ADDING SOME COLOUR AND MATERIAL

figure 3.

Later we will be changing the material that is applied to the head. For now we want to add some colour. With the head still in `EDIT` mode go to the TOOL panel and select TOOL>MODIFIERS>TEXTURE and select COLORIZE. This will flood the model with the currently selected colour (you may not see a difference). To add colour without adding depth turn off `Z` in the draw panel (un-select all buttons). Finally ensure that you have `DRAW POINTER` selected (Q). Go to the COLOR panel (on the other side of the screen usually) and pick a light cream colour to start painting onto the head. Begin painting as you did the modelling but notice that only colour is added, no depth because `Z` is switched off. Paint the whole head, adjusting draw size as needed. (The quickest way to achieve this is to flood fill the head from the COLOR panel but it's good to practice) Change to a slightly darker colour and begin to shade darker areas in the eye sockets, wrinkles under the chin etc. Keep doing this until you are happy with the effect. Figure 3. TIP: You can reduce the amount of colour added by reducing the `RBG intensity` slider in the DRAW panel. The effect is like a semi-transparent airbrush. To add or change the material that is used you will need to enter the MATERIAL panel on the left side of the screen. With your `head` still in `EDIT` mode, select `BasicMaterial` from the options available in the material palette. If it is not there click the top of the panel and a full range of materials will be shown. It would be possible to write a whole tutorial on materials so I will just give you the parameters to input. With `BasicMaterial` highlighted go to MODIFIERS and adjust the following: Ambient=10, Specularity=4, Noise=0.427, Noise Radius=24. As you have the head still `live` in `EDIT` mode in the document window all the changes will update automatically. Now save the material, MATERIAL>MODIFIERS>SAVE. We will need this later.

SETTING THE SCENE



When you are finished colouring the head you can position it in the document in its final position. Zoom out (minus key, plus to zoom in, 0 to reset to 100%) until you can see the whole canvas on screen. Exit `EDIT` mode and the gyro will re-appear. Select `SCALE` (E) and enlarge the head to fill the canvas by clicking inside the gyro and pulling away. Get the size correct then change to `ROTATE` (R) and use the gyro to position the head at the correct angle for the final image (See Figure 5.) Now use CTRL+`S` to snapshot the head into your image. TIP: It would be a good idea to go to the TOOL panel and save the head as a ZTOOL for future use. If you close Zbrush without saving the ZTOOL you will lose it even if you save the document. The head is now in place and sitting on its own layer. We need to add two more layers, one for the background and one for the eyes and metal hoses. Go to LAYERS>INVENTORY>CREATE and do it twice to create two more layers. You can see them in the LAYER panel. The `green ` coloured layer icon is the current active layer (It should be the one with your head on it). Click into one of the new layers. This layer can be used to import a bitmap image (either .BMP or .PSD) as a background.

For this project I created a 2500x2500-blurred image with the same colours as the head. You can leave it blank for now and create an image to import later. When you import the image, if it isn't the same size as your document, it will be stretched to fit. Click onto the other new layer and this is where we will create the eyeballs.


CREATING THE EYES

Select a Sphere3D from the TOOL panel. Click anywhere in the document window and drag-out a sphere. As you are on a different layer to the `head` you will not affect it. Go to EDIT mode by pressing `T`. Open MODIFIERS>INITIALIZE submenu. Set the mesh resolution to Hdivid=256, Vdivid=128. Go to TOOL>MODIFIERS>TEXTURE and select COLORIZE. The sphere will turn pure white (if it's not already). Go to TOOL>MODIFIERS>SYMMETRY and check `Z` then `R` for RADIAL SYMMETRY. Set the radial slider to 30. This should now give you a ring of red dots around the eyeball. We only want to colour the eyeball and not effect the surface with depth. Go to the DRAW panel and click the green coloured ZADD button to de-select it. Now go to the `COLOR` panel on the other side of the screen and select a black colour. Bring the dots on the eyeball together and begin to draw a pupil. You can get different effect by changing the `NOISE` slider/curve in the TRANSFORM>MODIFIERS panel. If you find too much colour is being added go to the `DRAW` panel and adjust the 'DRAW SIZE' and 'RBG intensity' sliders. When you have finished the pupil select another, lighter colour for the iris (I used a couple of shades of orange) and draw the outer ring. Follow this with a thin line of black around the iris and then finish the eyeball with a cream colour. At this point you can choose a material for the eyes. To simulate a glossy wet appearance I chose the default `Toy plastic` from the MATERIAL palette. It will update as soon as you select it. Now we need to place them into the document. Exit edit mode (`T`), use the gyro to scale, move and rotate the eye into position over the socket area. TIP: This is where you realise that the document has retained depth. With the eye in `move` (`W`) mode you can move it along the `Z` axis (in and out of the image) by simply clicking outside the gyro and dragging your mouse up (in) or down (out). Get the eye into position in the socket and `snapshot` a copy into the image with CTRL+`S`. Snapshot leaves the eye live and `stamps` a copy so you can continue to move the eye. Using `W` and the gyro, slide the eye across to the other socket and position in the same way as the first. As the eyes are on a separate layer we can `paint` on them without affecting anything else. Pick the `SimpleBrush` from the tool menu. Pick a near-black colour from the Colour Panel. In the draw panel set the RGB Intensity to about 7 (near transparent) and turn `Z` off. Paint a dark shadow across the top of the eyeballs and around the edges. You can use the ALPHA panel to try out some of the other Alpha Brushes to add veins using a red colour.

DETAILING THE SKIN

Switch layers back to the `head` layer. To get the shiny effect on the lips select a new material (any) from the MATERIAL panel. Go to MATERIAL>MODIFIERS>LOAD and load the pre-saved basic material into the new slot (overwriting the material you just chose). Increase the settings for Specularity, Noise and Noise radius (small amounts). Using the `SimpleBrush` with `Z` off paint the new material onto the lips. If the settings don't look right adjust then REMEMBER: All materials in Zbrush remain `live` and can be adjusted throughout the creation of the image. You will need to change the colour in the COLOR panel and keep the `RGB Intensity` low (high colour transparency) Unlike other 3D applications that use displacement and bump maps, the detail on this model was added with ALPHA brushes or painted on with the Simple Brush. To `paint` the veins and cracks use the `SimpleBrush` with different alpha brushes. The `DRAW` panel can be set to `ZCUT`, which will then use the ALPHA brush to add cracks and creases. You can also make your own in a paint package and import them into the ALPHA panel. Remember you can also change the colour setting as you go. The stitch areas were `painted` on with `Z` turned to `ZCUT` and a red colour.

ADDING THE HOSE

Before creating the hose you need to make an alpha map in a bitmap painting package. It needs to be approximately 500 wide by 80 high and be black and white repeats (i.e. like a pedestrian crossing). It needs to be a .BMP or a .PSD for Zbrush to recognise it. In Zbrush go to the TOOL panel and select Ring3D. Go to TOOL>MODIFIERS>INITIALIZE and change Coverage=230, Hdivide=128, Vdivide=128. Import the black and white bitmap into the ALPHA panel. Go to TOOL>SELECTION>ALP which then grabs the Alpha brush and applies it as a mask to the ZTOOL. Now use TOOL>DEFORMATIONS>INFLATE to create the Hose shape. The black areas of the bitmap are used as a mask, inflating only the White areas. Make sure you change layers to the eyeball layer. With the hose/ring selected in the TOOL panel draw/drag it into the document window. Enter `EDIT` mode (`T`) and apply one of the `Metal` materials and use a dark grey colour. Exit `EDIT` mode (`T`) and use the gyro to position the hose. Remember `W` in+out. Snapshot the hose into position and move the hose to the next position using move and rotate. Repeat until all hoses are placed.


LIGHTS AND RENDERING

The last stage is adding some lights and rendering the image. In the LIGHT panel two lights are set to `on` as default. These are both `SUNS`. Click one of the light slots that isn't highlighted and it should turn `green ` (on). Click into the `COLOR` panel and pick an orange colour. Click under the LIGHT panel in the colour box and that should change to orange. In LIGHT>MODIFIERS>TYPE choose `GLOW`. In LIGHT>MODIFIERS>PLACEMENT drag the `PLACEMENT` button to the document window to where you want the `glow` to appear. These settings will only be shown when you use `BEST RENDER` in the render panel. You will want to try different settings in the lights panel to get the correct effect. Make sure you click `SHADOWS` to `green` (on) in at least one of the `SUN` lights. To see the light effects you need to render the image. Go to the RENDER>MODIFIERS panel and highlight (turn on) `shadows`, `render depth cue` and `depth effects`. Then click `BEST RENDER` to see the results.