How to Make Hair in Zbrush

Zbrush is a digital sculpting tool that combines 3-D modeling with painting and texturing to produce high-resolution models for use in animations, games and movies. This program is an industry standard and has been used by a range of high-end movie production companies. When used correctly, Zbrush is capable of rendering not just the models, but also their hair, clothing and other accessories.

Prepare the model. Open the pre-existing head model in Zbrush. Use the Sphereinder3D primitive tool to create a hair base. Select the “Tool” menu, followed by “Initialize.” Set the Coverage to 270. Select “Deformation” from the “Tool” menu and highlight the Z axis only, setting "Rotate" to 45. In the “Tool” menu, choose “Subtool” and “Append.” This should apply a rough cylinder shape to the top of the head.

Shape the hair. Select the “Snakehook” brush and set the stroke to “Dots.” Use this brush to pull and push the hair, stretching it away from the base. Work on creating a general hair shape rather than applying many details at this stage.

Redistribute the mesh. Select the “Nudge” and “Smooth” brushes. Even out the distorted areas of the mesh to prevent areas from being excessively sparse or dense.

Add details. Using the “Standard” and “Pinch” brushes with stroke set to “Freehand” with LazyMouse on and a mouse average of 4, create grooves and ridges in the hair shape. Work from large to small, focusing on the overall masses of the hair rather than individual strands.

Apply strands. Select the “Zsphere” tool and choose “Rigging.” Select the hair base you just finished. Choose “Topology,” and then press “Edit Topology.” Click across the hair base to create individual strands that sit independently of the base. When you have finished an individual strand, type “E,” click on the parent shape and type “Q.” Then draw a few more strands.

Shape the strands. Under “Topology,” choose “Convert to Main” and deselect “Edit Topology” to make the strands appear. Choose “Scale” and hold the “Alt” key while clicking and dragging your pointer to the right across the stem between the strands. Scale individual segments of the strand to give it a tapering look. Append the strands to the head by selecting “Rigging” and pressing “Delete” to add all the strands to the Subtools.

Refine strands. Carve fine textural lines into each of the strands to give them greater depth. Experiment with line size and positioning to produce the best result for the type of head you have chosen.