.07).
Now we will start to build the body. Press X to
activate Symmetry. To add another ZSphere
use Draw (or shortcut Q) and then drag from
the center out. Use Move (W) to reposition any
of the ZSpheres you created. You can also use
Scale to increase the size of your ZSphere. After
a couple of minutes building the ZSphere heres
what I came up with (Fig.08).
Since this character has natural seams at the
waist, separate the body and the feet. This will
also mean there will be more polygons to work
with later.
You can preview what the mesh will look like by
pressing A (or go to Adaptive Skin in the Tool
palette and press Preview). Pressing A again
will switch back to ZSphere mode. Make any
further adjustments needed, and then press
Make Adaptive Skin (also in the Adaptive Skin
menu) to convert the subtool into a mesh. The
result will appear in the Tool palette. We will
need to add this tool to the existing subtool,
so go to Subtool > Append and select the new
body mesh.
Using the same method build the feet from a
ZSphere. Turn it to Adaptive Skin and then
append it as a subtool (Fig.09).
and adding more subdivision and details. My
highest subdivision without any base in previous
Small Tip: To switch between subtools, just Alt
body, for example, is sculpted until SubD 7.
subdivisions can result in a clumpy and ugly
+ click on the subtool mesh that you want to
Im using the same brushes as I did on the
shape (Fig.10).
activate.
head: Claytubes for the base muscle and then

the Clay or Smooth brush to smooth it. Always
Another useful feature in ZBrush is masking.
After the base mesh is finished continue to
go back to a lower subdivision if you want to
Basically we paint certain areas that we want
work on the body, sculpting more muscles
cover larger areas to sculpt. Sculpting at the
to protect when sculpting. To do this, simply
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page 63
Chapter 06
Chapter 06: Mountain Monster ZBrush Monster Character Creation
hold Ctrl and paint the mesh. We can invert this

masking by pressing Ctrl + click in the canvas
(outside the model) (Fig.11).
This will be useful to protect other areas from
sculpting, or to isolate certain part that we need
to focus on. Another way of masking is by using
Transpose > Move. To do this, press W and
hold Ctrl while dragging in the direction of the
area you want to expose (Fig.12).
After finishing the upper body, continue to add
the clothing. To create it, were going to extract
some mesh from the lower body.
First we need to mask the areas that we want to
extract. Id advise doing the masking in SubD 2,
After you have done the extraction the mesh will
Standard brush with thin alpha (e.q no 39) is
to make sure there are enough polygons to work
appear in the Subtool list. Try to shape it using
also good for sculpting the fur (Fig.14b).
with later.
the Move and Standard brush (Fig.13).

Now we can take this model into the next level,
After that continue sculpting the lower body. Im
by doing some texturing. ZBrush has a very
doing mainly what I did on the upper part: just
good texture painting feature that allow us to
building some muscles using Claytubes and
paint without UVing the model. This is known
then smoothing them using the Clay or Smooth
as Polypaint. In Polypaint, the more dense
brushes.
the model, the better resolution of the texture

painted. So its always good to have a good
A simple gesture or expression will bring more
amount of subdivision before you get started on
life to the model. For this troll lets add a bit of
the painting.
a smile and rotate the eyes and body to make

it look more natural. Then continue refining the
The first step is adding color to the model. Make
sculpt. Heres what my sculpt looked like after
sure the RGB button on top of your canvas is
adding the simple expression (Fig.14a).
turned on. Then pick any color from the Color

palette and go to the Color menu. Click Fill
Extract the chest fur mesh from the body. Then
Object and the color will then be assigned to the
add some subdivision and use the Snake Hook
active subtool.
and Move brushes to sculpt the fur strands. The
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page 64
Chapter 06
Once the basic color is assigned, we can start to

paint. Choose the desired Stroke type from the
Stroke palette on the left of canvas (the default
will be dots). After you have done that, pick
alpha 04 from the Alpha palette. This alpha will
give a good texture when creating skin. Now we
can drag to paint the texture. Fig.15 shows my
progress when painting the troll.
As you can see Im mainly adding reddish colors
to bring the face to life.
Shaded4, or you can download another
Adding light can really improve your render.
material from the internet.
Heres my sculpt after tweaking the lights

(Fig.18). The default light is one Sun light. You
Tip: To pick the color from your cursor position,

simply press C. To switch the color from the
foreground to background, press V.
It is also good to have a skin material assigned
to the model. ZBrush has one named Skin
Masking is also a great feature to help us when
can add as many as eight lights. To create the
Polypainting. In this case I am using a Cavity
image Im using six lights, with two of them
mask. Go to the Masking tab in the Tool palette,
being Sun lights and the rest as Point lights. To
and then you can see there are many masking
change the light types, go to Types and pick
options. To create a better result, press Cavity
Point light. Other settings that we can use are
Profile. It will open a curve that we can adjust to
Intensity and Ambient.
control the masked areas (Fig.16).

The light placement is important, so try to
After we have done the masking, its time to
experiment with different light positions. Turning
paint all the cavities. Experiment with either
on Shadow in the Shadow tab can also add
lighter or darker colors to make it contrast with
depth to the model.
the base skin color.

And thats the end of this tutorial! I hope youve
Tip: When painting whilst using the Cavity
learned some useful things about sculpting in
mask, turn off the mask visibility by pressing
ZBrush and thanks for reading.
View Mask. Press it again to turn the mask

visibility back on.
Marthin Agusta
Heres what I had after painting the whole body
http://threedsquid.cgsociety.org/gallery/
(Fig.17). Go to Render > Best to render the
Or contact them at:
model. You might notice that the model is quite
marthin84@yahoo.com
dark right now, so the next step will be adding

some lights.
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page 65
Chapter 06
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The aim of this 198 page eBook is to provide both an efficient and methodical approach to creating characters
that can encompass both organic and mechanical components and equip artists with the knowledge to learn
techniques used by industry professionals. The series provides an in depth account of creating a character from
the concept and base mesh stages through to the final detailing and high poly sculpt. It will as its subject adopt
the theme of an alien humanoid in battle dress, partly clad in armor and carrying weapons.
Original Author: 3DTotal.com Ltd | Platform: ZBrush | Format: DOWNLOAD ONLY PDF | Pages: 198
Images from 3ds Max + Vray version of this eBook
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This five part series will focus on the topic of setting up a variety of lighting rigs that reflect natural lighting at
different times of the day and manmade interior lighting. Each of the chapters will use the same base scene as
a starting point, and will show a step by step guide to finding a lighting and rendering solution that best reflects
the desired lighting situation. The tutorials will explain the type of lights used and how to set up the parameters
along with talking about the different methods of tackling the subject. The manipulation of textures may also be
covered in order to turn a daylight scene into night scene for example.
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Using 3ds Max and Photoshop this eBook teaches you how to create a fantasy scene inspired by real world
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get stunning effects quickly and easily.
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results!
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The aim of this eBook is to show and explain how you might tackle rigging your 3D character for animation. The
six chapters within this eBook will give help and advice to novices and experts who are looking to build on their
rigging skills or approach rigging for the first time. The series gives a detailed step by step guide as to how to
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This e-book provides a detailed account of building, texturing and lighting the interior of a Gothic Church based
upon a concept painting. The ebook is available in five different platforms. Chapter two however is dedicated to
creating a gargoyle in Zbrush the focal point in our scene. Here the author will start by creating a rough body
form using ZSpheres and move through the numerous sculpting phases and modeling the details for each part
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Manimal is a Zbrush tutorial series divided into six parts, covering nearly 70 pages and addressing the process
of transforming a generic base mesh into an original creature design. The notion behind the series assumes
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mutations.
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COM eBooks Series

Chapter 01 | Sewer dwelling

deciding what my creature should look like

as a tadpole and have no lungs but have gills

and which features it should have was a tricky

and then later on they develop lungs. All of this

knowledge gave me a lot to play with. It was

just a matter of finding the right answer to our

Since the most obvious feature of the

My idea was a creature that uses gills and

first concern was the respiratory system.

skin to extract oxygen from the humid air, and

have to do a lot of research. I read every book I

Generally you could have two kinds of animal in

addition I gathered tons of references from the

a swamp: one with and one without gills. Gills

internet and from Wikipedia. This is an important

are present in a lot of different animals and

So the skin is permeable to oxygen and carbon

first step, because it is the foundation of your

not just in fish; you can have modified gills on

dioxide as well as water, and it has blood

creative process. Without some kind of guidance

mollusks, crustaceans, insect and amphibians. I

vessels near the surface of the skin that, when

you just randomly think about cool designs. That

very much liked the flexibility that the gill design

underwater, transmit oxygen directly into the

can be fine in some situations, but when you

could lead to, so I wanted to explore this idea

are asked to design a creature with very specific

features you have to be very analytical.

to think about. When thinking about sewer or

The habitat in which my creature lives isnt

that flows into the mouth of the animal. For my

swamp dwelling creatures the salamander

really a habitat technically speaking, its mostly

creature I wanted something less dependent

was my first thought, although I also liked the

an environment with some typical features.

on water; something that could also live in very

turtles carapace design, or the spiky skin of the

For example it is very humid and the ground is

humid land environments. Nature, as always,

crocodile. Since this step influences the final

generally flooded by shallow bodies of water.

has the answer! There are animals that use

look of the creature heavily I decided to do some

their gills on land to extract oxygen from moist

There are a great variety of animals that

air, and there are also fish that use a primitive

could live in this environment: rats, frogs, fish,

nasal cavity and lungs. As well as this there are

I had a clear idea in my mind for its hands

crocodiles and insects. Because of this variety,

frogs with a very interesting life cycle. They start

and feet. I wanted them to be finned because

some nice elements I found interesting like the

whilst painting lets you have some feedback

with five different head designs (Fig.02) in the

flower-like ears on 2. 4 was nice too, maybe too