Easy Retopologising models preserving the fine-detail levels (by Rastaman)

[Rastaman]

Easy Retopologising models preserving the fine-detail levels



Why should you retopologise your models ?


There are several reasons why you should think about 'retopoing' your existing models.


Maybe you already have created a very good model, but some areas doesn't render cleanly because of a bad topology there. Simply retopo your model and fix the bad areas.
On the other hand, the availability of the retopology-feature gives you less stress when you sculpt your models.


Just follow your imagination, create how you like without always having the flow of your polygon-connection-lines in mind.
When you're happy with the shape you created, simply reotopo the model and you will have a clean mesh.

So far, so good.
But as simple as it sounds, you will soon discover that it is by far not so easy.


The major problem beside the handwork is that you will loose the details of the original mesh.


But the soulution for that is already described in the Wiki under the topic:


'1.3 Importing Topology From Outside of ZBrush'


But I must say, I did read it but I simply did not realize a long time what it really meant.



So I decided to make this short tutorial to give a clear step-by step how to use this principle with retopoed meshes.



Retopo_detail-Topostatus_big.jpg



I had to open a new thread because I cannot edit my main topoplogy-thread any more.

Important:
Watch also page 2 of this thread for a short description of how to merge different high-detailed-meshes with this technique.;)


Enjoy. :D

[(v)olotov]

:D Wow man I seriously have learned more from you than the actual "guides" thank u for sharing I really learn.

[nickz]

Rastaman! Thanks for making and sharing the tutorial. I was wondering how you would do such a thing. I'm going to give it a go on a model that I have preped.....wish me luck!

Again, thank you very much for posting this up, I know it was a lot of hard work!

Peace,

NickZ. :)

[nickz]

Rastaman,

Ok so I have followed all of the steps but I am running into a scale issue. Perhaps you could tell me what I have screwed up.

1. So I have my original model (Hi res detail) loaded.

2. I have my retoplogized mesh )Lo res mesh) loaded.

3. Draw the zphere.

4. Go into the rigging section and use "select mesh" and select my Hi Res Mesh.

5. Go into the Topology section and use the "select Topo" and select my Lo Res mesh. (resurfaced mesh)

Everything loads but I have a problem.

alienHost_retop_problem.jpg

The scale of my resurfaced mesh (Lo Res mesh) is off for some reason. I have checked the scale as a sub tool and everything lines up just fine. I have even checked the scale as a sub tool and then saved that out as a .ZTL file and used that mesh, but the results are the same.

Wondering if you have run into this or not.

Thanks,

NickZ. :)

[Rastaman]

@ Nickz:

I have just rechecked my setup with the demo-head from my tutorial, it works without scale problems.

I only had this scale thing when I exported the retopoed low-poly as an object and imported it again.
With saving it directly as a .ztl the scale issue didn't appear again.

Try this:

1) Be sure that you have turned off any transpose translation/scaling - line.
Therefore go within your original model into move,scale or rotate-mode and LMB-Click once on any point of your mesh.
The transpose-line should now disappear.
Now do your retopo-work.
When you created the retopoed low-polymesh, check this again for that mesh before you store it as .ztl or export it as an object.


If this does not solve your problem, try this:

2) Use the retopoed low-poly-mesh directly without first saving and reloading it.
If any transpose line is turned off before you do any retopo-work, you should have exactly the same scaling between the original-mesh and the low-poly-retopo-mesh.




One note @ All:

I just checked my created final mesh with the transfered details closer and found some wired connection-lines running from the internal-mesh-surface to the point where the basic zsphere was located. (the one you choosed from the tool-palette in the detail-transfer-setup).
If that occurs in your attempts, try to watch out for any connections between the topology and the base-zsphere when you setup your fine-detail-transfer and try to delete that connections before you make the final adaptive skin.

[Rastaman]

One further note for all who think about that possibility:
(I already posted this in Plakkies Thread)


In the Wiki, under the topic polypainting and remapping UV's within the polypaint-process, a method is described for reimporting UV-Sets via an saved low-poly version of your model. (we also use this technique now for posing with topo-rigs for transfering the high detailed structure onto a posed low-poly version of the model.)

If you save a low-poly version of your retopoed work and reimport it later (after polypainting or posing with topo-rigs) when your high-poly-model in ZBrush is in exactly the same subd-level as your .obj with the new UV-Set, the imported .obj will replace the originial mesh as well as the UV's (equal if they existed before on your high-poly mesh or not). Structure and UV's will be replaced by the imported .obj-version, but all paintings and subd-levels are still there.

In my work for my new topo-tutorial (see my post above) I tried this technique also for transfering the fine-details from the high-poly-mesh (with bad topology) to the retopoed low-poly-mesh.
For two reasons this does not work with the .obj-Reimport-trick:

First the reimport of an .obj into an active mesh is only allowed when they are in exactly the same subd-level and have exactly the same number of poly-surfaces and poly-points.
Otherwise you will get an error message..:confused:

Fine, I thought, let's alter the retopoed lowpoly-mesh a little bit to match the number of surfaces and points just like the original mesh by inserting or deleting some points / surfaces on not crucial (means hidden) parts of the model.:cool:
Well, you can do so and ZBrush will begin to reimport the tweaked .obj, but it also crashes after some seconds.

So this technique does not work for transfering details within mesh-versions that have changed in the basic structure.:td:

[Plakkie]

Rasta, I already posted in the Lab, but I'll do it here as well. This looks brilliant. This could be the thing that would help me big time with my model. I already tried a total retopo to merge head and neck, but lost some detail. I'll spend the night testing and show you the results.
Many many many many thanks!!!
Plakkie

[Rastaman]

He,he, go for it, Plakkie.:tu:

I am not sure if you can succeed with that in the merging-process because when you made the 'Make Polymesh 3D's' for the mesh-insert-step, you have already lost your subd-levels.
But maybe you can tweak this step to get the two parts with accessable subd-levels together, then you can use my descriped way.

If the 'Reconstruct-Sudiv' - function would work properly, all problems would be solved in a minute.:rolleyes:

You would Make Polymesh3D both parts in their highest subd-levels, make the insert-mesh step and then Reconstruct the lower subd-levels for the new roughly connected mesh.

Then doing the retopo-work and detail-transfer-setup as described, we should mostly come to suitable results.

[nickz]

Rastaman,

Thanks again bud! This is great! I got it to work. I had to use the "make polymesh 3D" (In the Tool palette) on the resurfaced mesh that had the correct scale. I then saved that as a .ZTL and then used the Load Tool to bring it back intoZB. Now my model had the correct scale and I could go about using the retopology detail projection method that you outlined.

Here is the results:

alienHost_retop_final.jpg

I hope this gets highlighted somehow because this is a HUGE workflow improvement. Now you can sculpt as a concept, not worry about topology, retopologize, capture that detail and then start to go to town on the final mesh.

Oh this is so cool...I feel like a ZB fan boy now.

Thanks again,

NickZ.

[Rastaman]

Nickz,

glad that it works for you now and thanks for the hint which is very usefull to know.
I will include it in the tutorial soon.

And very nice model, :tu:

[Rastaman]

Nickz's and my remarks to the scale-problem are now included in the tutorial.:tu:

[nickz]

Did you talk about the ability to store a morp target before you project your detial? I did this and was able to "paint" out any areas of my model that ddin't project well.

Thanks again!

NickZ. :)

P.S. Thanks for the props on my model! :)

[Rastaman]

Yes, I have this topic already in my tutorial, but one phrase at the end is missing (think I kicked it out by accident) that the morph-target can be used for revealing the details that doesn't come up with the main detail-transfer-process.

I'll fix this immediately. thanks again for the hint.:tu:

You can use the usual sliders or the new Morph-target-brush-workflow for that. (see Wiki)

[Rastaman]

I just updated the tutorial with an appendix-section of how to use the Morph-Brush to reveal all missing details.:D
If Nickz ore someone else has further tips, please let me know.;)

@ Nickz: You're wellcome.

I like the solution of your retopo-work in how you came around with a good Topo-flow at the nose (without ending in a single point) for the front-face-section. Very clever.:tu:
I only think you will have some problems if you plan to animate the mouth.;)

[Plakkie]

Well, I gave it my best... but I haven't got the results I wished. Here's a large picture to show what I mean. First the original:

original.jpg (javascript:zb_insimg('63961','original.jpg',1,0))

A mesh with clear lines and details (for me). But: the head and neck aren't merged. I can't make the flesh of the two parts come together. Meshinsert is just a quick illusion of merging, but I need a complete mesh. Therefore it seems I need to retopologize. Problem is: that makes me lose subdiv levels, and doesn't give me the detail the original has. I already tried retopo, but Rasta's new method gave me a bit better results, and the neck and head are now merged. Still, there are artefacts; glitches and an overall strange blockyness in the polyflow...

Rastaretopo.jpg (javascript:zb_insimg('63962','Rastaretopo.jpg',1, 0))

I can only correct those artefacts by using smooth brush and elinating the fine lines and details I've worked on so hard. :(
It's quite demotivating. I love to continue on this model, but I can't without knowing if I can connect the different parts together without loosing so much work and effort.

All in all thanks Rasta for thinking out yet another option. Do you think there's a way to get cleaner detail out of my original mesh into a retopo-one?

[NightWolf7578]

Try going over it with the Clay Brush, see what that makes it look like. Good luck!

[Plakkie]

Nope, the clay brush won't solve the blocky artefacts without seriously altering the geometry.

[Rastaman]

Maybe I have a solution.:confused:


Wait a little bit, I'll check it soon.

[NightWolf7578]

Retop it then go over it with a morph brush? That might do it.

[Rastaman]

Plakkie, I have your solution. just wait some minutes, I will give you a detailed step-by step.;)

[Rastaman]

Solution for retopoing high detailed merged meshes:


Retopo-Merging detailed Meshes.jpg


1) You have two (or more) separate meshes with high-poly-details, whether they have lower subd-levels or not,whether they are mostly identical in their subdivision or not, this doesn't matter.

Make one the active tool and all other parts the subtools (Tools -> Subtools -> Append) of the first and sculpt, move and scale them just as they should be in the later merged final mesh. The border where they connect should be sculpted as good as possible to already match the later outline in this area. This saves you some extra work when you later retopo.

Perform Tool -> Make PolyMesh 3D for all in their highest possible detail-level.
If you have lower subd-levels on them, do that again for all in their lowest subd-levels.

2) Now we bring them all together into one single model ( a high-poly and if available one further low-poly-model). Therefore choose one Polymesh you just created and insert the others of the matching poly.level with the Tool -> Geometry -> Insert-mesh-command.
3) Do that for all the high-level as well as for all the low-level Poly3D-Meshes.

Now you have one single high-poly-model and if available furthermore one low-poly-model.

4) If you have the low-poly-model, then do the retopo-work just as I describe it in the tutorial, make Adaptive skin and

5)+6) use it for the described detail-transfer-procedure in conjunction with the high-poly-mesh.


If you have only a high-poly version, then you have to use this what means you will not be able to use the quick Shift + LMB-Drawing method but instead you must create all topo-lines by freehand onto the already high-poly-surface. But you can already use the Tool -> Rigging -> Projection function and transfer all details directly onto your new retopoed mesh.

:td: On very complex and fine details, sometimes wired result can occur in the 'a'-preview. In that case lower the value of the Tool -> Rigging -> Projection strength.
You can later reveal missing details with the Morph-Brush if you previously stored the morph-target in your high-level mesh before you enter the detail-tranfer-setup.

7) If you worked according to the procedure described in my tutorial, you will have now at least 4 subd-levels with all details transferred to the new clean merged mesh. :D :tu:


One further explanation:

My descriped setup for the detail transfer will always produce a new mesh with 4 subd-levels, regardless if the high-poly-mesh had lower subd's or not. :idea:
This is the reason why this method also works in this special case as well as with any mesh of any poly-count. When calculating the final projected mesh, ZBrush also calculates max.4 Subd-Levels downscaling from the high-poly-status if you set the slider in the Topology-Tab.
All you need is a high-detailed mesh where all parts are thrown together into one model that can be choosen in the Select-dialog of the Rigging-panel for the zsphere-setup.

The low-poly-version is not a must, it just makes the whole retopo-process much easier and quicker because you can use the quick-retopo-drawing-method along the low-poly-structure instead of doing all the work by freehand. But you definetly don't need it to transfer your high details into a new retopoed mesh.

If pixologic upgrades the calculation to more subd-levels, this method would be really 100 % perfect. But so far, the lowest 2 or 3 subd-levels will always miss (when you used a Level 6 or 7 mesh). So, 80 % perfection is not soooo bad, isn't it ?:lol:

[WailingMonkey]

I was able to reconstruct the lower sub-D's from my mesh that I
tested this process on (not the multiple sub-tool process, but just the
fine detail transfer process) in order to get back down to the retopo
mesh I made. Originally, I thought I was going to have to
use Z2 for the reconstruct, but I tried it in Z3 and it worked (on another
mesh, my 'make-1-mesh' result wasn't able to be reconstructed in Z3, but
Z2 did it without issue).

Now my problem is swapping out the new better topo mesh's UVs.
I've tried exporting out the level-1 Z3 .obj (with GUV, AUV, or Planar)
into either UVLayout or XSI (with UVLayout plugin), but I either end up
crashing Z3, or the UVs get 'fractured' and end up linking to other points
in the UV-space that are discontinuous. So when it works, it's useless for
displacement generation, as the resultant map is jacked-up due to the
discontinuous UVs. :(

(on a side note, XSI 6.02 only saves out lower case .obj and Z3 saves
all caps .OBJ, so I can't directly overwrite the Z3 .OBJ on export...sigh)

I'm not sure what the crashing is all about, but it was by far the most
prevalent result. Anyone have a bomb-proof solution for the process of
swapping out for new UVs created outside of Z3? (the wiki tutorial on
the transfer of textures is very thin on info for outside package UV swapping)
I've spent about 6 hours between trying to retopo, and trying to get usable
UVs re-imported... :confused:

WailingMonkey

[Plakkie]

Rasta, you are getting me all excited! I'm trying it right now, but I must be doing something wrong. Here's what I did:

wrong.jpg (javascript:zb_insimg('63999','wrong.jpg',1,0))

A. I made a high poly version of the two pieces in one object, and a low poly version (not shown).

B. I made a retopo of the low poly version with a transition from head to neck. The adaptive skin preview gives a nice merged neck area.

C. I pressed make adaptive skin.

D. The step that doesn't work out:
I selected my high poly version of two pieces in one model. (the one shown in A.)
I select a ZSphere
Under tool:rigging:select I select the same high poly model.
Under tool:topology:select I select the adaptive skin model shown in C.

E. I get the same model as in A, with an neck area that can't be merged!

I suspect the fault to be in step D... Can you spot what I do wrong Rasta? If this would work I'd be ever so grateful...


Apart from this: I never knew Morph brush could help in all this: how does it work exactely?

[andreseloy]

ignored post
deleted post
sorry for post here

[Rastaman]

@ WailingMonkey:
Of course it is possible to reimport new UV's that you created whether inside ZB or outside with another app. Go to Plakkies Topo & FlowLab-Thread and read my post for that issue from 1 or 2 days ago. Another member asked there the same.

Now to Plakkies problem:

Plakkie, for a clean result you have to sculpt the both parts (Head and Torso in picture A.) already when they are 2 separate parts in that way that there is a smooth transition between the two models on their borders. You have too big and sharp angles there, so you will always get those unwanted wrinkles, no matter what you try.
Please look again on the pictures and the text above, I described this in step 1):

The border where they connect should be sculpted as good as possible to already match the later outline in this area ....But you can also use the smooth-brush there and reshape this area in the final retopoed-version.
Go down the 4 new subd-levels and work through each level to get a clean and wrinkle-free area.
To preserve finest details like skin-pores and skin-wrinkles there, you can also first store a morph-target in the highest of the 4 levels, then use the Project-morph-feature:

The Wiki says:



Project Morph: This option allows the user to relax their mesh and remove polygon stretching created by using the Pinch Brush or lots of of the Tweak Brush.

To use Project Morph do the following:

Set your geometry level to the highest level. For this example, let's say level 5.
Store a morph target by pressing Tool: Morph Target: StoreMT.
Go down 2 levels of resolution to level 3 and delete all higher levels of resolution by pressing Tool: Geometry: Delete Higher. Don't worry, your hi-rez geometry is still there because we stored a morph target.
Smooth out the area you want to 'relax' with the Smooth Brush.
Divide two more times to return your model to resolution level 5.
Set the Tool: Morph Target: Project Morph slider to 100. This will project the morph target with the stetched polygons into your current smooth mesh. The result is a 'relaxed' mesh.



Concerning a quick entrance into using the morph-brush download the yesterday actualized version of this tutorial and take a look in the Appendix-section.;)

If you don't get around with that, I can offer you that you send me the two model-parts and I try my best.;)
But I am sure you will get this fixed by yourself.:D
No pain, no gain....:cool:

[Rastaman]

Aaahh, one more thing, Plakkie:

Your picture D. is not as it should look when you followed my workflow.
There is an major fault and I suppose this is your problem right now.

When you rig up the high-poly-mesh with the zsphere and load the low-poly-mesh in the topology-selection, you should see exactly the same low-res-topology than in your picture B.

The resolution of the yellow topo-mesh in your picture D. is much to high, and I assume you selected the wrong mesh in the topology-selection-dialogue.

It looks for me that you selected in both dialogues, rigging and topology, the same mesh, the High-poly !

Then your wrong result is clear, because the high-poly-mesh contains polys and points that go inside the the structure because although both parts are inserted in one model, they are still totally separated structures with different topologies !

Then you get as result exactly the same model that you put previously in the process, a duplicate of your original high-poly-model, containing two separate meshes that only stick together, but are still departed.

A right setup should look like this:

Bild5.jpg

[WailingMonkey]

Thanks for the response, Rastaman. I've read your post you've indicated
and have not altered the mesh's point count. What's 'fuzzy' is that Z3
exports with flipped normals. So I have tried both 'as-is' re-UVing and
re-UVing after I've flipped to proper normals within XSI. Still crash. I've
tried 'Disable UV' before re-import, and leaving the same Z3 UV's as
they were on export. Still crash. I've also tried exporting from Z3 with
no UVs and re-importing with my new set. No joy. I'm going to try to
remove my highest sub-d (it's at a little over 4mil) and see if it's just
a memory problem...

My other concern is the naming extension difference.
As I mentioned, XSI saves only '.obj' and Z3 saves '.OBJ', so I can't
truly overwrite the file (XSI will save the same named file : filename.OBJ
as filename.OBJ.obj), so I have to export and re-name it via Explorer
and I wonder if this is causing the crash...

This crashing tends to be quite disconcerting and not really helpful in
establishing what's going wrong...it'd be far nicer if the operation was
canceled with a warning indicating why it was canceled...but that's
probably wishing for too much. :cry:


WailingMonkey

[Rastaman]

Hmmm...., very strange.:confused:

I reimport UV's frequently within the polypainting workflow (a tutorial about this is still in work ;) ) and have no problems. But theses UV-Sets are generated within ZBrush, not with another app.
If this fails also in your case, there is definetly something wrong within your ZB-Settings.

[Plakkie]

OMG!!! Rasta, I think I took the right model for the topo information, I can't be certain, but I did it again just now, and now it works!!!!

right.jpg (javascript:zb_insimg('64005','right.jpg',1,0))

Rasta, you are a life-saver! Thanks so much for thinking along and presenting a quite easy solution. Means a lot to me to be able to continue this project knowing I can join the head and body later on without a problem.

There are two minor glitches in mouth area, but I'm confident I can solve that with a better topo.
One thing: I only got 2 subdiv levels out of it. Not much of a problem for me, but shouldn't I get 4?

Again, many thanks!!! :tu: :tu: :tu:
Plakkie

[Rastaman]

Glad that it works now.:D

Concerning the subd-levels:

Maybe it's a matter of ones specific hardware capability how many levels Zbrush can calculate, but on my system I can get 4 subd-levels equal to the Subdiv-slider in the Topology-Tab.:confused:
Check this slider, the default value is 2, so maybe you forgot to increase it ?
(Tool -> Topology -> Subdiv-slider)

[It's Alive!]

Rastaman, Thank you so much for this guide.

[stalsby]

Thanks for all the tutorials!! I really appreciate it!

[Displaced]

Thanks for all the tutorials!! I really appreciate it!Me too. Thanks! :)

[jojomondag]

havent really gotten it too work though somebody maybe can help? I get this issue when i use projection why does this happen?

http://img253.imageshack.us/img253/6919/namnlsrd2.jpg

[Rastaman]

First, reduce the value of the adaptive skin -> density-slider.

This is the most common fault that this value is set too high.
Try a level of 2, then 3 or 4. This should solve your problem. :tu:

Second, the projection-strength might be to high.
lower the value in that case below 1 and try again.

[Rastaman]

So, a common hint for all who get wired results when previewing the projected topo-mesh in adaptive skin preview:


Begin your attempt with a low Density-value in the Tool -> Adaptive Skin -> Density setting.
Try a first time with a level of 2.
If it looks right, increase this value step by step (3 then 4) and always press 'a' to preview your results.
From some density-level on (depending on the polygon-count of your retopoed low-poly-mesh), ZB3's algorhythms will fail to produce a clean result.
So that will be your individual adaptive-skin-density-limit you cannot overcome.

[Rastaman]

The tutorial is updated with that hints.;)

[Rastaman]

Important change in the new tutorial-version:










A big credit to nRatio for giving me an essential hint about a fault I made in the previous versions of this tutorial.






As you already might have noticed above, I changed the advice for the Rigging -> subdiv-Level-setting from 4 to 1.






The Topology -> subdiv-slider must be set to 1, then you will get the same subd-level-amount as what is set in the Adaptive-skin -> Density-slider-value, but only if there was no previous adaptive-skin-preview etc. with any higher setting of the subdiv-slider !






If there was, you have to exit the setup and rebuild it totally new.






So the very first thing you should do after loading both meshes in the rigging- and topology-slots is to set the topology -> subdiv-slider from 2 down to 1.

[Rastaman]

A short note concerning Version 3.1:


The technique still works, but under 3.1 you will no more see your retopoed low-poly-cage in the final setup for transfering the details.
Though the process should still work, you will not be able to change something of your low-cage topology in this final step.

A huge drawback, unfortunately not the only one we have to live with 3.1 within the topo-features.:cry:

[Rastaman]

My descriped Topo-problem with 3.1 is solved thanks to --E--.

After having pressed 'Edit Topolgy' and then performed Ctrl + Shift + LMB-Click (unmask all) , the low-poly-retopo-mesh is visible and editable again.

I forgot to perform my own advice that I gave in my tutorials. :o

Seems I'm getting old. :rolleyes:

But the other point is that this masking-problem is now current in 3.1 where 3.0 had this problem only a few times.

So it would be nice if Pixologic could fix this with the next patch.

[jay_lenn]

Hi, nice thread, but im haveing a very dificult time understanding exactly what to do when it comes to projecting the detail back onto another mesh.

What i want to do is, take a hi-res fine detailed head, extract the sub-d lvl 2 or so, and add a body in maya. then import that new mesh back into ZB3.1 and project the hi res detail onto the new mesh witht the body, and of course match up the sub-d lvl of both heads so they match in res.

I tried the projection brush and its not as accurate and i did not like the results.

it would be awsome if u can make a video, or link me to one that shows this.

Thanks very much in advance. - Jay :D

[Rastaman]

Hi Jay,


please download and read my full tutorial from page 1 and take also a look at the short tutorial posted on page 2 of this thread.
All the basic steps you need are detailed descriped and you can try to adapt them to your needs.;)
If something special does not work after you followed my advices from the tutorials, feel free to ask.

Greetings,

Ralf

[Control Freak]

NickZ
How did you post a pick of your models with half the lines?
Did you just combine it in a photoshop program?

[nickz]

Control Freak -Yes sir, I used Photoshop. Took a screen grab with poly frame on and one with poly frame off and then blended them together in Photoshop.

Have fun,

NickZ.

[MatrixNAN]

Hey jojomondag (member.php?u=64211),

I had the same problem. Mine was due to the fact that when I brought my model in ZB3 for some reason it was scaled down by about a factor of 10. With the model being so small the distance to do the calculations is to small this will also cause the effect of what happened with your model. So make sure you model scale is correct. I didn't know that it was scaled down until I brought it into XSI and the model was tiny compared to the model I started with. Thats something to watch out for and it could be your problem also. Hope this helps.

Cheers,
Nate Nesler

[leishman]

Thank you created this tutorial for our.;)

[nickz]

I have had a few people request a video on how to project detail and color from a hi res mesh onto a resurfaced mesh.

I had some time today to put together a video on this.

resurfProjectionMovie.jpg

You can take a look at the video by following this link:

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE TUTORIAL (http://www.veoh.com/videos/v1107274r38q3GFB?c=nickzArtTraining)

Hope this helps some people out.

Peace,

NickZ.

[sheb]

Hi Nick,

thanks alot for the tutorial - I had the frustrating scale problem and that solved it. Very nicely done.

seb

[sheb]

In fact I ran into a problem now :((( Im getting holes while creating the adaptive skin. I posted more detailed here:

http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/showthread.php?p=397540#post397540

Thanks for any help,

seb

[nickz]

Sheb,

I have learned an even easier way to do things.

1. Have a Hi Res mesh.

2. Import your resurfaced mesh.

3. Append your resurfaced mesh to your Hi Res mesh as a sub tool.

4. Take your resurfaced mesh and subdivide it to your desired subdivision level.

5. Store a morph target for the highest sub division level of your resurface mesh.

6. Make sure you have your resurfaced mesh selected in the SubTool palette.

7. Use the "ProjectAll" button in the SubTool section in the Tool palette. (This will do the same thing as the project option in the rigging section, but with different option for the project.)

8. After the projection is complete, take a look at the model for some bad projections, if there are any then you can use the morph brush to paint out the undesired areas.

This method works really well on fingers, it is also good for making a one piece continuous mesh out of multi-piece models. I used this method to create a singe bust with arms out of a Hi Res bust model and a Hi Res Arm. I made tow projections and used the morph brush to paint a nice transition between the two projections.

Hope this helps!

NickZ. :)

[sheb]

This is working great! Thanks again :D

seb

[Rastaman]

Yes Nickz,

thanks a lot for your very good video, especially for the solution of the scale problem which also made me some serious headaches.;)

One note to your video:

I prefer to store a morph-target on my high-res mesh in the highest subd-level before I then use it in the detail-transfer-setup as a rigg for the zsphere.
When you have made your adaptive skin, you will see that the morph-target with the stored details of the original high-res version is now also within the newly created adaptive skin and can be used to restore bad projected areas.

[Luminous Anubis]

Thanks Rastaman and NickZ, this is exactly what I was looking for. I have a model with many subtools and what I wish to do is combine them all together into one tool, export it and create a resurfaced version with uvs that I can project all the surface detail on to and project a normal map from. I'll post some results later tonight when I test it out.

Thanks again!

[Kosher]

UPDATE:
I followed the directions to a tee:

I created a low res poly of the combined upper body and head, using insert mesh (at subdiv level 1).

I created a combined high res upper body and head (at subdiv level 8), using insert mesh again.

I export both of them as separte ztl files then load them into a new scene.

I select the high res combined mesh in the rigging pallette then select the low res combined mesh in the topology pallette.

When I click edit topology, the original high res mesh shows up dark, as if it's masked, but there's no visible topology from the selected low res mesh. There's only a single ZSphere (the original) sitting there.

If I begin using the SHIFT paint method to paint on topology, ZBrush eventually just crashes. I've tried using lower res versions of the high res combined mesh to paint but ZBrush inevitably crashes.


I tried the CTRL+SHIFT+LMB to unhide the existing topology but I still don't see it. Is it not possible to get the existing topology in the retopo tool if you use the insert mesh feature? I did actually follow the steps and selected the low res poly under the topology section and the high res poly in the rigging section.

I don't want to have to SHIFT+LEFT CLICK DRAG to generate all of the existing topology all over again ... TONS of detail.

[lolonoa]

I thingk I must be the thousand one to reply, but I just want to say Thank you so much to give this so cool tutorial to me, Thank you

[Rastaman]

Lolonoa: You're welcome.:lol:


Kosher: Check my reply to your problems in the topo-lab-thread.;)

[Rastaman]

Although the retopo-way I described is suitable in most situations, it often lacks when a model has open holes like the eyes and mouth etc..
Then the normal retopo-projection-way for closing the holes or changing the geometry and project the old details leads to wired results because ZBrush seems to loose the connection at the hole-borders and calculates trash.






So here is a possible solution for that problem by John Strieder:

http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/showthread.php?p=451586#post451586

[crazyzen]

:D good job man and thx

[moonlitmaverick]

Hi ! facing the same problems like Kosher. No retopologised mesh visible after pressing topology > select topology. Rastaman,I can't find where you address this issue in the topo and flow lab thread. Kosher ,any answers yet?

[Rastaman]

http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/showpost.php?p=451578&postcount=672

[3dommi]

Having had similar problems as you can see in post 34 in this thread (my mesh was all distorted when turning "Projection" on) I solved my problem by setting the "ProjectRange"-value-slider to minus -1.

Minus -0,50 and minus -0,10 also work, so it seems that when the "ProjectRange"-value-slider = higher than minus -0,10 (e.g. 0 or greater than 0) then the projection fails.

When negative (the ProjectionRange lower than zero) then my mesh was projected completely OK with following attributes:
- original mesh = 9 million polys (7 subdiv levels)
- retopoed mesh = 2292 polys
- "Adaptive Skin" "Density" = 7
- "Projection Strength" = 1
- "ProjectRange" = MINUS (anything lower than zero works)
- all other settings were default.

[romeocostan]

God bless you, Nick adn of cours we pray also for Pixologic team :tu:

[Grugi]

I have a problem,when I want to rework an existing topology. No matter if I use the select topology method or the other method by shift-click to draw the the existing lines. I always get a lot of holes in the new mesh.I have no idea why this happens and it´s really frustrating :(

[Rastaman]

Try this:

After having pressed 'Edit Topolgy' , perform Ctrl + Shift + LMB-Click (unmask all) .Then do your retopos.
That should work.

[Yuzrass]

Hey, Rastaman. Great tutorial. I got one question as I still haven't try this
combining separate mesh yet.

Let say my PC can only handle limited amount of polygon like 2million polys maximum but i want to have a really detail character. So what I do is separate the character body into 2 parts like head one model and the rest of the body as one model. Reason I would do this is to get all the 2million polys max on the head and 2million max on the body.

My question is if I were to combine both model after finish sculpting it.Would it be possible to have all the details that both of the mesh has since both combine will generate 4million polys as one mesh and my PC can only handle only 2 million per mesh?

[velleca55]

I try to read much that I can, but one thing I don't Know yet ...

The topology is possible to get over a triangulated mesh to re import that and work in ZBrush ?...

I'll try to explain ... I'm sculptor and did make some scan laser 3D of my works ... now I want to put that in ZBrush to finish ... but the triangles mesh are so ugly and the commands in ZBrush are not responsive ...

At this point I think perhaps the retopology can help me ... I'm right to suppose that the retopology give me a good mesh to export/re import and work in ZBrush without limitations ? ...

[Rastaman]

Yuzrass:

Good question.:eek:
I think you'll have to simply try it and see if it works.
I don't know.


Velleca55:

If you can successfully load you triangled mesh into ZBrush and into a zsphere-retopo-status, then it should be no problem.
The only thing is, that the 'quick-retopo'-method is useless for you, because it would reproduce the triangled mesh-structure.
You will have to build the new topo totally by hand.
But that should work.
If you can also transfer the fine details, you will have to try.
Should work also with triangled meshes, but I never tried.

[velleca55]

Thanks for the answer ...

I'd try making some strategie passages ... I make a "fasta" retopo and save as OBJ ...

Take the mesh (many holes and crazy topology) into ArtCAM and simulate a toolpath, and save that simulation that correct the holes and now in Zbrush I have a good mesh to retopo ...

On the photo the "bad" initial mesh ...

[velleca55]

And the good mesh nice for work on ...

Now I have to make a test with retopo by hand, but I'm steel beginning ... easy I'll arrived ...

The head that I made into an exersize ...

Thanks again ... I'm in love with ZBrush ... think will make nice thing with it ...
.

[velleca55]

And here an ALPHA of the head to put on a broche/pendant in ArtCAM

...:confused:... cannot upload other photos on the same message ... don't know why ...

.

[Yuzrass]

Hey Rastaman, I have try it and just as i thought it is useless to use it for that purpose. Zbrush will still stick to its polygon limit per object. That means it will deny the opertation and sometimes crashes hehehehe!
I guess the only way to get one full figure in high polycount is to simply upgrade to Vista 64 bit and stuff lots of ram in the PC. :D And also use HD geometry althou I still haven't explore yet that feature.

[Rastaman]

Yes, I think that more hardware power will definetely make things with ZBrush much easier for you. ;)

And remember to install ZBrush on a partition with enough free space left.
ZBrush always uses this partition for disk-memory when you run out of RAM !
Otherwise you will have problems again.

[Yuzrass]

So it's like a scratch disk where zbrush will use the space with right? Can I change the disk path to other drive for it without reinstalling it to the targeted drive?

[Rastaman]

No, currently that's not an option in ZB3.1. It uses always the partition where you installed it.
I already pointed this out to Aurick and voted urgently for an implementation of a free choosable path.

[marcellonetto]

Hi guys, i was really interested in this method , however, everytime i try to do the shift+lmb freehand part, zbrush crashes for no reason...

I tried different poly counts (500,000 - 2,000 - 500) and no luck.


sometimes, if i click only once i get a portion of it done, but if i click again the program crashes...


Any toughts?

[marcellonetto]

Im still waiting for a reply!

[Rastaman]

Hi marcellonetto,

sorry for the delay, I am not so often here at the moment.

I have no explanation why your ZBrush crashes.:confused:
Maybe it's a problem with your installation or a driver-conflict.
I think you should talk with the ZB-support about this.