Question about 3ds max and Zbrush

pesimoes

Hi guys, i want to model a stylized axe , and the objective is the model will be for game, so i need a Axe kind of Low poly.
the softwares i plan to use are 3ds max and Zbrush.

i have some question about the process and i dont no if its the best method, so i will post my plan here and will be glad if you guys can help me with this:

1- first i plan to model the axe on Max just to give it a good silhouette and shape to then export it to Zbrush.

2- here on Zbrush i will give him the details , somethings like scratch, break areas,beveled edges and all that things, will make it high poly.

3- When i finish the model in zbrush, i will take the subdivisions levels to 1 and make a normal map of the model inside of zbrush.

4- then i will save the normal map and export the LOW POLY version of the axe to 3ds max.

5- for this final part, i will use the LOW POLY mesh to make the UV's, and then aply the normal map that i just do in Zbrush.

this will work? 

english is my second language

kanga

I would,...
You can model the lowpoly in Max or in zbrush. But if you go from Max you should import in to ZBrush, and for something small like an axe,  once its in ZB unify it so it is at a good size for ZB. Use Goz to send the axe to Max and you will see it is too small and probably in the wrong position so fiddle with the export settings in ZB to get the axe in max in a good position and size. Once you have that throw away or hide your original Max axe, the axe from Goz is the one you will be using as reference from then on.

Detail, and/or paint/texture the axe in ZB. Make a copy of the finished tool/s and decimate the copies. Send the decimated mesh/s to Max with Goz and use polydraw to build a lowpoly on top of the decimated template making sure the lowpolys don't go through the template. Uv the lowpoly in Max. I would use xnormal to bake because I never managed to get a good normal map out of ZB and making a good uv layout for production purposes is more suited to a standard 3d app.

Xnormal is free and I find map baking in max fiddly, If you install xnormal you can expot your uved lowpoly from max (with or without a projection cage) with the xnormal plugin which gets installed automatically and you will find the option under the export dialog in Max. Export you highpoly from ZB with polypaint colorize enabled. Just export the meshes to a disk. Open xnormal and locate the meshes with it, fill out your baking options and press go! You should be sweet.

pesimoes

kanga said:

I would,...
You can model the lowpoly in Max or in zbrush. But if you go from Max you should import in to ZBrush, and for something small like an axe,  once its in ZB unify it so it is at a good size for ZB. Use Goz to send the axe to Max and you will see it is too small and probably in the wrong position so fiddle with the export settings in ZB to get the axe in max in a good position and size. Once you have that throw away or hide your original Max axe, the axe from Goz is the one you will be using as reference from then on.

Detail, and/or paint/texture the axe in ZB. Make a copy of the finished tool/s and decimate the copies. Send the decimated mesh/s to Max with Goz and use polydraw to build a lowpoly on top of the decimated template making sure the lowpolys don't go through the template. Uv the lowpoly in Max. I would use xnormal to bake because I never managed to get a good normal map out of ZB and making a good uv layout for production purposes is more suited to a standard 3d app.

Xnormal is free and I find map baking in max fiddly, If you install xnormal you can expot your uved lowpoly from max (with or without a projection cage) with the xnormal plugin which gets installed automatically and you will find the option under the export dialog in Max. Export you highpoly from ZB with polypaint colorize enabled. Just export the meshes to a disk. Open xnormal and locate the meshes with it, fill out your baking options and press go! You should be sweet.

Thanks Kanga, i will try that then

about the projection cage in max, yes i dont like it too because when i bake it, i almost always have to do alot of fine tunes to the cage to not get any red points on render to texture, this is soo tedious
about Xnormal i will definitly try that, but how can i make in xnormals without a cage?

kanga

Just adjust your ray cast length till it bakes correctly. You can export to xnormal without a cage, there is an option for that. If you take care that your lowpoly doesnt penetrate the high poly you just have to give your projection cage enough distance so it doesnt touch the lowpoly and not need to adjust anything.

musashidan

There is also a ray distance calculator in XN. It will auto generate the best possible ray distance based on your high/low surfaces. 

kanga

Also don't forget to put everything in one smoothing group before you export your lowpoly. Select all the polys of your model, go to smoothing groups and hit clear then hit one of the little numbers under clear.

pesimoes

Thank you guys, i will try that and come back with the results !

pesimoes

ok so im back with some results and questions

after i finish the axe in Zbrush, he was with 4M Polys, so i decimate it and got a nice silhouette with 225k polys, so i shiped to 3ds max straigh away for the retopology.

Iam not used to retopology to, actually was my first time try, but i think im manage to give a nice count of polys and a good sillhouette i believe.

some screens:

i notice that with this number of polys i was not able to grab some details like better holes and better extrudes, i just mark in yellow the areas that iam talking about below 

here:(back part)

here is the cage: (low poly in blue)

another question is about the poly count, i know that it depends from client and engine and etc,so i dont no if this polycount is too much for today standarts , so i will be glad if you guys tel me if this enough or too much, but in that polycount i just see that i lost so many details, well i did try, so hope you guys can help me in some of this problems.

i did not used the Xnormal for baked, i will try that, i did the normal with render to texture.

if i didnt explain myself for you guys understand im sorry,just like this axe im practicing my english too 

musashidan

You're losing detail because your low/high surfaces aren't as close as they could be. Before rebuilding your topo try baking with a higher ray cast search distance or expand your cage in those areas.

Octo

I'm guessing you aren't getting those edges baked nicely because the angle of them on the highpoly is too close to 90°.
You gotta ease those angles so they slope down rather then go straight down.

pesimoes

musashidan said:

You're losing detail because your low/high surfaces aren't as close as they could be. Before rebuilding your topo try baking with a higher ray cast search distance or expand your cage in those areas.

ok Musashidan, i will try do adjust more, but when you mention ray cast, that option in in render to texture or Xnormal you say?

by the way, nice youtube channel

Octo said:

I'm guessing you aren't getting those edges baked nicely because the angle of them on the highpoly is too close to 90°.
You gotta ease those angles so they slope down rather then go straight down.

thanks for the reply!
 yea the angle on 90 maybe is way to crisp, but i was talking more about the inner portion, like, in some edges i did manage to even get the edge, but the rest of the of the area holes, they are to much shallow, i think maybe if i put more geometry there i might get better results, i dont know...will test it