[HELP!] Maya Boolean to Zbrush Dynamesh Workflow

MMattice

Hey everyone, I recently started looking into some dynamesh "boolean" workflows in Zbrush, and I am also learning to use Zbrush at the same time that I am experimenting with these new workflows. I found this great forum post about the whole workflow, whith a bunch of really great information (Article) . I can pretty much follow everything, but there are a few things that I am getting stuck on. I am mainly a Maya user, and I am very familiar with how Maya works, and I also know a little bit about Max, and how it uses modifiers. In most of theses dynames boolean workflow tutorials I have seen, to generate a Low poly, the max user will just delete or modify some modifiers, which can't really be done in Maya. 

So I guess my main question/ Concern is once i have a nice looking dynameshed piece within Zbrush, and I need to make a low poly, what is the best way of doing that. Should I Zremesh it in Zbrush, should I decimate it with decimation master, or should i just retopologize in Maya using quad draw. 

The article I linked above is great, but I have also been using this video to guide me through most of the zbrush process: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fg6QPJ7XirE

If anyone has tried this method, or can give me some advice for this method, using Maya instead of Max, I would be really greatful. I think this method could be really great, and could really speedup my workflow, but i need a bit more guidance on it. 

Any information is helpful. Thanks 

Gazu

http://polycount.com/discussion/168610/proboolean-dynamesh-hardsurface-workflow-tutorial/p1

MMattice

Gazu said:

http://polycount.com/discussion/168610/proboolean-dynamesh-hardsurface-workflow-tutorial/p1

@Gazu, that is the same article that I linked in my original post. Although it does go through quite a few helpful steps, I guess I am looking for more of a Maya guide. My other concern (which is in my original post) is getting the low poly mesh. Anyway  thanks for the link ;D

MMattice

JoshuaG said:

So the question is how you make a low poly. Well for the high poly you will need to decimate it to make it low enough to put it into Maya. Now for making a low poly model that will go into the engine, you basically just make a new model that is significantly lower in tris count.

@JoshuaG would you use quad draw to create the low poly, or would you just start "box modeling"? It might sound like a stupid question, but I am just really not sure. 
In the video that I linked around 27 minutes, the guy says that when he dynameshes and cuts the shapes out of the reciever, he's not worried about topology, and I understand that, and that is what makes the dynamesh boolean method so handy, but what he is not saying, is that he will have to retopologize that reciever. I'm just wondering what the best method for that might be in Maya. As I stated in my post, if you take the asset back into Max, it seems to be as simple as deleting a few modifiers, and BAM your done with the LP, but in Maya, how would someone go and recreate that piece, because their are no modifiers to delete. 

Gazu

Oh Sorry, i just saw the video and your last few words, so i thought this is it what youre searching for ^^
Anyways...

Why Retopo my friend?
Create the HighPoly/LowPoly BaseMesh inside of Maya.
Im always doin it this way that my BaseMesh in Max looks perfectly fine with TurboSmooth.

I can tell you how im doin it:

1. BaseMesh + Booler Geo made in Max, ready for subdivide (With Supportloops)
2. I Import them into zBrush and divide them until the BaseMesh looks nice.
3. I make a Group Split so i have my BaseMesh and my Bool Geo seperatly.
4. I set the Booler Geo to Bool.
5. Now i Dynamesh in a very high Resolution the BaseMesh (Value Depends on complexity of Mesh, mostly between 500 and 2000)
6. When the BaseMesh is Dynameshed i merge it Down with the Booler Geo
7. Again Dynamesh and now the Bools are done.
8. Under Geometry -> Clay Polish  values between 30-90 (Depends on Mesh)
9. After this under Deformation a Polish between 50-100 (Depends on Mesh)
10. Sometimes i re-dynamesh after ClayPolish to avoid minimal shading errors on some sharp edges.
11. You can now decimate the HighPoly to keep the Maya/Max scene smaller in size with decimation master.
12. Import it into Maya -> Done

13. Now use the BaseMesh made in Maya/Max for your LowPoly. Just delete the SupportLoops and use the Boolers, you also used in zBrush to bool your HighPoly Mesh. Do the Bool Operation and then connect the new geo properly to your existing topo and now refine your lowpoly to fit best your highpoly.
You have a clean, soft highpoly from zBrush and a LowPoly based on your BaseMesh made in Maya.

With that said...im only booling the for me hard parts which would take a lot more time in Max, to model them manualy.

Thats it!

cromadbomber

Since you are using Maya you can make any base mesh in Maya and crease the hard edges. You can then use GoZ exporter and it will carry those creases in Zbrush. Just Ctrl+D in Zbrush and Dynamesh it.

Here is the example of what I have been doing recently.
Base mesh in Maya(Creased hard edges are blue-bold.)

Base mesh in Zbrush.

Subdivided in Zbrush.

Dynamesh + Deformation - Polish

Hope it helps!

MMattice

Gazu said:

Oh Sorry, i just saw the video and your last few words, so i thought this is it what youre searching for ^^
Anyways...

Why Retopo my friend?
Create the HighPoly/LowPoly BaseMesh inside of Maya.
Im always doin it this way that my BaseMesh in Max looks perfectly fine with TurboSmooth.

I can tell you how im doin it:

1. BaseMesh + Booler Geo made in Max, ready for subdivide (With Supportloops)
2. I Import them into zBrush and divide them until the BaseMesh looks nice.
3. I make a Group Split so i have my BaseMesh and my Bool Geo seperatly.
4. I set the Booler Geo to Bool.
5. Now i Dynamesh in a very high Resolution the BaseMesh (Value Depends on complexity of Mesh, mostly between 500 and 2000)
6. When the BaseMesh is Dynameshed i merge it Down with the Booler Geo
7. Again Dynamesh and now the Bools are done.
8. Under Geometry -> Clay Polish  values between 30-90 (Depends on Mesh)
9. After this under Deformation a Polish between 50-100 (Depends on Mesh)
10. Sometimes i re-dynamesh after ClayPolish to avoid minimal shading errors on some sharp edges.
11. You can now decimate the HighPoly to keep the Maya/Max scene smaller in size with decimation master.
12. Import it into Maya -> Done

13. Now use the BaseMesh made in Maya/Max for your LowPoly. Just delete the SupportLoops and use the Boolers, you also used in zBrush to bool your HighPoly Mesh. Do the Bool Operation and then connect the new geo properly to your existing topo and now refine your lowpoly to fit best your highpoly.
You have a clean, soft highpoly from zBrush and a LowPoly based on your BaseMesh made in Maya.

With that said...im only booling the for me hard parts which would take a lot more time in Max, to model them manualy.

Thats it!

@Gazu Thank you for explaining your process. I am definitely excited about trying this! I think that I was just really over-thinking the process, and I confused myself, but now that you have written the steps for me, it makes sense. When I first found out about this method, I thought it was just an easier boolean method, because you don't really worry about topology when the object is dynameshed, but now I am realizing that it is more useful to create a nice smooth high poly mesh for great baking. I am super excited to use this method soon! Thanks again!

MMattice

cromadbomber said:

Since you are using Maya you can make any base mesh in Maya and crease the hard edges. You can then use GoZ exporter and it will carry those creases in Zbrush. Just Ctrl+D in Zbrush and Dynamesh it.

Here is the example of what I have been doing recently.
Base mesh in Maya(Creased hard edges are blue-bold.)

Base mesh in Zbrush.

Subdivided in Zbrush.

Dynamesh + Deformation - Polish

Hope it helps!

@cromadbomber  Thanks for showing me your process with the images. As I was saying to Gazu who replied before you, when I first saw this method, I thought the main purpose was the boolean operation with dynamesh, because there is no need to worry about topology, and you can create really detail objects such as the receiver of the rifle that is in your pictures,  when in fact the actual purpose is to get a nice soft HP mesh for baking purposes. I do have a question for you though, Does Maya every screw up the geo that you have if you don't connect the virts? Example: 
I know that the crease sets will allow you to subdivide the model within Maya, and they will hold that geo in place, so that you don't have to add any support loops, but sometimes when I go back to connect verts of objects that I have booleaned in, the faces dissapear or something funky happens with the geo, causing me to have to recreate that part of the object. 
Just wondering if you have every run into that, and if you know any possible fixes. 
Thanks again for your reply, it really helped. 

cromadbomber

Hello. Sorry for the late reply I haven't been around here for past couple of days. Basically what you need to do is to use the Clean Up function from Maya(Mesh->cleanup, at the bottom of mesh tab). You should see a Fix by Tesselation section and in there you should check "Faces with more than 4 sides".