importing into zbrush 4

dolemite

so this is probably a dumb question (I certainly feel dumb right now)

But I've been doing some scultping in zbrush 3.5 for about 3 months now and enjoying it. Suddenly I get a free upgrade to Zbrush 4 and I'm pretty happy because im about ready to sculpt a new model.

Problem is that now when I click "import" in the tool menu it does not automatically drop my .obj into the scene. I have to click into the scene and drag it out. Which is kind of wack because I want it to be perfectly lined up in the scene, because I will be using it to bake.


Any idea how to do this?

Calabi

I'm not entirely a hundred percent sure, but I think if you use the lightbox, double click on objects through that then you wont have to drag them out.

cryrid

If you have existing tools in the scene you want it to match, just import the obj and append it as a subtool. You shouldn't have to draw it out to do this, and it would be placed to the same scale it was exported as.

dolemite

I just want to import the mesh into a new zbrush scene (I know they probably don't call it a scene) and have it be in exactly the same orientation as the file in 3DS max. In 3.5 I just hit "import" and then it pops into place.


And what am I missing? Is there a way to have the axis on the mesh import the way I set it up in Max? Why do they put it in the center of the mesh? To handhold for people who don't know how to set their meshes up in max?

Seriously, what possesses a person to make a program work this way? It's like anti-design.

cryrid

And what am I missing? Is there a way to have the axis on the mesh import the way I set it up in Max? Why do they put it in the center of the mesh? To handhold for people who don't know how to set their meshes up in max?

Seriously, what possesses a person to make a program work this way? It's like anti-design.

Because it's a painting program, and designed with more than just Max users in mind. You're confusing the way it handles 3d meshes on the document. When you draw the tool onto a document, you are not actually resizing it or changing it's orientation (unless you're using transpose or deformations to offset it).

Import the tool, draw it onto the document whatever size you want, hit edit. If you export it back out now, it will be the same scale and in the same spot as the original obj (unless you borked the export settings in Max).

And have you tried GoZ instead of objs?

CheeseOnToast

Shift+drag the tool onto the document to keep the orientation constrained to an axis. However, I think you're not fully understanding how a Zbrush document works. It's not the same as a normal 3d scene. The orientation of the model in the document window doesn't matter. Try drawing out a symmetrical model at a skewed angle then hit "x" to activate symmetrical sculpting. You'll find that it still respects the centre axis of the model. Check the "preview" window for the true orientation and pivot point of your model. Incidentally, Zbrush always places the pivot point of a model at the centre of its bounding box, so don't try to import a model with a custom pivot point because it won't be used.

In short, no matter what angle you draw the model onto the document window, when you export it it should still be at the correct angle and position. The only way you can fuck this up is by using the transpose tools or certain deformers (such as "offset").

edit: looks like cryrid beat me to it

dolemite

http://www.polysculpt.com/2009/11/new-pivot-with-zbrush


I did this to change the pivot, worked pretty well.

CheeseOnToast

Yeah, that's a handy trick. For partially asymmetrical stuff you want to use symmetrical sculpting on, start off with a simple cube as the first subtool, then append others to that. They should all use the cube's axis for symmetry unless you specifically tell them not to (by using the "local symmetry" button).

dolemite

Yeh, thanks for the help man.


I STILL STAND BY MY HATRED OF ZBRUSH THO!!!