- Select a new ZSphere tool.
- Clone your model, and hide a part of the legs.
- Make sure that the subdiv level of the model is at 2 - Press CTRL and click on all the polygroups, one by one, to hide the whole body, except the fingers and toes. To spare time, we are going to keep this geometry and to use it as starting point for the final model.
In the Tool: Rigging subpalette, select the whole model, and activate the Projection Mode, so that the model which will be generated is projected on the Template.
In the Tool:Topology subpalette, select the cloned model only fingers of which are visible. Enter the Edit Topology Mode.
An orange wireframe model should appear over the fingers and the toes. This topology is composed of multiple Z Sphere chains, and was generated from the topology you selected. These chains of Z Spheres defines the contour of patches, from which a 3d mesh is going to be generated. Set the Max Strip Length to its max. This parameter indicates the maximum length of one of the side of a patch, so that it can be generated Like a standard Z Sphere model, you can Move, Scale, and delete part of the topology as you like, and also can preview the final model at any moment, by pressing A.
We are now going to create the rest of the topology, by beginning by connecting the thumb with fingers, and then, we are going to create rectangular patches which are going to define the remaining topology.
Press CTRL and click on a Z Sphere to define the starting point, and draw a four segments ZSphere chain. Create a second chain. both of them snaps automatically on top of the underlying model.
Pay attention that both chains have the same number of segments. If a chain has less segments than the other one, press CTRL and click on a segment to select it, then add an additional segment.
- Press A to check the generated mesh, then A again to switch back to the ZSphere model.
Continue to add patches, until the model is ended. Open the Adaptative skin sub palette, and Hit Make Adaptive Skin.
The final model is generated and placed in the Tool Palette. The number of it's subdiv level is controlled both by the Density slider in the Adaptative Skin sub-palette, and by the Subdiv Parameter in the Topology Palette. Here is what the final geometry should look like.
Before Beginning to Sculpt :
Now, the serious things are going to begin.
The model on which you go to work will be the definitive model, (or almost). The first thing which it is always necessary to do before sculpting a model is to crease the border edges. Here, the only ones are the openings of the eyes and the mouth. When you go to smooth the model later, these edges will remain hard. The second advantage to hardening the edges of the model, will be when you have to calculate the cage of the model, to generate a displacement map; the cage model will be cleaner.
- Go to the Tool:Geometry subpalette, and apply a crease.
- Subdivide the model five times, up to level 6, with the Divide tool, or using Ctrl + D. The model should be around two million polygons
