2k Suisei has updated his zBrush to Sculpty converter to version 1.5. Woot! This version is a bit more forgiving on the order of the vertices in the mesh and also allows for off-center placement of the axis of rotation – which should be great for animating sculpties. Check out this forum thread for more info and to download the new version of SculptyMaker.

Here is my third zBrush to Sculpted Prim Tutorial. This time around we take a look at the zBrush Primitives and how theycan be used as starting points for your sculpties. No need to always start with the standard sphere – you can use the plane, cylinder, spiral, and even the SweepProfile shapes.

This is a two part video. In part one I show the process for using the zBrush primitives and explain which shapes will work as sculpties, and which will not.

In part two I use the SweepProfile primitive as a starting point for creating a soft, sculpted hat.

To convert these zBrush objects to sculpties you’ll need the SculptyMaker converter that was created by 2k Suisie. You can download it here. Just export your zBrush object as a .obj file and run it throuh the converter to create the sculptmap image file. If this is your first time creating sculpties with zBrush you might want to watch my first zBrush to Sculpty tutorial where I demonstrate the entire process.

There are two big gatherings of artists and their works this weekend in Second Life. The Museum of Hyperformalism  and the New Media Consortium present a collection called Kiss the Sky, while Rezzable and Not Possible in Real Life present The Garden of Earthly Delights.

Kiss the Sky is an  art historical survey of Hyperformalism  – a 21st century art movement, native to the the virtual world. The display is curated by DanCoyote Antonelli and features a whole slew of artists who are exploring the boundaries of art in a virtual space.

Virtual worlds are a place for discovering new territories and exploring meaning outside the context of the material world. Even in virtual worlds there is an avant garde, a native artform spawned from unique conditions. “Kiss the Sky” is an exhibition of artists that have been wowing viewers since 2006 with art installations indigenous to the virtual world that artist/curator DC Spensley calls Hyperformalism.

The Garden of Earthly Delights is a virtual re-imagining of Heironimus Bosch’s famous tryptich of the same name. 4 sims worth of imaginative, extravagent artwork from some of the grids most prolific and talented artistw.

This is not about recreating Bosch’s Garden. It’s about imagining and crafting your own. If you were to journey into heaven or hell, what would this look like, and how might you make this as immersive as possible

Both of these collections are don’t-miss events for anyone interested in virtual art and artists. I’ll post some pictures this weekend after I’ve had a chance to visit them myself. :)

Teleport to Kiss The Sky

Teleport to The Garden of Earthly Delights

Turn any object into a Sculpty

In this tutorial I show you how you can use zBrush 3.1 to convert an existing object to a sculpted prim. We’ll be using the Subtools feature which allows you to work on more than one object mesh at a time, and the zProject brush to transfer the 3D geometry from the original shape to our new sculpty-friendly shape. I’ll also be using the Material Baker script to bake the shadows and highlights into a texture to be applied to the sculpty in-world.

The zProject brush rocks! The more I play with zBrush, the more ways I find to combine the tools to create new effects. In my first zBrush tutorial I used zProject to texture an object with a photo/image reference – and now I’m using it to transfer actual 3D data. This technique is not limited to just copying objects, either. It could be used anytime you want to copy 3D info from one object to another object. There’s also now reason that you couldn’t use multiple sculpties to convert parts of a complicated object.

If you haven’t done so already, you might want to watch my first video where I demonstrate the entire process of creating and texturing a sculpted prim in zBrush. Besides the Material Baker script you’ll also need 2k Suisie’s SculptyMaker converter program.

Sorry about the scratchy audio in this one, dunno what happened. :) You can also download a higher resolution, Quicktime version of the video.

Gaia Clary and Hussayn Salomon have created two tutorial videos that show how you can use Blender to create and texture sculpted prims. These vids are a great introduction to the process, and can help you get up to speed quickly. Blender, along with Domino Marama’s scripts, is probably the most versatile and powerful way to create sculpties for free.