Now that the model is in its final pose, we'll do some high-definition sculpting for details. HD Sculpting allows you to detail a single model up to one billion polygons. This works almost exactly as for normal subdivision, but keep the portion of the model that is being worked with at any time to a size that leaves your system responsive.
In Tool:Geometry HD, divide the girl model two times. This will be enough to add all the needed details.
Then, hover your mouse over the area you want to sculpt and press the key. A circular area around the mouse has been selected. The number of polygons of this area is determined by Preferences:Mem:MaxPolyPerMesh. You can then sculpt in that area. When done with HD sculpting, press the a key again to exit Sculpt HD mode. On this model, thanks to the HD, we are going to be able to add the skin grain, the relief tattoos, and all the details necessary to add exactly the realism we want.
You can detail the skin grain in two different ways. The first solution is to use a simple brush, a spray stroke, and the Alpha Brush 15, which will allow you to both sculpt and paint your model. Or, you can capture it from a photo
Creating an Alpha from a Photo:
It's easy to create an alpha from a photo and to use it as a stencil or as a stamp with a 3d brush.
For this, you will need two additional pieces of software; Photoshop® or something similar, and a little help from Jpeg Enhancer to remove Jpeg artefacts from photos. Here's what to do:
1. Open the original photo in Photoshop, and do a High Pass filter to remove all the relief and shadows but the skin grain. Save the picture in .Psd format and open it as an alpha in ZBrush
2. Set Alpha:Alpha Depth Factor to a value between 2 and 12. It may vary according to the shading of the picture.
3. Adjust the Alpha curve to get a nicer depth effect, and fill the document with the Alpha, using the Alpha:CropAndFill button.
4. Select the GlowBrush Tool, and activate the ZAdd Button. Press and hold the Alt key (which is a shortcut to access the Smooth sculpting brush), and use the tool on your document to smooth it, except for the creases.
5. Grab the whole document, or a portion of it with the MRGBZ Grabber tool. The new alpha is stored in the alpha palette.
6. If you intend to use this Alpha as a stencil, set it to be the current stencil using the Alpha: Make St Button.
Creating an Alpha Manually and Using It with the Edit Brush :
In some cases, you will have to create your own Alphas from scratch. We are going to need it to stylize the hair, and to make it look like a clay sculpting.
1. Create a New Document.
2. Change its size to 400 * 400, and Store Depth History. Storing depth history will allow us to add a constant depth layer.
3. Now, draw a 3d plane on and parallel to the canvas. You can easily snap a tool by rotations of 90 degrees, by pressing the Shift key while you rotate the tool.
4. Switch to the Layer brush, select Alpha 15 and a Spray stroke.
5. Draw a first stroke, by paying attention not to draw on the edges of the Canvas.
6. On the Layer Palette, Displace vertically the canvas, this will allow us to create tileable alphas.
7. Draw an additional stroke, and repeat the operation one or two times.
8. When you're fully satisfied with the result, press Alpha:GrabDoc.
Note: With this technique, you can create your own Alphas, textures, and stencils. Because it's possible to create an Alpha from any part of the document, you can also convert any visible object, and use the grabbed picture as a brush.
9. Now, switch back to the girl model, select the Clay brush and the new Alpha you just created.
10. Open the Stroke menu and activate the Roll option. You are now ready to give the hair a detailed look, which looks like clay.
The rest of the models presents no technical difficulty. The blue tattoos of the girl are sculpted and painted using the Lazy Mouse mode, which gives us perfect smoothed curves. The hair is sculpted in HD using the Clay brush with lazy mouse mode too.
