ZBrushCentral

Sandpiper's Sketchbook II

It is strange indeed as I already bought from Gumroad with Paypal last month…
I’ll try again tomorrow, and if it still doesn’t work, I will contact Gumroad directly.

I did not know you had no control: I thought you had to set up your own shop on their site…

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Hi Jesse, this time there were no problems, so I bought the bundle and am already downloading.

It is clear to me from the excerpts on YT that this is course is very thorough and well worth the investment.
In case of serious course-related questions: can we ask here?

Absolutely! Or you can email directly at jessesandifer at gmail dot com :smiley:

Glad it worked for ya and welcome to the workshop!

OK, so I watched the first few movies from start to finish and also skipped through a few others.
This course is exactly what I was hoping to find one day.

First of all: it is not meant for absolute beginners. If someone is still struggling with, say, transpose, masking, selecting or brush settings, they probably do best to first learn those basics. A good course, yet a bit overpriced (Gnomon…) is Maddie Scott-Spencer’s.
But once the basics have been mastered ‘beyond having to think about them’ your course tells the rest. I’ve seen things I didn’t even knew were possible in ZBrush, like, for example, opening that mouth.
What I like a lot is the emphasis you put on good mesh topology. You really bridge the gap between the ‘normal’ 3D app like Max, or Blender, and ZBrush’ sculpting.
What I also like is how you stress believability. I have seen loads of dragons that would never be able to fly. Poor creatures that don’t even have the muscles of, say, a chicken.
The belly button detail is really funny. Indeed. Eggs…

I am making publicity for your Dragon wherever I can and hope to sell a few courses.

Back to watching…


One thing: I found my interface a bit ‘crowded’, but that was before I saw yours…

Thanks for the review, Erik! Yep, not totally intended for beginners as I really want to just focus on showing how to sculpt the dragon, rather than how to use all the features of ZBrush. You’ll notice my workflow is rather simple and straightforward and I don’t get all tied up in using “tricks”.

So here’s the next video. Part 21: Foot Detailing. It’s exactly what it sounds like - making the scales, wrinkles, and alpha texturing to bring detail and clarity to the foot!

Come grab the ongoing Complete Bundle here:
http://gumroad.com/jessesandifer

//youtu.be/ookxTHR9v2M

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Thanks. Another very interesting part.
What an adventure!

Alrighty, the next Dragon video has been added to the Complete Bundle. Part 22: Leg Detailing

I try something a little new and use polypaint via the Pen Brush to block out the scale design on the leg, which is a massive surface. I then use those lines to confidently block in the scales and get the sculpting process going. I also get into the inner thigh as well so there’s plenty of scales, wrinkles, and detailing fun to be had.

//youtu.be/s-iBbAe5kEU

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More leg action!

https://gumroad.com/l/kYEzk

//youtu.be/LM8bE02icTs

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FREEEEE video. Yes!

This FREE video from the Dragons Workshop is about using ZBrush projection techniques to copy details from the front foot to the rear foot of our Dragon. The projection process takes only 20 minutes to transfer the sculpt details rather than manually sculpting the scales and wrinkles which could take a couple hours or longer.

If you like this video, please consider purchasing the Complete Bundle. It’s updating as I go along and you’ll have access to all previous lessons and ZTL files. Please share this link to anyone else you think would be interested as well. Enjoy!

https://gumroad.com/l/kQgNv

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Thanks again.
I am still enjoying your tutorials a lot. Must add that I also got your battle beast tutorial series, and that I started with that one. I like to watch people grow.

I do hope you will be able to go on with the dragon and add uv’ing and eventually texturing.
I would not mind if you separated this though and that I would have to pay for the extracourse. What you deliver here on modeling and sculpting already goes way beyond the price you are asking.

Thanks again, Erik! I’m super glad you’re enjoying it so far. As far as the future of the Dragon, to be honest, I’m not sure what I’ll do with it after sculpting. I’ll probably pose it at least. Then I’ll figure out if I want to prep it for 3D print and show the process for that as well. UV’s and textures could be considered after that, possibly…we shall see…by then I might be into doing something smaller in scope. heh

For now, here’s a little break from Dragons. A creature head bust I sculpted based on a concept from a friend and colleague, Sean McNally.

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Good work indeed.

A dragon is not a normal ‘meal’ but quickly leads to an indigestion, so I understand the smaller projects idea.
What I would love to see, and this must not be the 30million dragon, is HQ UV’ing and using Udims as a basis for texturing, including how this works in ZBrush. I am still quite confused on this subject.

This said: your tutorials did open my eyes to paying more attention to the base mesh, and this in ZBrush. I did in Modo and Blender, but considered ZBrush to be ‘different’. Not anymore. Thanks to your tutorials.
I have always liked ZSpheres and importing meshes from Modo and now Blender, but I still use DynaMesh when I feel like it. But when I do I now tend to use either ZModeler to replace-, or a combination of the Planar and Smooth brushes at close zoom-in to adjust critical zones before remeshing either in ZBrush or in Blender.
The more I learn to use ZModeler, the more I tend to like it. I only wish that by default it would be set to TakeNoAction as its sensitivity to faces, edges or points is diffcult to control. Its terminology is also a bit unclear. To divide a poly in two, one has to ‘bridge two points’.
Luckily it works. Most of the time that is.

Awesome stuff, Erik!

Here’s another pass at the dragon. This time it’s working on the back detailing. Pretty fun stuff! We only have the tail and wings left!

Come get the Complete Bundle if you haven’t yet: https://gumroad.com/l/kYEzk

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Forgot to post the preview video so you can get a sampling of the goodness :slight_smile:

//youtu.be/UexOssrmNa8

More Dragons action: Part 26: Tail Detailing

I talk about tail tip design and blending in the tail with the rest of the body. We’ve only got the wings left and this thing will be just about wrapped up! Well, maybe I’ll do a posing video as well…we’ll see…

here’s the preview:
//youtu.be/aaGNmAYYqok

https://gumroad.com/l/kYEzk - get the Bundle! $35

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This is indeed a very detailed sculpt. Love it.

I do have one question though: when I observe the hind leg, I notice four different movements ‘zig-zagging’ from the hip to the toenails. For the sake of this sculpt this is of course best, but when it really were for production, would you still do it this way of would you straighten it out so as to avoid UV difficulties?

Still enjoying the course a lot, and I cannot but recommend it to people who are seriously involved with ZBrush and want to go a level deeper, or higher.

Hey Erik - sorry! I just saw your comment. This is a natural position for the dragon so I’d just uv/texture/rig from this pose.

The biggest release you’ve been waiting for that isn’t Star Wars…Dragons Workshop is DONE

After 5 months of on-going updates, I’m calling this fella finished. If you’ve been waiting to get the Complete Bundle once the whole thing was done and you could see the final result, well, now’s the time to jump in and grab it up!

Final Complete Bundle Stats:
$49
28 videos
over 31 hours of real-time HD recording, minimal editing

includes ZBrush files for your reference (even the finished product)

https://gumroad.com/l/kYEzk

And I’ll tease a little bit here - I may end up doing an add-on bundle here in the future. Posing, 3D print prep, etc. Probably won’t get into uv/texture and all that though (sorry!)
Please do come by and check out the Bundle if you’re remotely interested. Thanks so much for the support and please SHARE!!

Here are some final shots of the zbrush sculpt.

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Here’s some better renders out of Vray after some decimating in Zbrush. Maybe it’ll show off the sculpt a little better.

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Thanks Jesse for this series. This could never be on,say, a Gnomon dvd, as it would need some ten dvd’s. It is long, but not boring. Because after a while you realize that every moment something can be said or done that is vital and new. To be honest: I never ever had a course like this one before. It is not ‘ye olde ZBrushshe’ following the rutted paths of what also can be found elsewhere but a new approach that bridges the Modo-Maya-Max-Blender way with ZBrush’ typical techniques.

I learned a lot, and the price is what they call in the UIS a ‘no-brainer’.

The details and workflow on multi maps etc
can be found in your battlebeast tutorial series.

Thanks again.

Amazing stuff, dunno why so little comments, zcentral sometimes feels like ghost town ;f
Only i didnt like is that but ugly materiel from zbrush shoots, any materiel with a cavity shader blows to show off works ;/