Zbrush - Week 10:

In this blog I will be talking about curve brushes and how they can be created using a buckle as an example for what you can use the curve brushes for.

Curve Brushes are a type of IMM Brush so it can be used to create different buckles belts or anything that you may need to decorate a sculpt. You can use models that you have modelled before to make the sculpting process quicker.  

For example a belt could be made into an IMM brush as it can be used so that the belt is as long as needed whilst also having the buckles there that can be edited as the only bit that changes with the brush is how long the belt is. 

Once you have the model in Zbrush you need to give them separate poly groups to be able to have only the belt change lengths rather than the buckles be duplicated or there be more of them. However you need to make sure that the vertices aligned with each other without merging the vertices whilst still being the same subtool. 

A popular way to use curves for hair is to use curves. You can go to stroke > curve modifiers > select size and adjust the curve falloff which will change the sizes for the first part of the curve and the last part of the curve. 

There are quite a few different uses for curve brushes and they can be quite useful when creating characters and other accessories. It makes creating things when using curve brushes much quicker to complete. 

Buckle Model in Maya:
RETON Plastic Release Buckles Adjustable [online]. Amazon: Buckles. Available at: https://www.amazon.com/RETON-Plastic-Release-Buckles-Adjustable/dp/B0753DYKLL [Accessed 17 December 2024]

This buckle is one of the main images I used to be able to make the shape for the buckle and I used it as  an orthographic so that I could model with it as a reference behind the model. I mainly used the images on the right where the two pieces are separated however I created the bottom one and then copied and pasted it then flipped it to be able to make the top one quicker and easier. 
Side Release Lock Buckle [online]. Ji-Horng Plastic Co., Ltd: Plastic Buckle. Available at: https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ji-horng.com%2Fside-release-lock-buckle-s20&psig=AOvVaw3Z0ttW5Hovk736tW0kI6BV&ust=1732616210455000&source=images&cd=vfe&opi=89978449&ved=0CAMQjB1qFwoTCMCcmMGg94kDFQAAAAAdAAAAABAT [Accessed 17 December 2024]

This is the other image that I used to create the buckles as I needed to see how wide the buckle was and how it curves if it does. I used it as a guideline however I didn't make the buckle a one to one copy of the image as I only used it to see how wide to make it.


This is the buckle that I created in maya before I align the vertices for putting into Zbrush. You can see each part of the buckle and if you were to connect them up then it would fit together as I tested it before I created the part that connects the two to create an actual belt. I am quite happy with how it turned out, even though its quite a simple model and it was quite quick to make I am still proud of how it came out as it looks quite realistic.