ZBrushCentral

IMM brush - Different brush size per insert mesh?

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

I sculpt miniatures and I have a bunch of insert meshes of things that I use often (bolts, ropes, rivets, buckles, etc) and they have all been carefully set to a specific brush size so they draw out at a specific consistent scale that I know looks good when printed out at 32mm scale.

I use A LOT of these insert meshes on every project. I recently discovered that I should not be saving them into my BrushPresets folder, and should instead save them into the Zbrushes folder and load them in through lightbox as I need them in order to avoid technical problems.

Well I often need a lot of different insert meshes, and I often need them often. For example, I have like dozens of different “screw” insert meshes of varying sizes and head types etc depending on the situation. Having to load them in individually through lightbox as I need them is a nightmare.

So I thought creating an IMM brush with all of the “screw” variations contained in it would be the solution. I noticed that each individual insert mesh within the IMM brush can have individual depth settings. But as far as I can tell, all of the insert meshes contained within the IMM brush cannot have individual brush size settings. This is a huge problem for my workflow because, as I stated earlier, the insert meshes need to draw out to a very specific size, and due to varying shapes and whatnot, some of the screws need to be set to a different brush size in order to draw out at the correct size.

So is there any solution or workaround to this problem? Can insert meshes within an IMM brush be set to different brush sizes? Or is there any other workaround to allow me to have my bits box of carefully tuned insert meshes quickly at my fingertips?

Thank you to anyone who can help!

#2

Hi @Regal_Raster,

Drawsize is per brush and there is no capacity in the program for storing multiple draw sizes for a single brush. The IMs would need to be created as individual brushes to have individual drawsizes.

However, even storing a draw size for a brush will not in itself guarantee that IMs will all draw out at the same size. The IMs will vary with the world size of the mesh they were created at, and they will vary with how the stroke was drawn on the canvas.

To prevent this from happening:

  1. All meshes must be created at the same worldsize. Use Tool> Deformation> Unify before IM brush creation to set each subtool to the optimal XYZ worldsize of 2.0. This will ensure the meshes all have more or less the same bounding box, though differences in the form of the mesh can still introduce differences.

  2. After beginning to draw out an IM, hold Ctrl. This will ensure that the mesh is drawn out at a consistent size determined by the draw size of the brush, rather than how it is drawn out on the canvas. As long as you continue to hold Ctrl after beginning the stroke, each mesh will be drawn at that same size.

So if you have a brush containing multiple IM meshes that you would like to re-create for a more consistent experience, you could use the procedure described in this video to capture all the meshes from a brush as subtools in a new tool:

Use Tool> Deformation> Unify on each subtool to center them and re-size them to a 2.0 XYZ. You can take this opportunity to ensure that each subtool has the correct proportions relative to the others, for instance if you wanted one mesh to be a “key” size and ensure that all other meshes scale to that mesh proportionately.

If you have determined which draw size you’d like to draw each subtool at, you could note this in the name of the subtool.

Then, use the Brush> Create> Create InsertMultiMesh to create a new IMM brush from all the subtools in the active tool at once.

Hope that helps! :slight_smile:

#3

Thank you very much for the in depth response, it is much appreciated! I will definitely look into this and try it out! Thank you!