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Is it just me or does ZB 4 retopo...?

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

I guess this isn’t really a question, although I figured I could phrase it as a question and it would be on topic in the questions forum. :wink:

So is it just me or does ZB 4 retopologizing really suck now, or what?

For one thing, I can see all the way through the damn mesh, to the point where it gets really hard to tell which points of my new cage are on the front or back, making it increasingly difficult to work the more I get drawn.
Yes, I found a partial answer to that being turn down the trans, but then the zsphere points “sink” into the mesh and are hard to see. So you get your choice of seeing too much or too little, not “just right” like it was before.

Also, now sometimes when I try to close a loop I frequently have zspheres wanting to snap from the previously drawn point instead of the last drawn point, and I have to undo, hold down ctrl and then redraw it. Didn’t used to have to do that, they used to just always start from the most recently drawn point.

And occasionally I get zspheres that just want to draw somewhere off in the ether, even though I had ctrl held down to start a new row.

Okay I guess I do have a question. Am I losing my mind? I don’t remember retopology having been such a pain in the butt before. I haven’t done it in a while, granted, but it seems to me that it used to go alot smoother with alot fewer problems and weirdness.
Just now I was trying to change the skin thickness in the Topology tab and it was just blacked out, deactivated for some bizarre reason, and I had to start all over after closing and reopening. Second time around it worked fine.

So I reiterate - am I losing my mind or has retopologizing in ZBrush 4 taken a turn towards the buggy and problematic?

#2

The development team is currently looking at retopology to see where it can be enhanced. I don’t have any answers for when updates might come, however. I just wanted to let you know it’s something that the team does want to refine further.

#3

However there are a couple of different work arounds. Search the forums.

One is turnign down the transparance, the other is to do retop using the appended zsphere method.

Don’t make it great, but make it workable (kinda)

#4

Originally posted by aurick
The development team is currently looking at retopology to see where it can be enhanced. I don’t have any answers for when updates might come, however. I just wanted to let you know it’s something that the team does want to refine further.

LOL…diplomacy at its finest!

#5

I really hope retopology is changed to be more like Topogun, which has great tools. Only problem with Topogun is it’s symmetry tools really suck, I retop 1/2 my mesh in that, then take it to 3ds max to mirror it, then back into Zbrush.

#6

…precisely why I keep all previous versions of the program…:wink:

#7

Well I do appreciate the replies, and thanks for the progress update aurick. :slight_smile:

Unfortunately my retopologizing needs couldn’t wait and thus I “discovered” Topogun, which pretty much puts ZBrush’s retopology to shame in a huge way for many reasons. And I managed to learn everything I need to know about it in about an hour experimenting and watching tutorial videos. To say it’s intuitive would be a gross understatement, and it really saved my day.

So aurick, I guess you can tell them don’t worry about it as far as I’m concerned - I doubt that I’ll ever retopologize in ZB again. :wink:

Well I love ZBrush for so many other reasons and would never stop using it, but I guess every program has those things I really don’t like or can’t use effectively.

@Artesia:
Yeah the symmetry sucks and I do the same as you, but not with Max. One thing that can’t be beat though is the way in Topogun the points stick to the model no matter how much you move them, which ZBrush really epically fails at.

#8

When enhancing Zbrush’s retopology tools, 3D Coat would be a good example to follow. It has symmetry, it has nice slice loops, polygrouping as you go, and you can use a ‘move brush’ that moves the topology around even though it is sliding along the underlying surface. The draw size can be large so a large portion of the topology slides around. And when you shift you smooth, just like Zbrush does normally. The topology will relax and yet still follow the contours of the shape underneath.

#9

Yeah I’ve read and seen lots of great things about 3D Coat and I’m definitely keeping my eye on it.
But I’m already using ZB for sculpting and modeling, Mudbox for sculpting and painting, and now Topogun for retopologizing, and between all that it’s got me covered for now at least. Pretty hefty investment too, so I can’t really justify adding 3D Coat just yet at least.

#10

Oh no. I meant to say 3dCoat’s retopology is a good example of what Pixologic should consider when enhancing Zbrush’s retopology tools. I’ll slightly edit my original post :slight_smile:

#11

Oh okay, I see what you meant. :slight_smile:
Yeah that would be a great idea, to have 3D Coat-like retopology features in Zbrush. Preferably in a free update version. :wink: