3D Animation Course: Subtools in ZBrush
February 24th, 2009 Posted in 3D Animation School
Subtools are a way of breaking up a model in ZBrush into it’s components. There are a number of advantages to using this work flow, a major plus being that I can work on an individual piece of geometry (a boot maybe) while the other parts of the model are hidden in their subtool layer.
Another advantage is that it allows me to work with the many millions of polygons necessary for a high definition model. With parts of a character on separate layers within the subtool pallet, working on one layer means that I can work on my characters hair for instance and bring the count up to two million polygons which is about the limit for me as I have only 2 gigs of ram on my system.
With the hair on one subtool layer and with others for the head, torso, clothes, swords and other weapons, I can have for instance a total of about 12 million polygons making up the character, which I could never manage on my system if they were all together and not assigned as subtools.
The image is by Sung-Hun (Ryan) Lim, which is one among many great sculpts that can be found on ZbrushCentral.
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By Robert Appleton, New York Film Academy 3D Animation Instructor
2 Responses to “3D Animation Course: Subtools in ZBrush”
By moshood on Feb 25, 2009
i love animation. great work. i am coming this June to the 3D animation school. God grace
By chichi on Mar 5, 2009
count me in. i just raised my fee ready or not here i come.