zbrush question...need help!

fritz

hello peeps. OK. so what i'm trying to do is turn some tubes into conduit-looking hoses. we've all seen it before...i know...nothing new here. but, is there some way in zbrush to repeat an aesthetic sensibility such as this? i tried various symmetry and alpha thingies....didn't get it yet tho. any advice?

thanks

Daz

Personally, like anything else mechanical, I'd be building it in a 3D app. and importing. But id love to hear how anyone might make it in zbrush.

fritz

i would too. however, i've already started sculpting this guy in zbrush. there are no mechanical "bits" really but...i want to have that aesthetic. i'm just wondering if there's a way to copy n paste certain geo changes or something.

OR DAZ, since i've started sculpting in zbrush...is there some way to build the tube bits in max then attach to the high poly i bring in from zbrush? seems like that may get messy. i'd rather build in it in max too. wasn't thinking ahead....ugh.

fritz

oh...i guess i should describe what i'm doing.

i'm doing the typical workflow thingy:

max base mesh
zbrush for sculpt
back to max for normal baking

MoP

if you're bringing it back to max for normal baking, I'd just make the tubes in Max. For this, since you've already started, just use the Pinch tool on the pipes to make them thin, then when you bring it back into Max, model the pipes using any method and just place them over the top of the zbrush pipes so that they completely obscure them.
It's always a good idea to evaluate before you take stuff into zbrush, which parts need zbrushing, and which can be made in 3dsmax... then model and export accordingly. faster and easier in the long run.

Daz

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wasn't thinking ahead....ugh.

[/ QUOTE ]

and there lieth zbrush's biggest weakness. You have to know *exactly* what you're going to do before you start out. It's pretty unforgiving when it comes to fundamental changes after the fact. I'm not well versed enough in zbrush to be able to create what you want to create with it, but you're possibly beter off asking that question on the ZB forums.
However, as for saving what you have in zbrush up to now, and adding the tubes built in Max, a workflow that Rockstar told me about got me out of trouble in this situation once before. Check my 2nd from bottom post here: http://boards.polycount.net/showflat.php...true#Post104552

Husch

I would recommend to try Zmapper Plugin for Zbrush.
You can create your Normal Maps inside Zmapper and don´t have the trouble to import a high poly OBJ file into 3D Max.
I would create Normal Maps of organic meshes in Zbrush with Zmapper and mechanical hard edge meshes in a 3D App of your choice. And finally combine your normal maps in Photoshop.

fritz

always so helpful mop. good idea. i think i'll just do that. hey husch, i've messed around w/zmapper just a tad. i totally don't understand how you get maps out of zbrush. i've seen a few people do it but the maps look like a bunch of little cubes...all broken up. do you not even have to unwrap in zbrush? thanks again mop.

stoofoo

fritz in order to use zmapper your mesh had to be unwrapped before or you are at the mercyh of the shittastic auto unwrap of zbrush. No thanks. Also the unwrap itself needs to be pretty tweaked. Symmetrical parts need to have half of them scaled down into a corner. Faces cannot go over the border. Scale has to be appropriate. Booohiisss zbrush preperation is a bitch

Mongrelman

@Stoofoo: Just load the tool in zbrush then load in the model after you've uv mapped it. As long as you didn't add/delete any geometry, the tool will use the new uv map.

I've done this several times; had half the uvs shrunk into a corner, used zmapper to bake the normal map, then in XSI fixed the uvs so they were shared, loaded it back into zbrush and previewed the model with the normal map in zmapper.

RE3456

[ QUOTE ]
Personally, like anything else mechanical, I'd be building it in a 3D app.

[/ QUOTE ]

seriously, that would save youself a lot of trouble

fritz

thanks so much for the help guys. this place always helps me out so much. the whole introduction of zbrush has really thrown a wrench in the workflow thingy......just wish there was a really good workflow tut for max to zbrush and back w/texture work done in pshop....

thanks again

Nefarious

Conduit hoses like that only take a few clicks in ZB! Check out page 149 in the manual that comes with the product.

fritz

um.....

AND BAM!!!! thanks so much nefarious. apply skip to a fully alpha'd tube...BAM!!! thanks again man. one pepporoni pizza is on it's way!!!

oh well....i can't get a "sel" and "skip" in my masking menu. maybe it only works on zbrush primitives. or maybe i don't have sometin'.

yep, only works on prims.

Nefarious

Hmmm, if you made it with Zspheres you can just select a section that connects two spheres and replace it with a primitive. If you made the base mesh in Max then you're S.O.L.

MoP

that's a shame ... i wish there was a way to merge ZBrush primitives with an externally-created mesh ... could do lots of cool stuff with that.

fritz

haha. yep. i made it in max. damn. oh well...i'll go the MOP route. you live and you learn. maybe it's time to just start working only in zbrush or something. going back and forth seems sketchy sometimes.

thanks guys