FBX importing from Maya into Zbrush but in a different position.
The eyes for my character model need UVs which I do in Maya. I export the eye mesh as an FBX and import in maya. They appear in the proper location (in the eye sockets like they should be) in maya. I do my UVs then export as the low poly fbx. I then import the new mesh with UVs back into Zbrush, but they are literally behind his head and lower in Y axis. I'm not a new user to either piece of software so I feel this simple mystery needs to be solved by someone out there, haha! I can work around it, but I honestly just NEED to know why this is happening so I can avoid it for the future. The not knowing just bugs me.
Replies
Try duplicating it, it'll put it in the proper spot if everything is the same in Maya - and delete the old subtool.
that is odd. perhaps reseting and freezeing transformations in Maya before exporting will help. you should use Goz to transfer mesh back and forth between Maya and Zbrush, looks like you already have it installed, it's a single click, very handy.
Thanks for the quick reply, but unfortunately duplicating it did not move it. It simply made a duplicate in the same location behind his head.
Yeah I have my GoZ set up to something other than maya and I'm not sure how to change it back to maya. GoZ has always been finicky for me so I've always just exported an fbx file. When I try to change the GoZ application, maya is grayed out.
Just guessing here, looking at the grid in the maya scene, It looks roughly like the offset that is happening might be the difference to world origin/mesh center. I think somehow something is moving the pivot to mesh center but then something is moving/collapsing the mesh center over to world origin. Normally ZB will drop things relative to worldspace without issue so not sure exactly what is happening even if my hypothesis is right.
Try doing the same thing with just a box in maya and or export>maya>ZB with something else in that ztool besides the eye mesh and see what happens. If its just the eye mesh I'd probably try just exporting from ZB as an obj and directly reimporting that as a new subtool, delete the old eyes and use that going forward to see if its changes anything. If its happening on other things then check the export setting in ZB to see if you are just adding a transform to everything or something.
as far as i'm aware, you can associate multiple paths each to their own program under preferences. the process is automated, so you just need to select the programs you have, then point to their directory and the wizard does the rest. i recall there is an option to reset and clear its settings. i'd close everything down, save ZBrush, empty it's paths, and run the process once more. it's worth getting it working, imo.
if i recall, when importing an FBX/obj into ZBRush, it swaps the geo with the current subtool. perhaps the pivot was offset due to this.
maybe your eyes mesh wasn't aligned to home (0,0,0)
orrr
maybe the subtool you imported to wasn't aligned to home
you hadn't mentioned if you did or not but it is often required to reset and freeze transformations on geometry in Maya before exporting; this can effect pivot points, among other things.
Hi guys! I'm reopening this because it has happened AGAIN! Different project this time though and it happened part of the way through so there is still no consistency with this issue. I'm trying to bake an outfit for a character like I have done countless times and the low poly with the UVs is now not in the same location as the high poly. I literally had them in the correct location in Marmoset (for baking). Now I made some quick edits to the high poly in Zbrush and re-exported the high poly, I go back to Marmoset which auto-loads the new mesh and its randomly decided to be in a completely different location. I tried opening an old Zbrush file state and it still does the same thing. I literally changed NOTHING!! Yet, the fbx high poly loads in a different position.
Now I have to reposition this MANUALLY in marmoset just so I can make edits to the bake. This also means completely redoing the custom cage painting I had done originally in Marmoset. THIS NEEDS TO BE ADDRESSED!!! I'm a professional freelancer and I simply cannot keep waisting time on this issue that makes zero sense to begin with.
If it's suitable, obj is way more foolproof. FBX includes all kinds of data and has way more potential for things to get weird and go wrong.
I'd suggest switching to OBJ if you can, frankly. I can't think of any concrete reason why FBX would offer a better solution for zbrush/etc, especially when you're running into these anomalies.
Obviously there are certain times when OBJ wouldn't suit it, but that's on the more technical end, re: animations and such, and all that sort of thing. If it's just for zbrush and baking, obj has everything you need.