ZBrushCentral

textures and decimation master questions

hey hey,

Hi there,
i have been trying to find out about the correct workflow for getting the polypaint texture that was painted on a high rez mesh BEFORE i have decimated the mesh because i have tried to load the exported texture in maya (see picture) but all get is the decimated mesh texture all messed up. i have selected "keep polypainting " in the decimation options and keep UVs . In essence this is what i have done so far.
(a) sculpted mesh sub div level 6
(b) polypainted my texture
© auv tile UVs
(d) new 2k texture exported as tif
(e) decimate the mesh so i can export it into Maya
(f) import this decimated mesh into maya and then add the texture.

would this be the right way?
do you have to polypaint AFTER i decimate or do i have to redo the UVs after i decimate? it seems to be hard to get all of that hi rez texture detail to render on the low poly decimated obj.
would it be easier to use zpheres and retopo the mesh and then UV it and re paint then export the textures in the usual manner?

is decimation master really only for non textured models ?

is there another more simple way to get the hi rez polypainting out and into maya and mapped to the low rez mesh? i mean its impossiable to use the level 6 sub div in maya without it crashingtest.jpg

many thanks for any insights to the optimal workflow

I read about your problem, I am in the EXACT same boat.
In my case the texture often all together disappears. Did you have any luck in figuring out your issue. I’m quite stuck and it is very frustrating.
Any advice would be totally appreciated…

Paul

depends on what it is for. my method is save right before you decimate, save the high as .obj, then either decimate or retopologize. You can use Maya to retopo with a script here or there, or you can use zbrush or topogun. If decimation is your key, unwrap after the decimation then run Xnormals. Xnormals is the one of the only ways I know of to get your high poly paint onto a low resolution mesh. Hopefully someone else chimes in to give some advice, although that’s how I would tackle that problem.

Before you decimate you have to make sure you turn on “Keep UVs” if your model is going to have a map applied to it.

This will increase the decimation amount because all of the lines that you had before to make the UV’s have to be kept during the decimation process.

I personally use Xnormal to bake with. Xnormal can read your polypaint data so you can actually export out the HP model without any decimation. Import in a lowpoly object with UV’s on the mesh and bake right there. Normals, AO, Displacement, Cavity, Polypaint, etc. Great program and does a wonderful job with any maps.

Hello again,

I’d like to 1st thank you guys for your help and suggestions.
I guess I managed to fix that first Decimation texture issue.
However it’s been replaced by a new one. Decimation Master
once the decimation takes place creates some strange effect
by creating a really blocky triangulated distorted version of the
original mesh. Here are some pics I uploaded, please forgive the
graphic nature of these pics. They are for a suspense film.

The 4th pic is how I’d like it too look once properly decimated.
Anybody have any idea what this problem is? Strange thing being is
even after it makes these images super blocky, the number of polygons
does NOT decrease!!

Thanks in advance gents…

Paul

Attachments

Photo 2.jpg

Photo 3.jpg

Photo 4.jpg