ZBrush 3 - Importing UVed model into current tool
polycounter lvl 17
In ZBrush 2 I often used to work on high poly, then decide I want to bake normal map onto lowest level - it had no UVs, so then I was able to export it, do the UVs in Maya, and import the model back into the current tool at lowest subd level, and I had UVs, ready to bake in ZMapper or wherever.
But with ZBrush 3 I've been having lots of trouble doing this. I would do the same procedure, and import the obj of the model with UVs done in Maya, but then when I move to the higher subD levels, something would get seriously messed up and the mesh would explode, as if vertices would randomly move around the model. Then, if I go back to the lowest level, it would look like vertex explosion made some mess there too - e.g. it had some degree of the effect that was present at highest level and wouldn't look the same as the original lowest level, or the one just imported with UVs laid out.
I did this test with the simple primitive sphere converted to PolyMesh, and although the verts didn't explode like they did with a head model, there were some messed up verts around the poles that weren't originally there. I swear I didn't touch geometry in Maya, only UVs.
Has anyone encountered this before? Any thoughts?
Thanks!
But with ZBrush 3 I've been having lots of trouble doing this. I would do the same procedure, and import the obj of the model with UVs done in Maya, but then when I move to the higher subD levels, something would get seriously messed up and the mesh would explode, as if vertices would randomly move around the model. Then, if I go back to the lowest level, it would look like vertex explosion made some mess there too - e.g. it had some degree of the effect that was present at highest level and wouldn't look the same as the original lowest level, or the one just imported with UVs laid out.
I did this test with the simple primitive sphere converted to PolyMesh, and although the verts didn't explode like they did with a head model, there were some messed up verts around the poles that weren't originally there. I swear I didn't touch geometry in Maya, only UVs.
Has anyone encountered this before? Any thoughts?
Thanks!
Replies
some solutions there.
one of the things that I have to constantly do is import the UV'd mesh to the star tool and then export it before reimporting to the sculpted mesh - not too sure why that works
I'll have to try that solution. The problem was occurring with 3.1 for me, so I don't think it's fixed with the upgrade.
whats the old expression, if it aint broke, don't fix it
It seems to me that ZB3 has introduced some strange default export options that weren't set like that in ZB2, such as flipped axis. But then if it's not a problem with Max, and it worked with ZB2 and Maya 7, then maybe culprit settings were introduced with Maya 8 and/or above - who knows.
A question of my own: Has anyone else been getting scaling issues with meshes with subtools? I export from ZBrush and everything comes fine into Max, but when I export from Max and bring the meshes back into ZB, they're about 5-6 times their original size, and sometimes offset a bit. It's really annoying since it makes it very hard to add custom modelled pieces to an existing tool/subtools.
And yes before you ask, I've got all the export/import "scale" options set to 1.0 in Max and ZBrush.
Anyone else experienced this and solved it? A search of the ZBrushcentral forums reveals a lot of other people with similar problems but no obvious "fix" or consistent workflow that keeps scaling correct going from Max to Zbrush and back again.
Edit to update: I've just tried exporting one of my model's SubTools from ZBrush and immediately bringing it back in (using Import in the Tool rollout), and the scale is screwed even from there. It's evidently nothing Max is doing, it must be something ZBrush does on import, because changing the "Scale" value in ZBrush's Export rollout has no effect on the size it appears when re-imported.
It's incredibly annoying because each sub-tool I've tried exporting and re-importing comes back in at a vastly different size and location to where it was exported from
I exported the body part, it came back in 5x smaller and twice as high up, exported the head part, it came back in 5x bigger and twice as far down, I exported an item of clothing and it came back about 10x the size and offset even more than the head... gah!
I'm thinking this is something to do with relative sizes of subtools, but it's so dumb and doesn't make any sense. I hope someone else has already run into this and found a quick fix, because it's really killing me right now
Hopefully I'll have a chance this week to update my website a bit with a link on my video tutorial on how to do this...
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Indeed, I used to do that with ZB2 and Zmapper, but from what I remember, it used to bake the normal map onto the lowest level first, thus requiring the sculpting mesh to be UVed, and then transfer that map onto the different mesh. Is this not the case anymore with ZMapper in ZB3.1 and it lets you bake to different mesh right away? That would be sweet. Also, was wondering if it is now possible to transfer cavity map in the same fashion.
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excuse the bump, but this is really fucking me over. Was there a solution, or did you just find the source? I get scale issues with exports as well, so its not just zbrush scaling the mesh on import.
It's a huge bitch when exporting low res meshes from max and high res meshes from Z to bake in xnormal. I end up having to export a mid res mesh from zbrush to scale the low res to, but the high res comes out at a totally different scale to the mid res. WTF
i think it is a max import/export issue. when using maya the only offset issue i've encountered is positioning offset when you import a mesh to be the new retopolized mesh. to fix that you have to append it to target high poly mesh, so it aligns to it, then clone it and use that instead.
maybe this might help http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=184791
it's a odd fix to to the exploding mesh but you never know
At the moment if I have a ZTool and Export that as OBJ, then immediately Import it into ZBrush (without touching any other apps) the scale is still different from the original ZTool.
Thanks for the link though, looks like some good solutions in that thread.
try this to open your obj file
http://www.sendspace.com/file/dvgz9r
it's an old macro that was deleted when i upgraded to 3.1 but dug out of a backup file. it opens everything as a separate tool so just append it to the original tool and check the scaling
Here's a quick test you can try, see if you get the same issue:
1. Make a simple zsphere setup (ie. a head/bust with 5-10 zspheres).
2. Convert to Adaptive Skin, select that as your tool.
3. Sculpt it a bit if you want, then export to .OBJ
4. Import the .OBJ you just exported.
It is at this stage you may find that the OBJ you imported is a different size/offset to the mesh you just created.
This happens if you use the Import button from the top of the Tool palette, or from the "Import" rollout at the bottom of the Tool palette.
here's what i came up. morph targets.
-export your newly made adaptive skin
-go to the morph target sub palette
-DelMat then StoreMt
-import your exported adaptive skin
-press switch under morph target and it should morph back down to size
-export then import and it should have retain it's size an position.
hope it works for you