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.

Daz3D has added some Sculpted Prim tools to it’s Hexagon software. You can create and texture your sculpties using Hexagon then export them directly to a TGA sculptmap for upload to SL. The modeler looks pretty spiffy and includes advanced 3D painting tools, too.

I’m excited to see more commercial 3D applications including support for sculpted prims. The more tools we have to make sculpties, the better! I’m still hoping for some native sculpty support in ZBrush. :)

Part 1: Modelling

I’ve been spending more time lately learning how to use Zbrush to sculpt and texture objects for Second Life. I love the way that ZBrush works - it’s the closest thing to having a big lump of clay on your desk. I’ve learned a few tricks recently that make it easier for me to create sculpted prims, including texturing the object right in Zbrush.

Here’s a video tutorial/demo that shows how I create, model, texture and convert an object for use in Second Life. The whole tutorial is nearly an hour long so I broke it up into two parts. This first section shows my modelling process, the next will show how I texture my objects. For this how-to I’ll be making a realistic Amanita mushroom, from sphere to finished SL object.

For converting the ZBrush object I use a free program called Sculpty Maker that was made by SL resident 2K Suisei. This little program does a fantastic job of convert the shape to a sculptmap. It was the final piece of the puzzle that allows me to use ZBrush for the entire sculpting/texute workflow. You can find it on the SL forums in this thread.

Part 2: Texturing

In Part two of this tutorial I show how I use the ZProject tool to texture the object using a photo as a reference. I also show how you can easily create a shadow/ambient light map using a spiffy plugin called Material Baker by David ikeda.

By the way, you can download a free, 30 day demo version of ZBrush at the Pixologic website.

Sylvia Trilling has posted a great little tutorial on how to bake the texture/lighting of a ZBrush object for use with your sculpties. I’ve been trying to figure this out for months. ZBrush is awesome but it can be quite confusing at times. Here is the forum post where she posted the link. Thanks Sylvia!