getting the most from your shadowbox

[dapharmer]

i dont assume i'm the first the figure this out but i wasnt even sure how to best search out any previous discussions about it so i felt it would be best to share ..


the shadowbox... hands down one of the best new features in zb4... but as it stands we're limitted to the various available shadowbox tools that max at 512. i know i know, shadowbox is meant for making primitive shapes and basic deisgns yadda yadda... that should be enough.. and there's the slider that lets us up the remesh value to 1024 but that doesnt help when you cant get a mask to give you clean lines because of the limits of the shadowbox model itself. so was thinking, is there a way to cheat this limit. and i figured this out.

open a shadowbox512 tool drop into edit mode
leave the remesh value at 512
unclick subtools:shadowbox so the model drops down to a one sided plane
geometry : uncheck smt
divide (resulting model should be 3.151 million polys)
click back on shadowbox
clear out the resulting mask
enjoy being able to create insanely smooth mask gradiants without sacrificing pixels as the resulting mesh will stick to the limits imposed by the 512 remesh yet still maintain the smooth lines of the mask

:D


again i dont know if this has been mentioned before .. if so at least it's being rementioned now.. if not.. enjoy. :) .


and if im wrong and im just seeing things someone let me know.. but pretty sure im not

[mix_mash]

I know the process seems simple enough but it would be nice if you gave us some pictures and made it more like an official tutorial.

I haven't tried any of the new goodies in ZB4 so any tutorials on the new features would be helpful.

Thanks for the tips.

Cheers,
Paul
(from Mix Mash)

[dapharmer]

i have to wait until monday to do it unfortunately. can use zbrush directly on my laptop as the screen is too small so i gotta wait until im in work ith my dual screens :| .. i'll throw something together though

[dapharmer]

heres a link to a quick movie of the process :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnMw2pVHRAE

its harder to see in the video the difference in smoothness in the mask, but you should be able to tell by the smoothness in the strokes of the cursive writing what's being achieved. notice how i changed no smoothing settings between the first and second runs, but i ended up with a lot finer quality edge (no looking like something out of ms paint) and yet got the same density of resulting poly's... wasting less and giving a much more detailed initial result.

i imagine a similar test with a lower remesh level would result in some seriously detailed well smoothed low poly initial meshes.

[larvantholos]

So, actually, if your changing the resolution of your shadow box, and you simply click it off, then back on, it becomes the higher resolution box - so at 512, your getting the 718,000 or whatever polygon box. Shadowbox doesn't update until you turn it off, then back on. Try it, you don't actually need to subdivide the box on that step, just adjust your slider up to 512. You are in fact increasing the polygon count when it does this.

[dapharmer]

when i do it the way i am i end up with meshes of roughly the same polygon count.. thats not what im trying to change with this though.. again i could be wrong but i feel that when u subdivide then turn shadowbox back on.. (leaving it on 512 both times).. you are able to get much smoother lines and gradiant free edges with your masking, while ending up with the same density polygons


i think :D

it could just seem like it is at that point but i've tried the cursive writing on both pre and pos dividing and i feel like im getting better results even if it appears like nothing changed... i think when you see the little 1/4 cube that forms after you switch shadowbox back on its indicating that something is different .. what i havent exactly figured out yet ;) but thats why i shared

[Synthetic]

I've been getting jaggedy-edged curves when i try shadowbox, even w/ the tweak you suggest. is there a setting i need to tweak that controls smoothness or rez of masking textures or do i need to make a bigger doc?

thanks!

[DerackKollpatch]

OK im trying to learn this stuff and ive read a lot on the work flows but i havent come across this yet. Lets say i sculpt some really detailed ornamental thing in zbrush for a normal map. well how do you get it into PS so you can then paint where the details are to add color exactly where it needs to be? please excuse my ignorance.

[EZRA52]

Here's a little test I did regarding this subject.

Left to right I used a 128 shadowbox, a 256 and a 512 on the far right I increased the polycount of a 128 box to around 985,000 polies before I created the tool. I jotted down the poly counts of the 4 tools beneath them. You can judge resolution of each for yourselves.

[weimar]

I've found that subdividing and unchecking smooth before entering shadowbox, you can get much more detail out of it, because it keeps the detail level from before shadowbox. Maybe that's obvious, but I've found shadowbox extremely powerful in making things that are oddly shaped and unique base meshes that are maybe a little tricky otherwise. Spheres are great, too of course. I was just thinking of higher quality alphas too.

Yep, looks like you guys already got there anyway.

[zx123]

So, actually, if your changing the resolution of your shadow box, and you simply click it off, then back on, it becomes the higher resolution box - so at 512, your getting the 718,000 or whatever polygon box. Shadowbox doesn't update until you turn it off, then back on. Try it, you don't actually need to subdivide the box on that step, just adjust your slider up to 512. You are in fact increasing the polygon count when it does this.I want try this, but the video its very hard to understand

[dapharmer]

ezra.. just realized what you did basically proved that i wasnt going completely looney :D .. thanks :)