Using 3D Sampler and ZBrush: To create cool Embroidery Patches

In this tutorial I'll show you how to create some awesome embroidery patches using Adobe 3D Sampler and ZBrush. In this video, you'll learn how to create really cool patches. I’ll use a hoodie as a test object and show you a cool non-destructive workflow so you can change the patch design with a few clicks. I will guide you through the process step-by-step, so you won't miss a thing!

To get started, you need 2 things, a plane that you can create in ZBrush and a bitmap image with transparency for the patch you want to create. Then open up 3D Sampler, create an embroidery effect and drop your image into the image input channel:

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Play around with the different sliders in 3D Sampler to adjust you patch but in all honesty, this process is very simple and you might get a great result just by dropping the image. Once you have the patch looking good in Sampler, save the albedo and the height maps.

Then, bring the maps into ZBrush to and selected the albedo colour from the texture palette of the plane.

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Now, let’s bring in all the nice details from the height map… to do that, open up the noise maker window from the surface palette and click on the Alpha ON/OFF button to load the height map we exported from Sampler.

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And finally, using the TransposeCloth tool we will let the patch and the hoodie interact together using the Collision Volume. Under the Dynamics Palette, enable collision volume and set the inflate to 0.1 (the distance between the objects). Slowly push the patch to the hoodie until it properly collides.

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That is, you can now create more patches with different images inside 3D Sampler and simply update the texture and the noise images in ZBrush to change the designs.