Is there a way to make my .ztl files backwards comptatible? I recently updated to 3.5, worked on my files with it, but now I need to open it in 3.1. It don’t work. So…is there a trick to this?
I don’t believe that they are compatible. However, there are a couple of ways to go about doing this. First you need to export out an obj of the lowest subdivision and the highest subdivision from zbrush 3.5.
From there, I believe the easiest thing to do is import your low poly mesh into 3.1 and subdivide it until it has the same amount of polygons as your high poly mesh. Then while at your highest subdivision level import your high poly mesh and that should update your mesh to include all of the details of your original sculpt.
If that doesn’t work then you will need to project your details from the high poly mesh to the low poly mesh. To do this, first import them both into 3.1 and subdivide the low poly mesh until it matches the level of your high poly mesh. Now append the high poly and low poly meshes using subtools, then select the subtool that you want to project details to and press the Project All button under the subtool palette.
If you have any questions just let me know.
Hey I tried it and my models kept blowing up. 
I also tried playing with this technique to do tripple heads and that didn’t work either. It blew up.
I first took the low rez, exported that, took the hi rez of the head, exported that, then I took lo rez in maya, used a lattice to match with the hi rez, replaced it with original low rez in zbrush, then brought in and append the hi rez head. I selected the lo rez, increased its poly level to match the hi rez, and then i hit project all. It blew up.
I also tried that doing the whole body, it blew up.
Any reason why they’re blowing up? I didn’t change the vertex order or anything.
Just export from 3.5 and import into 3.1 without using maya.
Richard
Yea, you dont need to take it into maya for this at all. You also do not need to adjust the low res mesh, when you project your details it will automatically update each subdivision level.
If you still have problems with the mesh exploding after exporting straight from 3.5 to 3.1 then there is a slightly more complicated way to project details using zspheres that lets you control the amount and direction of the projection, but at the moment I have to get ready for class and don’t have time to explain it. However, if you search the forums or the zbrush wiki there are plenty of tutorials available.
Yep export your model from 3.5r2…directly to 3.1
the way i usually do it is:
- export your highest subdiv from 3.5
2.open a tool that has the right scale (sometimes you have scaling bug between maya and zbrush)…you can skip this part if you have no sclaing issue - delete any subdiv from that tool (higher or lower)
4.import your Highest model on top of it
5.reconstruct subdivision till you get your old level1
done
hope it helps