Creating Game Assets in ZBrush

What you'll learn

ZBrush is a fantastic tool for creating very detailed models, from characters, to props and environments. The powerful sculpting and painting tools allow artists the freedom to create whatever they can imagine. Many times, however, the process of building game-resolution geometry and baking the appropriate maps to reproduce that detail falls to other applications in the pipeline. However, if you don't have access to Maya, 3DS Max, or TopoGun to name a few, ZBrush has all the tools you need to create a low resolution game-type mesh with all the appropriate maps. In this ZBrush tutorial we'll go over techniques for sculpting our initial high-resolution asset: a ceremonial dagger. We'll use DynaMesh, clipping brushes, masking, and a variety of other tools to get our final result. We'll also paint the dagger appropriately. Once that mesh is done, we'll talk about different options in ZBrush for creating a low-resolution mesh derived from the final asset. We'll also create and edit a UV layout in ZBrush, project the detail through, and create our maps. To finish, we'll bring everything into Marmoset Toolbag to see how it will look in real time. In the end, you'll be able to go through the same process on your own meshes without ever leaving ZBrush. Software required: ZBrush 4R5, Marmoset Toolbag 1.15.