ZBrushCentral

Low Poly to High Poly and Max Rig Problem

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

Ok, When I rig a character in Max, I find it easier to rig when the character is low poly. Then after rigging I add Smoothing and increase the poly and then add all the detail I want without it screwing up my rigging.

My problem now is, what steps would I take to Rig my character low poly - Bring the geometry into ZBrush to add detail and increase the poly - Then bring back into Max without having to reassign the bones and rig again. Is this possible? Or do I need to rig my character only after i have added all the detail and maxed out the poly in ZBrush to my likings? Im trying to rig one now that is high ploy and straight from ZBrush high poly and its VERY difficult because im working with so many vertices… Any suggestions or easier way to do this?

#2

you can use your low poly mesh and generate displacement maps or normal maps from Zbrush and apply those to your model in Max. You can also use a low poly cage to drive the animation of the highpoly out of Zbrush.

#3

Let me make sure I understand you correct because im new to ZBrush, but I know max very well. You’re saying I can import into ZBrush my low poly version of my character, use ZBrush to make the changes I want (including increasing the poly count), save out the changes as a Displacement map, and just use the displacement map on my loy poly character?

Can ZBrush allow an export of only a image that represents the bump/dispacement of the object?

#4

yep

#5

Is this a common method for character animation using ZBrush and Max? Your suggestion sounds like a good way of doing it. Im a Architectural 3D Artist stepping into the world of Characters, and I want to make sure Im going in the right direction. I’ll have to research more on the steps to export displacement maps from zbrush. Thanks for your feedback!