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Zbrush - High poly dead end?

Hey,

I'm making a character in Zbrush from a base mesh I made in 3ds Max. The base mesh had fairly good topology and flow as I modelled it after references of humanoid wireframes.
I've divided it many times and it's now at about 20 million polygons since wrinkles etc. demanded it. In order to do this, I had to split it into different subtools and do the finer details one part at a time. In the process I had to sometimes pull it out into max to weld different parts together again when it didn't work in Zbrush. This somehow removed the subdiv levels, so I only have one subdiv level at about 20 million and the "restore subdivs" feature doesn't work because of some undefined error. It might be because the mesh may have to be closed, but I can't weld the different parts together or import them after welding them in Max because of memory issues.
The entire model is finished, but the different parts aren't welded simply because Zbrush can't handle importing a model and welding or simply just importing a welded mesh from Max due to memory problems.

I'm in what seems to be a dead end here. I can't weld it in a external program and then import it, and I can't import + weld an (from Zbrush) exported obj consisting of the subtools merged into one. Does anyone have any ideas regarding how to circumvent this? Maybe the only way is to take it into some 64-bit application like Mudbox, do the welding there, and then import it into Zbrush?

My system has a lot of RAM, in fact more than 20 GB at 1333 Hz (can't remember the exact number) plus a some 30-ish GB assigned to virtual memory, though I'm aware that Zbrush as a 32-bit application can only use 4 GB. I also put the memory slider at 4096 MB, of course.

Thanks in advance!

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  • sargentcrunch
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    sargentcrunch polycounter lvl 10
  • PyrZern
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    PyrZern polycounter lvl 12
    A question for you is, does it have to be 1 subtool only ? Do you really have to weld them together ? I know many characters have head on separated subtools.

    You might also try ZRemesher to recreate the lowpoly topology.
  • Inhert
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    Inhert polycounter lvl 9
    Why not import the welded model from max subdivide it close to 20 million polys and reproject the details one subtool at a time? 20 million just seems to be an overkill even for a humanoid model just for the sake of putting wrinkle and pore details. Unless the camera is going to be zoomed in super close to the skin or for a hero kind of shot there should be no reason to push that many polys into a mesh like that.
  • cryrid
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    cryrid interpolator
    In the process I had to sometimes pull it out into max to weld different parts together again when it didn't work in Zbrush. This somehow removed the subdiv levels, so I only have one subdiv level at about 20 million and the "restore subdivs" feature doesn't work because of some undefined error.
    Changing the vertex order externally would have that effect on subdivision levels as it will see the new model as being a different mesh. And if your welding creates new topology that is incapable of being subdivided, then there will be nothing to reconstruct.
  • deohboeh
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    deohboeh polycounter lvl 5
    I suggest you bake your displacement maps on a 8192X8192(this holds detail up to 67 million polys), lower your subdivs, weld and then apply displacement map. You should get the same amount of detail... you can even bake the displacement maps into the model in zbrush and mudbox... You wont get 20 million polys in one subtool but that detail is pointless as most of the object is going to be from afar.
    If you are modeling for games if you are modeling for stills sculpt also I doubt the viewer is interested in the patterns of pores in the skin like you or I might be :)... I just learned myself: After sometime detail starts to give diminishing returns beyond 16 Mil thats like 4096x4096(4096 Squared). Of course you can have separate maps for separate parts of the body...
  • Psyk0
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    Psyk0 polycounter lvl 18
    If you reach 4 million points and can't add pore details you did something wrong with the topology. The face usually has the most details and should reach necessary resolution before the rest of the body, 2-4 million points should be plenty.

    Taking into account your final map size also means your micro details won't show up as clear as you wished them to be. You could skip micro detailing in the sculpting stage and do it in the texture, overlaying your details in your normals will yield pretty much the same result without the hassle of working with such dense topology.
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