thanks so much for the tutorial ! 
i was confuse and i tried a few times to retopolgize my mesh
but everytime i had some other problems .
you did it so easy , now i have to try it for my self 
Crazy! I was trying this out yesterday and couldn’t get it to work. Now Bam! Here’s a tut 
Thanks Nick
I guess that I’m not the only one who’s been having a hard time with this re-projection stuff :lol: . I just wanted to thank you a bunch for taking the time to make your little video, it was very clear and understandable!
Big Thanks!
I have all of these saved to disk already but it’s neat that you posted them within the thread. 
Lots of info to be had in these vids! Thanks for posting.
I would like to give everyone an update on what I have been up to lately.
On November 28th 2007 I went to Ringling College Of Art And Design in Sarasota Florida to deliver a presentation. I also taught a Zbrush Intro class that day.
The presentation I delivered was titled “Using One 3D Source”
[attach=90486]Using3DOneSource.jpg[/attach]
In this presentation I talked about how the new tools in ZBrush 3.0 have made it possible to generate one 3D source that will allow you to generate a concept sculpt, cinematic model, real-time model, illustration and rapid prototyping.
[attach=90479]DigitalSculpting.jpg[/attach]
Here I talked about all the great work that has been coming out of ZBrush lately. I showed many different examples of outstanding ZBrush work to the students and the facility members.
[attach=90478]3DSketching.jpg[/attach]
I then went on to say that it is now possible to 3D sketch in the computer like people have done in the past using a pencil and paper.
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Here is where I showed an example of 3D sketching using a 3D sphere as a starting point. I then used the move, standard, smooth brush along with using masks to create this head. I really had no idea what I was going to create when I started the model.
[attach=90480]buildingZSpheres.jpg[/attach]
I then talked about how it is possible to generate geometry directly inside of ZBrush using ZSpheres.
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I then went on to talk about how it is now possible to paint directly on your model without using UV’s. This is now possible thanks to Zbrush’s new polypaint feature.
[attach=90481]polyPainting.jpg[/attach]
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Once I was happy with my models I then dropped down a few subdivision levels and send that model over to Maya to be resurfaced.
[attach=90482]resurfacing.jpg[/attach]
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Here you can see me resurfacing the head model.
Once I had my models resurfaced I then set up UV’s and sent them back into ZBrush to be subdivided and have the detail and color captured from my initial ZBrush models. To do this I used the new Project All button in the Sub Tool palette.
[attach=90483]3DProjection.jpg[/attach]
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Here is an in depth video that shows this process.
After I repeated this process for all of my pieces of my model, I then had clean geometry and color that was derived from my original 3D sketch models.
Here is the final results of my ZBrush model.
[attach=90484]finishedZBrushModel.jpg[/attach]
Now I had a clean model and clean geometry and clean UV’s, I generated color maps from my polypainting and then I generated 32 bit displacement maps in ZBrush. I then pulled all of this into Maya, set up shaders, lights, cameras and then rendered in Mental Ray.
Here is the final result in Maya. (I think it came pretty close)
[attach=90485]finishedMayaModel.jpg[/attach]
Here is the final turntable that I rendered out and composed in After Effects.
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For my next big post I will talk about how I made this creature move for animation.
Enjoy,
NickZ.
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very nice. I’ll have to study this pipeline when I have more time. Props to you Nick.
Thank you for posting these. As you mentioned, there is an enormous amount of great work being posted using Z3, but you are one of the generous and talented few who also makes free videos of his process. Though with you , cannedmushrooms, and ryankingslien posting, it may be that in a few months, we’ll have a thousand hours of free video instruction. You are the first, I think, the show a complete, production ready, games industry level model from concept to completion. Incredible contribution. Makes the power of zBrush much more obvious and accessible. Extremely motivating vidoes.
With the alien shark head, how did you accomplish the pores? Did you need a custom alpha?
Also, where do you feel zBrushs’ resurfacing tools fall short, compared to Maya’s resurfacing workflow? Were you using NEX?
Again, thanks for sharing all these, and teaching what you know. 
nickz,
Very nice pipeline. I use a similar pipe for my models. ZB3 has totally redifined the role of modelers in the CG industry!
Look forward to more vidz.
Cheers
JesseGraffam - Thanks bud!
Denture Cream - Thanks buddy, I’m glad you like the work we have been doing. I love this app so it is hard not to share. The pores on the head, well I don’t really do anything fancy. I was starting off using alpha 22 and then from there I would just us the standard brush and the lazy mouse on my strokes. I just make the brush size small like around 4 - 8 and then I leave the Z intensity at around 30 - 40. Just takes time, that is all.
As far a s resurfacing goes, we (the character artist at my studio) have resurfaced A LOT OF MESHES! If you look at Madden most of the heads came from scan data. First we were using Cyslice to resurface, this is an awesome program to resurface with but…it is VERY expensive. It is missing a very important feature…um an undo button. There are a few other things that are missing as well so we spent some time to emulate their workflow inside of Maya. We ended up getting some of the functionality of Cyslice but we couldn’t emulate the coolest feature that they had. The feature I am speaking about is how you create geometry in the program. To create a nurbs patch in Cyslice first you have to create a curve network, to do this it was very easy, you just made four curves and all of their ends needed to touch to form a patch, think of a polygon quad but instead of the edges being poly edges they were nurbs curves. Since the curves were nurbs curves you could easily make a real nice flowing curve but it was real simple to create an manipulate. You would then have to make a series of the patches to form the entire surface and then stitch all of the patches together. Once this was done you could then just hover you cursor over and edge on a patch and hit a key and it would add a new isoparm around your entire model. This is essentially the same thing as splitting an edge ring on your model but you are using nurbs. This workflow made it real easy to generate higher LODs from your base mesh, the geometry was really simple and very clean because any operation that you performed you were always “snapping” to your Hi Res geometry.
So this is what we were trying to recreate in Maya. Maya has fairly nice nurbs tools but nothing quite as nice and easy like Cyslice, the only other thing that I have seen that is that easy to make a surface in is Animation Master, the first spline based modeling package that I have ever used.
What we ended up using in Maya was the “make live” feature that they have. When you make a surface live in Maya it takes your mesh and makes it like hi powered magnet, any geometry that you create or move will now stick to your make live surface and allow you to slide it around on the surface. Only problem is that when you make a surface live it takes your mesh and draws it in a green wire frame mode and your hi res mesh is now see through. This is really bad to look at when you are trying to resurface something. So to fix this we would make a copy of our hi res object, make it semi transparent and then lock it so you could never select it, we would also hide our make live object. Now you have a hi res object that you can see, can’t touch and everything you do will stick to it. Now when you create new geometry it is very easy to see your new surface being built on top of your Hi Res geometry. Click here to see a video that I have made that goes over this set up.
The thing that I like to do when resurfacing is I like to use the split edge ring tool, then slide this new edge loop to the desired position and then snap all the verticies in the edge loop back down to the Hi Res surface. Using edge loop and rings really speeds things up quite a bit.
I almost forgot, there is a tool that is in the sculpt geometry tool that will allow you to relax your geometry, when you do this Maya will try to retain the shape of the model while still relaxing your geometry. You get to do this with a brush. I run this tool and then take everything and re snap it back to the Hi Res object. This saves SO MUCH TIME! You can see me do this in the head resurfacing video above.
DeusEx – More to come J
After I knew that my model was rendering correctly inside of Maya I built a skeleton and a rig for my character so it could be animated and posed.
[attach=90489]buildingASkeleton.jpg[/attach]
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There isn’t too much that is that exciting about building a skeleton but this video will give you an idea of what I was thinking for joint placement.
Once I had a skeleton created I then created more skeletons and the rig.
[attach=90488]buildingARig.jpg[/attach]
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Here in this video you can see the final geometry that I built, the driver skeleton that drives the deformation skeleton, an IK legs and arms that drive the driver skeleton, FK leg and arms that drive the driver skeleton, once the arms and legs are set up you can blend between IK and FK and the driver skeleton (that is a little more simplified in the upper and lower arms than the deformation skeleton) drives the deformation skeleton. Then a final rig was built to make controls that were easy to select.
Here is the final results rendered out in Maya.
[attach=90487]AnimatingInMaya.jpg[/attach]
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This is a turntable rendered out in Maya that show the displaced model rendering in Maya while being animated. (Please do not laugh at my lack of animation skills, I am not an animator…can you tell.)
The next big post will look at how to turn the work I have already created into a real-time model that will run in real-time inside of Maya’s viewport.
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Wow!!! how did I miss those!!!
that’s some great material thanks
Damn! You’ve been busy. So busy I haven’t had a chance to go through all this yet! Haha. Can’t wait to watch all this. Thanks Nick!
The alien looks awesome. I think his centre of gravity is off though. Looks like his falling forward? Really cool stuff.
Cheers
Brett
These vids make me want to forego sleep tonight. Can’t wait to see how you set the model up for rapid prototyping! Thanks for the work 
Awesome Nickz Thanks a lot man small_orange_diamondsmall_orange_diamond
damned the project all feature is just awesome, i used the project brush before and it was really paintfull, I made a test with the project all button and it’s super fast and clean. You made my day 
thanks a bunch nick !
i agree with Ncollings , i realy wonder what this button doing 
its so powerfull …
you make another day
your videos are so entertaining! Very coincidental that not only is alien life and outer space one of my favourite subject matters, but trance/house/electronica is the music i generally listen too at home. Needless to say i am a huge fan of yours, the alien shark model is awesome, and the showing of that model is even better! Keep up the outstanding work, and let me personally thank you for all the tutorials youve put up in the past.
nickz,
Wow, man. Thanks for such a detailed followup. Awesome tips and things to watch out for.
Will your alien shark be featured in any upcoming commercial games?
Right now, I feel this is one of the most informative and valuable threads in the history of the internet!
No pressure on future updates.
Lil sister - Thanks. More to come.
brettSinclair- Thanks, I have been busy. Center of gravity is off, my bad. I fixed it when I rigged the character. Good eye, good eye.
M29MATT - No prob. Sleep is good. I can finally do that now because this work is done.
ncollings - Thanks bud. Project all is the best is it not? We were using XYshrinkwrap.mel in Maya to do this work and it would take FOREVER. Now it takes like 4 - 10 seconds. Zrocks ehh???
smeagol - Glad I could make your day! That makes mine!
Mikeporetti - Not a problem, yup I’m on an alien kick here lately, I’ve been on the techno kick a LONG time now. A buddy of mine is like “I like your stuff but…the music has to go.” Sorry, can’t do it.
Denture Cream - No game, this was just for me to prove that this pipeline could work, and it can work now. Thanks again for the props… hope I don’t disappoint.
Now that I had clean Geometry and everything is rigged and weighted, it was real easy for me to just duplicate my base meshes and use those as my real-time meshes.
I then baked out normal maps for all my pieces and placed all the images on one card.
[attach=90490]normalMaps.jpg[/attach]
I then took all of my UV’s and scaled them down by .5 This was real easy to do in Maya using UVmaster.mel. If you have not used it for UV’s you must try it out. Using this tool it was real easy for me to move all of my UV’s so the fit perfectyly into one texture page (0 to 1)
I then tool all my color, diffuse, spec and reflection limit maps and made them all into one texture page maps.
[attach=90491]textureMaps.jpg[/attach]
I then set up some real time shaders in Maya. I just used a phong shader, loaded in all my maps and assigned the shader to my objects.
I already had lights from my turntable renders, the only thing I did was take one of my spot lights and switch it to a depth map shadow instead of a ray trace shadow, turned on high quality rendering mode and truned on real time shadows.
Here is the results.
[attach=90492]realTimeShading.jpg[/attach]
Here you can see a movie that I put together to show off the model running in real time in Maya’s viewport.
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The next post will show how I used this work to make an illustration. Good times!
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Hi Nickz,
Im so happy you have made these vids, i have been watching them on veoh quite frequently. Just wanted to say thank you for sharing your maya resurfacing technique, its excellent and has speed up my workflow.
Once again thank you and i appreciate all the time and effort you have put into these tutorials. All the best, and can’t wait to see more