ZBrushCentral

Preserver Grouping between Zbrush and other app

Not sure if this was posted or not…but its a nice tip if your want to preserve the group ID of your model when you go between applications. The Zbrush method is fast…but it lacks accurate control.

When an a model is exported as .obj…Zbrush seperates the mesh by group ID ie : polymesh_Group1000 polymesh_Group2000 polymesh_Group3000 (the number defines the color of the group id)

so when you want to edit your mesh in another 3d app…you will notice that each group is a seperate mesh…now as long you preserve the NAME of the mesh in order to define the color of the Group ID…you can define and edit the group as much u want just make sure it is single mesh with the proper name.

So for every mesh(doesnt have to be contigous) that has a proper name…you will get a Group ID in Zbrush…just make sure you weld vertices when you import.

can i ask for the process?
what is the setting when you export for example maya and import back to Zbrush? and the setting from ZBrush to maya?

i have try for example body and armor i group them and export to obj then when i go to zbrush i can’t see any seperate object, do i need to do any setting to get the zbrush read the object as a seperate object

its pretty simple…

just create quick select sets in maya and Zbrush will then convert those to selection groups.

“set name”_Group2000 ---- the number will define the color…so play with that number in increments of a thousand to control the color of your groups.

I am not very clear with what you explain to me
you mean use selection set in maya and name it “_Group2000” and export to obj and in zbrush it will automatically detect the grouping, am I right?

and then how do you export back from zbrush to maya? do you turn the merge on? what is the export setting?
and when you import back to maya what is the import setting?

sorry if i ask too much question
thanks for your help

well nothing quite like trying it out and seeing what happens

meshgroupName_Group2000 is how the select set should be named.

That is enough to preserve the grouping…

when going from zbrush to maya it should also preserve the grouping by default.

Only use the merge verts if verts need to be welded…but i dont think this is necessary because it will change the point order.