ZBrushCentral

Problems exporting my model..need some help

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

Hey all,

I made my model and I wanted to export it so I can render within Lightwave (v9). But Im having some issues with the process.

I exported my ZB model and opened it in Lightwave, but only the first subtool appeared and not the other four. How can I export all of my subtools as one obj?

Secondly, has anyone had a problem with Lightwave’s Layout not seeing a model? After importing the model in Modeler, which is visable, I send it to Layout to find that the model is invisible. The only way I can see the model is to have the wireframe or vertices mode enabled.
Is there something Im doing wrong with exporting my models from ZB?

#2

Subtools are essentially separate models and so don’t export together automatically. The reason for this is that the combined mesh could be huge, as each subtool can have millions of polygons.

If you select each subtool you can then export that as a separate OBJ and combine in your external app. Or you can create a single mesh composed of all your subtools and export a single OBJ.

To create a single mesh:

  1. Save a copy of your mesh in case of problems and to keep the subdivision levels.
  2. Select top subtool and delete the lower subdivision levels. Clone the subtool.
  3. Select the next subtool in the original mesh, delete the lower subdivision levels and then clone.
  4. Select the first clone (of the top subtool), press Tool: Geometry: InsertMesh and select the second subtool clone.
  5. Repeat 3 & 4 for each of the remaining subtools and export the resulting combined mesh.

There is also a plugin that does the above which you may like to try:
http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/showthread.php?t=47677

#3

Thanks for the info, now it makes sense now. Exporting each subtool seems to be easier but it will also give me more flexibilty in the other app. Now then, to figure out why my ZB models are invisible in lightwave…

If it were easy, it wouldnt be a challange!

#4

I saw in some video tutorial that if you switch or make the model’s material without clicking the fill object option from the color menu, that it make other 3d apps unable to view it…is this true? Sounds complicating and confusing to me.:o

#5

ZBrush materials won’t affect display in other apps. You can’t export a mesh with material other than embedded in the texture map. If you do that it is only an area of grey in the alpha channel indicating where a material can be applied - it has no material properties.

I don’t know Lightwave but perhaps the normals of the mesh have been flipped making it invisible?