Exporting low poly from Zbrush to Maya: broken UVs

leolistens

My problem starts with a group of identical low poly meshes in a Zbrush project (3 identical cylinders, 1 subtool, 1 polygroup, no subdivisions). So:

1. I export them to Maya (export options: merge uv cords checked, export subgroups unchecked, smooth normals unchecked.)
2. I extract each of the three identical cylinders (Extract faces). 

3. For cylinder #1: I create a planar UV projection and unfold it. UV works fine.

4. I transfer the UV from cylinder #1 to cylinder #2 (using Transfer Attributes, vertex off, UV sets: all, sample space: components).

5. The UV on cylinder #2 looks the same but all the UV faces are unsewn.  

What to do? If I try to select them and sew them, the UV gets messed up. I have tried reverting normals and different export options.

If I try to create similar objects from scratch in Zbrush (I initialized 2 cubes) and go through the process described, it works perfectly. So I am guessing something in my Zbrush project is not set right. All the other subtools from my project have the same issue.

I don't know if it's related, but I noticed that if I assign each cylinder a different polygroup and I export them as an OBJ using the Grp option (one different mesh per polygroup), they get exported as randomly grouped faces (instead of 3 separate whole cylinders).

I have uploaded the subtool here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/gl1ycgh24gfyg7b/cylinders.ZTL?dl=0
I have uploaded the exported obj here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/a7614wjjg7bdeiy/cylinders.obj?dl=0

Thanks for your help!

onionhead_o

group option in zbrush when exporting as obj will sometimes result in split up geo. if you need to export as obj. turn of groups for export. But if you must need the groups, export as FBX instead.