ZSpheres
ZSpheres block out an organic base mesh from connected spheres: start from one root sphere, grow a torso, a head, limbs, fingers, a tail or branches from it, set the proportions, look at the skin over them, then turn it into a mesh you sculpt as usual. It is the quickest way to get the structure of a character or creature before any detail.
Make a ZSphere SubTool#
Tool > ZSpheres > New ZSphere adds a ZSphere SubTool holding one root sphere at the centre and makes it active. It sits in the SubTool list like any other SubTool, so you can block out a creature next to a model you already have.
While a ZSphere SubTool is active, dragging on it edits the spheres instead of sculpting. Dragging the background still navigates. The brush ring is hidden; the sphere under the cursor gets an outline instead.
Edit the spheres#
Pick the mode in Tool > ZSpheres:
| Mode | On a sphere | On a link |
|---|---|---|
| Draw | Drag to grow a new sphere from it. It starts on the surface where you pressed; how far you drag sets its size (a click makes one half the size of its parent) | Click to add a joint halfway along the link, and drag to place it |
| Move | Drag to move it across the screen. The links stretch to follow | Moves the sphere at the end of the link |
| Scale | Drag up or right to make it bigger, down or left to make it smaller | Scales the sphere at the end of the link |
In every mode, Alt+click a sphere to delete it together with everything that grows from it. The root sphere (orange) always stays.
Symmetry (X) mirrors every edit: grow an arm on the right and the left one grows with it, move a leg and its twin moves too. A sphere on the centre line stays on it.
Every drag is one step of the SubTool's undo history, so Ctrl+Z takes back the last sphere you added, moved or scaled.
Preview the skin#
Preview (A) shows the skin over the spheres instead of the spheres themselves, so you can judge the volumes. The skin is a smooth union of the spheres and the cones between them, with the joints filled out a little. Turn Preview off to edit the spheres again; while it is on, clicks on the model do nothing.
Make Mesh#
Make Mesh builds the skin as a new SubTool right below the ZSphere SubTool and makes it active:
- It is watertight and made of quads, ready for the brushes, Dynamic topology, Divide or QRemesh.
- Each link gets its own polygroup, so you can isolate or mask a limb straight away.
- Resolution sets how dense it is: cells across the model's longest side. 128 suits a blockout; raise it for thin fingers or tails that come out too thin or broken.
The ZSphere SubTool is hidden and kept. To change the proportions later, show and select it, edit the spheres and Make Mesh again. The armature is saved with the project.
Scripting#
The same operations are commands (see Scripting): zsphere_new, zsphere_list, zsphere_add, zsphere_set, zsphere_delete, zsphere_insert, zsphere_preview and zsphere_make_mesh. For example, a simple figure:
zsphere_new radius=0.5
zsphere_add parent=0 position=0,0.8,0 radius=0.3
zsphere_add parent=0 position=0.9,0.1,0 radius=0.2 symmetry=x
zsphere_make_mesh resolution=160