Material IDs (Fig.61)

Now we will separate the mesh in different material Ids.
This will allow us to import the model into ZBrush and separate it in poly groups automatically.

-Create a new Multi/Sub-Object material.
-Click the "Set Number” button and set the number of materials to 20.
-By clicking on the color swatch at the right of the material attribute a random color to each material. This will help you to identify the assigned Material Ids.
-Select the Polygon sub-objects referring to each different anatomical part of the character. Please follow the figure, be careful to separate the mouth from the head, the thumb from the glove and the feet from the toes. Select everything symmetrically, for example when you choose the left forearm also include the right forearm in the same material ID.

Eyes1 (Fig.62)

-Create a sphere primitive with a radius of 0.06m and place it roughly at the eye socket.

Eyes2 (Fig.63)

-If you wish to isolate the eye press Alt + Q
-Add an Edit Poly modifier and pick the polygons that represent the pupil. You can do this quickly by restricting the polygon selection to be "By Angle” with a value of 3.0 and clicking one of the pupil polygons.
-Move the selected polygons inwards.
-Pick the Extrude Dialog box and set a value of -0.02m.

Eyes3 (Fig.64)

Let's make the eye globes symmetrical in relation to the character mesh. This will ease the symmetrical editing in ZBrush.

-If you have entered the Isolate mode, exit by clicking the "Exit Isolation Mode” button.
-Add Symmetry modifier to the eye.
-Inside the Symmetry modifier, select the mirror sub object.
-Click the Align button and pick the character body mesh.
-In the Align Dialog box choose the "X Position” and the "Center” of the Target Object.
-Choose "Apply”.

Export (Fig.65)

And now is the time to export our character to ZBrush.

If you would like to build upon what you learnt in this article or if you would like to continue to follow this tutorial you can purchase the full eBook in the 3DTotal shop.