HELP!!! Zbrush newbie can't texture the model

Mr_Cat

Hi Folks newbie here

• I created my first model in zbrush and I am stuck on the point where i want to apply some textures. I dont understand how to do a proper unwrap?
•  I had few subtools and connected them together, after what I dynameshed it so it will become one piece and zremeshed it to reduce the polycount. (i dont realy need low poly on top of high poly as I am not planning to put it into game engine or do I have to do it anyeway)
•  I was trying to move the model to 3d coat as for me it made more sense how things work there, but after I do the retopo it gets a little bit confusing on how to return it back to zbrush to colour it.
• So can somebody seggest me the workflow step by step from the very begining. e.g: create base mesh - dynamesh it - sculpt - zremesh ...

• I also dont really undarstand how subdivision levels of model work, are they really needed? And also if I somehow menage to do topology for the model, how to apply the texture for it from every separate subtool I have?

Thanks guys for any possible help, it probably sounds confusing but I hope you got what I ment

ahtiandr

I have recently been testing substance painter 2 and it can handle pretty high poly meshes. You could try to texture there and render  in toolbag  2 which can handle high poly as well

here is my workflow and result>
In this personal project I tried to make another approach at high poly texturing and rendering. I used Zbrush auto unwrap feature to quickly unwrap whole model (15 pieces each with its own 2k texture). Next I used substance painter 2 for texturing. I was quite surprised at how smoothly substance was able to visualize the model in real time. Next I exported all the maps into toolbag 2 for final render. Its amazing how smooth it worked in toolbag as well! The total poly count  is 1340555 polys.  I hope this helps a bit

the final result is here> https://forum.allegorithmic.com/index.php?topic=9779.0

PS. I can also share with you the substance painter 2 working scene and toolbag 2 scene so you can better see the result

Mr_Cat

Wow the model looks really awesome, however I am not too familiar with substace painter 2 but I will try. 

In fact I have a question which you would be able to answer. When you used unwrap in zbrush did you do it on each subtool separetly or you combined the model and than used unwrap? ( as when i do unwrap on conneted model it creates groups so is there any difference on how to apply it)

Thanks a lot though, didn't answer all my questions but still gave me some idea

ahtiandr

Well I have just unwrapped each subtool on its own just to get as much resolution as possible but you can also combine all subtools and unwrap them together.

If you retopo your model in coat you can then import it into the zbrush . Subdivide it few times to get more polys and project your old highpoly mesh details onto the retopoed clean mesh. This will give all you details on the new retopoed mesh. Next you can polypaint it and finally bake all the maps.
But because you said that you are not planning to use the model in the game engine or animation, you dont have to spent the time for retopology process in other apps.