This week, I focused on building the mechanical body of the character in ZBrush. My workflow was largely guided by the research and visual analysis completed last week. I began by sketching the major muscle flows and structural divisions directly onto the model. Since the mech body is partially open and layered, I needed to carefully consider the hierarchy of components—understanding which parts sit deeper inside and which parts are exposed on the surface. Ensuring these layers wrapped around each other in a logical and functional way was essential, especially because the model needs enough space for later rigging and articulation.
Hard-surface sculpting workflow in ZBrush
To create the hard-surface elements, I followed several key steps:
1. Establishing form through subdivision and sculpting
I first subdivided the model enough to sculpt in structural details such as panel edges, surface breaks, transitions, and height differences. These early sculpted guidelines helped define the scale and proportion of each mechanical plate.
2. Masking and separating panels
Once the overall layout was clear, I used masking to isolate specific shapes or panel blocks. These masked selections were then split into separate subtools, allowing me to work on each component individually.
3. Refining edges using polish and manual adjustment
After splitting the mesh, I used Polish by Features to clean up rough edges. I also used the Move brush to manually adjust silhouette lines and ensure each boundary looked intentional and readable.
4. Painting color-based groups
To organise the model visually, I painted temporary color lines to mark the boundaries between each mechanical plate. ZBrush’s plugin allowed to convert these painted areas into multi polygroups, making the model easier to control and manipulate.
5. Improving topology with ZRemesher
I alternated between Polish by Groups, ZRemesher (keeping groups and creases), and Crease by Polygroup to optimise the mesh. This process reduced polygon count while preserving group edges and mechanical sharpness.
6. Finalising panels with QMesh
After cleaning the topology, I removed the creases and used the QMesh function in the ZModeler brush to extrude consistent thickness for all panels. This step solidified the hard-surface look and gave the mech body its final physical form.