Align 3d scan to the world coordinates

[Jerem3D]

Hello everyone,

I’m not really used to writing messages on the forums, usually the questions I ask myself are already asked and have had an answer but there I do not find, so here is the reason for this little question:

I work a lot with 3D scans in the medical field, and my problem is that the model imported into Zbrush never has the good orientation and I would like to know if there is a trick to quickly align the model? a bit like the zwrap plugin, we select an area we click on alignment and the model aligns with the grid for example.

I was able to test the Zwrap plugin with the trial version but for the moment I have no plans to buy it.

If the question has already been asked I apologize in advance for not having found the subject, and thank you for forwarding me the link

Thank you in advance and good sculpt to everyone.

[zber2]

Hi @Jerem3D Welcome to ZBrush Central!

Go to “Tool > Deformation” and click “Unify” button. This will center the mesh in ZBrush world space to 0,0,0 and will also scale it to a size of 2 which is the ideal size for working in ZBrush. Hope that helps!

[Jerem3D]

Thank you very much for the response and the responsiveness, unfortunately it does not work, the object is already well positioned in 0, 0, 0, but it lacks the right orientation see the example:

[zber2]

I see what you mean now. As far as I know, there is no 1 button solution to do this. You will have to align it manually. Using the Gizmo 3D along with Shift key to snap it to an orthographic view will probably be the quickest way.

[Jerem3D]

Hello,

Ok, today that’s how I do for all my 3D scans, I still leave the subject open if ever another person has a trick to share.

I will see if with masks, polygroups and the direction of normals I can make a small Zscript of alignment, I do not know yet if it is possible.

Thanks again ZBER2 for the help​
And have a good day to everyone!

[tobor8man]

Hi @Jerem3D

You can probably get a reasonable alignment with the Gizmo. With the Gizmo active, hold ALT and drag from one vertex on the model to another. The Y-axis of the Gizmo will align in that direction. Then press the Reset Mesh Orientation icon (rewind icon) and the mesh orientation will adjust so that it points with Y up. You can then rotate with the Gizmo so the model faces how you want. Alternatively repeat the same action for two vertices in the model X or Z direction. Hold ALT and rotate the axis so that the X or Z axis rather than the Y aligns to the two vertices. Hold SHIFT while rotating to snap rotation to 5 degree increments. Then Reset Mesh Orientation again.

There’s also Set View Perpendicular in Zmodeler:Polygon actions. So you can pick a polygon and it will reset the camera view so the polygon faces directly at the camera. Then ALT click on the polygon with the Gizmo and ALT-rotate so the axes are oriented as you want. You know the view is perpendicular so one axis is facing the camera. Once done Reset Mesh Orientation so that it’s not just the camera view that has been adjusted. Might help to make your target polygon a unique polygroup color to help visualize the result.

Maybe there’s a tool for alignment as per typical alignment of physical parts to be measured with a Coordinate Measurement Machines (CMM) but I don’t know of one.