Hello!
I have polypainted a hipoly model in ZBrush.
I would now like to zRemesh the hipoly model and then re-apply the hipoly polypaint by projecting it into the new lowpoly version.
Is that possible? If yes, how?
I would very much like to do that only in ZBrush so that I quickly can test out what my lowpoly version would like without having to use Xnormals and Blender first.
Thank you!
Save or clone your tool first or duplicate it under subtools. Create your low poly version. With the high res subtool below the new low res tool, use Project All. HTH
Thank you! That basically works fine, however the polypaint gets absolutely low quality.
I was hoping that it I could get a preview of what the low-poly version would look like if I applied the hipoly polypaint to it.
I think right now, ZBrush simply melts down the polypaint to fit it onto the new topology.
Or is my request too weird?
Face count> less faces, less detail. Without UV’s and texture maps, you can get but so far.
Do you think that if I create a UV and texture map within ZBrush, it should work the way I want it?
http://docs.pixologic.com/user-guide/3d-modeling/painting-your-model/texture-maps/
Research and several attempts are all that will help 
These forums are searchable.
That is what I did yesterday all day long without success.
I was hoping that somebody knew the workflow and could tell me about it.
On YouTube and discussion boards there were only approaches that included exporting the textures to xnormals.
A friend of mine also told me it was not possible in ZBrush, but I could not believe that.
That is the reason why I am asking here.
When I try to use the hi-poly texture map on the lo-poly model in ZBrush, ZBrush tells me “Texture mapping requires UV Mapping. Apply UV Mapply or use Polypainting without UV Mapping”.
To solve that, I use UV Master to copy the hires UVs to the lowpoly model’s UVs.
Then I applied the hires texture to the lowpoly model.
But it does not look as I expected it:
It may take more than one attempt as there are multiple UV mapping methods. 
What do you intend to do with it? It might not matter.
My dream would be doing just everything related to producing my game model within ZBrush:
I am not sure what else I could try out in regards of projecting the hires texture map to the low res model.
Does anybody have any more ideas?
http://www.zbrushcentral.com/showthread.php?185150-polypainted-tool-looks-incredible-in-z4r6-but-awful-as-an-exported-map-in-maya-2012&highlight=UVs
Keep at it and you may succeed
I think the thread that you mentioned is about a different topic unfortunately.
For starters, are you using ZB4R6 P2?
Post #6 should have been helpful…
How many different mapping methods did you try?
Have you searched on here specifically for what you wish to accomplish?
Yes, I am using the latest version.
Yes, I followed all the documentation, and I tried every possible way. Too many to describe here.
If anyone has already found a viable solution, I would be really happy to read about it.
I have seen an approach where the user first created a low poly model, unwrapped it, perfectionized the unwrap and then subdivided and then pasted the low poly uvs onto the hi poly model, but if I do the unwrap from the hi-poly model, ZBrush goes berzek as shown in my image.
These 2 approaches mentioned here are just insufficient because the UVs are not taken into account:
http://docs.pixologic.com/user-guide/3d-modeling/topology/zremesher/transferring-detail/
It’s only logical to start with a low res model. You can’t build anything without a solid framework. You subdivide when you can’t shift stuff due to point shortage. Or you can go hog wild with DynaMesh and then try to recreate a low res model that’s suitable afterwards. Your model and methods. I’d say to go with the one you saw that worked.
http://pixologic.com/zclassroom/homeroom/lesson/military-assets-with-joseph-drust/#building-game-resolution-mesh-part-1
and this also applies
http://www.zbrushcentral.com/showthread.php?164725-Using-High-poly-textures-on-low-poly-meshes-Answered&highlight=Game+assets
I am not sure if these tutorials help me, he is using a totally different approach (manual retopo and using references), but thank you anyway.
Well, I thought it was a 5-minute-question, but as it turns out, this is something rather advanced.
I will study some more first and will then hopefully be able to post a final solution.
However, I would tend to say that the current 2.5 gb maximum of ZBrush 4.6 R6 is what actually hinders me from doing what might theoretically be possible.
Perhaps we should post-pone my question until 4.7 is out?!
On YouTube and discussion boards there were only approaches that included exporting the textures to xnormals.
A friend of mine also told me it was not possible in ZBrush, but I could not believe that.
That is the reason why I am asking here.
With xnormal, you won’t have to export any textures for it to work. As long as you have an unwrapped lowpoly object and a polypainted sculpt, it will be able to quickly transfer the polypaint onto a texture. If you keep the window open along with zbrush and whatever model viewer/rendering program you’re using, then it can be pretty quick to get working previews.
ZBrush will let you preview diffuse textures onto a low poly model, but it doesn’t have any kind of shader system that a game engine would use (specular maps, normal maps)
When I try to use the hi-poly texture map on the lo-poly model in ZBrush, ZBrush tells me “Texture mapping requires UV Mapping. Apply UV Mapply or use Polypainting without UV Mapping”.
To solve that, I use UV Master to copy the hires UVs to the lowpoly model’s UVs.
When you copy and paste UVs this way, it’s essentially going to use the vertex number order of the mesh (so it will only correctly transfer on meshes that are 100% identical, according to how the cpu reads the model). Otherwise vertex #5 could be in completely different location, which will produce wonky UVs like you’ve seen.
It’s basically meant for using UV Master’s clone feature (which will drop the mesh to the lowest subdivision level, clone it, uv the clone, and then paste the UVs back to the mesh that has subdivision levels).