SpiderBot Building the Cannon Part 01 (#010)
In Part 1 of this 3 part series, we begin by creating the Cannon for our SpiderBot using several different techniques that will speed up our workflow. We start the series within Zbrush 4R3 before moving into R4 towards the end. In this series my focus is more on technique than design. We look at some useful techniques that can help with our overall workflow such as utilizing PolyGroups and minimising point count whenever possible.
INTRODUCTION
In this introduction, we look at the overall scope of Part 1 of this series and briefly examine some of the topics that will be covered including Hard Surface techniques, maintaining a low poly count and highlighting the differences between R3 and R4.
CHAPTER 01 (R3)
In Chapter 1 (R3), we create the first part of the gun barrel with a cylinder for the basic shape. We use an old school method of creating holes with the InsertCylinder together with Radial Symmetry to apply them. We use Ctrl + Shift and the Replay Last button to create multiple InsertCylinders.
CHAPTER 01 (R4)
In Chapter 1 (R4), we create the first part of the gun barrel with a similar technique to the previous tutorial. We also look at two different methods to create holes, one using Dynamesh but with a slight difference to the R3 technique and a completely new method exclusive to ZBrush R4.
CHAPTER 02
In Chapter 2, we detail the cooling/ heat jacket. We first utilise the SelectLasso Brush to select parts of the jacket and begin building the barrel by merging it together with Merge Visible to create a new object which we turn into a DynaMesh and then use ProjectAll to retrieve all the detail.
CHAPTER 03
In Chapter 3, we build a clamp for the barrel. We utilise Ctrl + Shift for a range of different techniques including adding indentations to detail and ‘growing’ parts of the model. We use Edge Loop with Crisp turned on in order to create a clean lip for our clamp.
CHAPTER 04
In Chapter 4, we create latches for the clamp created in the previous tutorial. We use a Cube for our basic shape before creating a new object with ReMesh All. We use the same technique to later create additional hinges for our latch.
CHAPTER 05
In Chapter 5, we create the hexagonal piece located near the breech of the barrel. We start with a cylinder then adjust the number of sides before turning it into a polymesh. We utilise Ctrl + Shift to achieve a rib-like pattern.
CHAPTER 06
In Chapter 6, we create the cover plate mount. We start with a Cube and rough out a basic shape before using ZSphere Topology to create a new low resolution base mesh. Again we use Ctrl + Shift to create our overall shape.
CHAPTER 07
In Chapter 7, we use Ctrl + Shift together with Edge Loop and masking functions to create some additional detail surrounding the Cover Plate mount that was created in the previous tutorial. This is a short and simple tutorial.
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kaostavo
Hello good tutorial man good job
i have a question
I want to sustract the cilinder like you do but always ended with a add cilinder even when i select the Zsub button :S what i am doing Wrong?
BadKing
Thanks so much
Try holding down ‘Alt’ when applying your cylinder, this should fix it 
kaostavo
thanks that help me a lot
BadKing
Glad to hear
BadKing
You’re welcome, so glad they helped
anniibunnii
Hey
I just wanted to let you know that I’m currently applying to a college so I can study gamedesign. I appreciate your work SO MUCH, it helped me a LOT! As soon as there’s any available membership I will buy it, so I can give you credits for your hard work. I really think people who give away their advice and knowledge voluntarily make the world a better place (yeah that sounded very cheesy
).
Anyway, thanks a lot.
Anna
BadKing
Thanks for the kind words Anna. Sounds exciting! I’m just getting back into the swing on things in the new year so heaps to come on the website…appreciate the support. Cheers
pop2
thank you for sharing
BadKing
Anytime
RaymonBrugman
Great! That worked! Thank you soo much! Feel free to remove any of my above comments
…
Thaanks!
Ray
BadKing
I was just about to answer your previous questions when I saw this comment… LOL, I’ll leave them out for you… glad it worked out
darionLeigh
Here is a question! Sometimes when I insert a tool. in this case a cylinder- the cylinder draws oud squished. Sometimes it is so squished it looks like a plane. Any thoughts?
BadKing
When you draw out an IMM object (Insert Multi Mesh Brush) and then attempt to resize it (by continuing to hold down the pen or mouse button) you will end up reshaping the IMM object… Try just adding the IMM object roughly where you want it and then use the transpose-lines to make adjustments…I’m hoping this is what you were referring to…
darionLeigh
I have not managed to repeat the error for a while. But the squashing happens when I first drag the IMM into existence. Documentation on the pixologic site talks about the zIntensity applying a squash – and that is kind of cool – but this is something else. A mystery.
BadKing
Hmmm… yes it does sound like a mystery. I want to start with a few questions so I can understand exactly what is happening here:
1) When you apply the cylinder, does it reshape (squash) into something resembling a coin?
2) Does it only happen with the cylinder or does it also happen with other IMM brushes?
3) Does it happen again when you close ZBrush and then restart the same file?
4) Does it happen with any new or other files once you’ve started ZBrush?
In the meantime, go into the ‘Brush’ menu, open up ‘Modifiers’ and inside of that there is a slider called ‘Pressure’, make sure it is set to 0 (zero). Let me know how you go
darionLeigh
Hi – Chapter 1 – R4: What is the point of the second method of creating holes. It seems like a lot of hassle compared to the first method. Thanks in advance.
BadKing
I showed two different methods of creating holes to demonstrate workflow for the different versions of ZBrush. The first method is for users with R3 and the second for those with R4. Hope this helps
Clayface
Thanks for making these great videos! I’ve learned a lot.
I’ll definitely spread the word about BadKing.
BadKing
Thank you so much, spreading the word is a huge help and greatly appreciated
Entropi
Thanks really great tutorial!! Learned alot
BadKing
Thanks. it’s great to hear that the tutorials are helping other artists in the community
Stay tuned, more stuff coming soon.
SteveR
Hi, great tutorials, stuck on chapter 3 though, at around 6 minutes you use the replay function (pressing 1 on the keyboard) and it grows the unmasked section by a row of polygons at a time. However when I do this, and I have tried several times it only replays the move and does not create a row of polygons every repeat of the step. So I get the same result as if I had moved the unmasked section all the way in one go – which as you illustrated in the video a few moments before is not what is needed. Any ideas as to which but I am going wrong on? I am using ctrl+shift when I do the move, really can’t see what I am doing differently!! Any help much appreciated.
BadKing
If CTRL + SHIFT isn’t working the way you want, there could be a couple of problems off the top of my head:
1. You have sub division levels on. This function will not work with sub division levels so make sure you have deleted ALL your sub divisions levels.
2. Part of your mesh is hidden. If this is the case, I would recommend clicking the Delete Hidden button inside Geometry under Modify Topology.
See if either of these work and let me know how you go
SteveR
Thanks for the speedy reply, I still had some division levels and so that was it! Doh! You do make that clear in the video as well – sure I did it but clearly not! Sorry to waste your time. Thanks for the training and also the free stuff which is really cool!
BadKing
You’re welcome
No need to apologise it’s my pleasure to help when I can… Cheers mate!
madhuri
Mind blowing information. you have taken lot of efforts to explain, in detail each and every aspect.It made me easy to understand zbrush .
Hats off to you.Thanks you .
BadKing
You’re more than welcome, thank you for the kind words
Xypher
Great stuff so far, although i did not work through it yet.
One little tip though… in Chapter 3 you are using the circle clipping brush. When back in the dropdown menu, where you select the cirlce, at 12:29, there are 2 little buttons in that menu called Square and Center.
Square will give you a perfect circle and center will let you drag the circle from the center instead of the upper left.
BadKing
Good tip! Thanks for sharing
gitch
Merge and weld in Chapter 6 is not working, the slice curve disappears when I hit merge and weld.
gitch
I flipped it to the other side and it worked for some reason other then the side in your video showed.
BadKing
That’s right, whenever Mirror and Weld doesn’t work try flipped the model to the other side. I should have pointed that out in my tutorial, my apologies
gitch
Nothing to be sorry about at least I am learning these things on my own so that is a good thing..
BadKing
cool
gitch
I hit 1 on the keyboard nothing happens in the first chapter to duplicate, and yes I have 4r4. Thx
gitch
I have 4r4 p2..
gitch
Then the smaller holes would not cut all the way thru even thou the bolean shows it all the thru like you said on the video.
gitch
Forget the second part question that part works.
gitch
Found the answer in the second part, Stroke> ReplayLast, apparently you can not use one anymore..
BadKing
It sounds like you have it all sorted now…if you run into trouble again just let me know
gitch
Thanks, keep up the good work on your tutorials I have learned a lot.. I hope people donate because they are well worth the extra dime to keep you going. Please think about texturing with your tutorials sometime as well..
BadKing
Thanks
Texturing is a topic I definitely want to cover in the near future.
yoguy108
great tutorial
learned a lot of stuff
thanks
BadKing
Thanks mate! I’m happy to hear that the tutorials are helping
Arthur
Thanks, mate! Great stuff, you do tend to talk very fast – but I got used to that after the third tutorial ; )
Much appreciated, keep ‘em coming, please : )
BadKing
Yeah, you’re right, I get that alot, there’s just so much to say and so little time
I’ll try to slow it down a bit. Cheers. Keep the feedback coming.
darionLeigh
I think fast is good! Some tutorials on other sites are so rambling and slow.
BadKing
Cheers