ZBrushCentral

How to use an image as a reference?

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

Basically i am trying to create a head in zbrush, and i want to work with a jpeg on the canvas so that i can get the proportions right of the features as i’d be working directly over the image (and the image would be an image of the person i’m portraying.)

Now i’ve gotten as far as importing the jpeg from the document tab, and using that as the first layer, but unlike photoshop, you can’t work on the actual model without covering the picture.

is there anyway to either make the model transparent or to get the image to overlay the model transparently

IE: like how in photoshop there’s the ‘opacity’ setting in the layers.

here’s a video of an example of what i’m trying to do, though it’s in a different program, mudbox:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsM2solkahg

thanks in advance!

#2

on the right shelf there is a button for transparency. you may or may not need to turn on ghosting.

the options to change the settings of the transparency are in preferences.

#3

You would append an image plane (Plane 3d tool) to your head mesh as a subtool. Resize it to fit and position slightly behind the head using transpose. Then make sure it’s a polymesh by creating polymesh 3d. Now, either unwrap the plane 3d using planar or uvmaster to allow it to accept a texture. You then import the texture via the texture menu up top and assign it to the plane by clicking the empty grey box in the texture palette on the right.

Then you can adjust the transparency of the head mesh subtool by adjusting the transparency options on the shelf to the right of the working view. If you dont get enough transparency, you can adjust the levels in Preferences/Draw Trans. Depth and Front Opacity , Back Opacity to your tastes.

#4

In the Texture pallette load your reference image. After it is loaded go back to the Texture pallette and go to the bottom where it says Image Plane. Click Load Image. There are transparency controls in that pallette as well.
It’s invaluable.
This is in zbrush 3.5 R3. It’s one of the main reason I hunkered down and bought a license. :slight_smile: