Workflow question from a beginner.
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Hi! So recently I've started learning Zbrush, and I have a question for you guys if you don't mind answering. I put this in general discussion because it didn't really fit under a game engine, Allegorithmic stuff, or technical. Feel free to correct me on that, because I'm not sure if I should have posted it here.
So from what I understand, to get the detail from a high poly sculpt onto your new retopologized model, you need to either use the exported normal map from Zbrush or you need to project the details from the high poly to the low poly using 'project'. Well...
From what I've gathered from Youtube videos and googling things, it seems like you can only project detail onto a Zremeshed object? I modeled a sword in zbrush and then retopologized the blade in Maya, but when I brought it into Zbrush and tried to project, it did not do anything. When I used a Zremeshed version of the sword, the projection worked perfectly. I assume this is because the new low poly model does not have the polygons to deform to fit the detail, but the Zresmeshed one does. What is the point of projecting detail onto a Zremeshed object? If it's a character, then it can't be animated because of the poorly generated mesh. If it's an object, then it still has an absurdly high polycount for something very simple.
And if you export a normal map from the high poly sculpt in Zbrush, I would assume your new retopologized model would have to somehow have the same UVs as the ones generated in Zbrush, right? Or else it's unusable.
Can someone please explain? Thanks!
So from what I understand, to get the detail from a high poly sculpt onto your new retopologized model, you need to either use the exported normal map from Zbrush or you need to project the details from the high poly to the low poly using 'project'. Well...
From what I've gathered from Youtube videos and googling things, it seems like you can only project detail onto a Zremeshed object? I modeled a sword in zbrush and then retopologized the blade in Maya, but when I brought it into Zbrush and tried to project, it did not do anything. When I used a Zremeshed version of the sword, the projection worked perfectly. I assume this is because the new low poly model does not have the polygons to deform to fit the detail, but the Zresmeshed one does. What is the point of projecting detail onto a Zremeshed object? If it's a character, then it can't be animated because of the poorly generated mesh. If it's an object, then it still has an absurdly high polycount for something very simple.
And if you export a normal map from the high poly sculpt in Zbrush, I would assume your new retopologized model would have to somehow have the same UVs as the ones generated in Zbrush, right? Or else it's unusable.
Can someone please explain? Thanks!
Replies
It's also a good idea to add the software to the subject line. So a better title would be something like:[Zbrush] Workflow for projecting details?
- subdivide your lowres (to level 2) lower your highres to subdivision level 2 and project it.
- subdivide again (to level 3) set your highres to subdivision level 3 and project again.
- repeat this process till all details are transferred to your 'lowres' mesh (which at this point is also highres)
- set your lowres mesh back to subdivision level 0.
- open the normal map tab (in tools palette) set your settings and click 'create normal map'
- once zbrush has created the normal map, click 'clone NM' (in the same palette) this will copy it to the texures.
- open the texture menu (top row), select your normal map and click 'Flip V'.
- export your normal map.