ZBrushCentral

Tool Loads Backwards (answered)

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

This is probably a dumb question, but I can’t seem to find the answer to it.
When I load a tool that I have been working on, it loads backwards. It also loads backwards and upside down when I export it as an obj into 3ds Max. Any easy fixes?
Thanks

#2

In the tool palette go to the preview subpalette and left click - drag on the image of your mesh to position it in the orientation you want it to load. Hit store. Save tool. When you reload the tool it should load in the orientation you set. I can’t speak about 3d Max since I don’t have it, but using goz to Modo keeps the orientation I saved. I also tried exporting a reoriented mesh saved this way as an obj and opening it in Modo and it retained its saved orientation.

#3

Thanks for the info. I tried that and it worked. The only problem is that I have several sub tools and repositioning in the preview only repositions the subtool selected. Is there a way to reposition all of my subtools at once? I had a heck of a time getting my eyes positioned in my character’s head. Hoping to not have to do it again if possible.
Thanks again.

#4

It isn’t actually loading backwards…well, it might be, but Zbrush doesn’t really care about axis orientation unless you’re using deformations. It doesn’t really bother me though.

Your guy comes in face down in Max because Max thinks Z is up for some reason.

#5

There is a way to flip everything right side up again, but it involves a bit of work. If you have a lot of subtools this is probably not a good idea, but if you only have a few, this can be done quite quickly. Remember, when you save it, give it a different name so you don’t overwrite the original in case you did something wrong.

First off, each subtool has to have a single polygroup. For example, say I have a subtool and it is the upper teeth, but the upper teeth consist of 4 fangs which could possibly have a different polygroup for each fang. These have to be made into one polygroup. To do this, first turn on the Draw Polyframe button (Shift F) so polygroup colors are visible. Select the first subtool and make it the only thing visible by turning off its eye icon. Make sure it is only one polygroup (all the same color). If it isn’t, open the Polygroups submenu and click on "Group Visible’ (make absolutely sure only one subtool is visible first)

Repeat this in turn for every subtool.

Once you are happy that each subtool is a single polygroup then continue to the next step.

Make all the subtools visible again (select the first subtool and turn on the eye icon). There are two buttons in the subtool menu that are side by side. ‘Merge Visible’ and ‘Weld’. This next part is very important. MAKE SURE YOU TURN OFF THE WELD BUTTON. Once the Weld button is turned off, click on ‘Merge Visible’ button right beside it. This will put a merged tool in your tool palette and will have merged in front of its name. Click on the merged tool to put it on the canvas.

Now you can open the Preview submenu like Nancycan explained and rotate the view (which will now rotate everything because it’s only one subtool) to right side up then make sure you click the ‘Store’ button.

Once you have done that, you can now separate the tool into all the subtools you had by clicking the ‘Group Split’ button in the subtool menu. Now you can save it as right side up and export it as right side up. Remember not to overwrite the original file like I mentioned at the start.

#6

Thanks all for the advice. Thanks zber2. I thought that the merge visible would put all of the subtools together, but I was afraid that once they were merged, I couldn’t split them again. The advice worked perfectly. Thanks again.

#7

You can use Transpose Master to change the orientation of a model with subtools.

#8

Thanks for that Marcus. That is definitely an easier way and it is always a good idea to have more than one solution to a problem as it promotes lateral thinking (something I lack in my old age)

For all us new guys, here is a step by step of what Marcus is talking about. (This is assuming you have Transpose Master installed). If you don’t then you can get it from the ZBrush Plugins Download Center.

  1. Load your tool and open the ZPlugin menu then open the Transpose Master submenu. Click on the ‘TPoseMesh’ button. This will temporarily join everything together. Watch it do its thing, then you will get a message that it completed.

  2. In the Tool palette, open the ‘Preview’ submenu and rotate the small view so it is right side up. Click on the ‘Store’ button.

  3. Once again, open the ZPlugins menu and Transpose Master submenu and click on the ‘TPose>SubT’ button to separate all your subtools again. Again, watch it do its thing and you will get a message at the end that it completed.

You can now save it right side up.

Thanks again Marcus…you the man!

#9

Thanks for the help - this has fixed my problem. Just one more thing - I wish there was a definitive tutorial on the pipeline between zbrush 4.0 and 3ds Max 2011. I am finding snippets of imformation about displacement maps, normal maps, the z axis being up, etc., but I have yet to see a step by step tutorial on how to take my zbrush model into 3ds Max as a low poly mesh and then apply the various maps to it to make it game ready. I have seen such tutorials for earlier versions of zbrush, but not for 3.5r3 or 4.0. Does anyone know of a tutorial or book that explains step by step how to do this?
Thanks again for all of your help. I really appreciate it.

#10

I’m not sure it’s exactly the same issue, but you might want to take a look at this thread: http://www.zbrushcentral.com/showthread.php?t=95931

#11
  • A character concept is created
    • A low polygon base mesh is created within 3D Studio Max
    • The low polygon base mesh is imported into Zbrush as a starting point for the high polygon model
    • The high polygon mesh is sculpted to completion in Zbrush
    • The low polygon game model is created within Zbrush
    • The low and high meshes are exported out of Zbrush
    • The low and high meshes are imported into 3D Studio Max
    • The low polygon mesh is UV mapped
    • Normal maps are baked using the high polygon mesh
    • Color maps are created in Photoshop
    • Specular maps are created from the color maps
#12

Hi L667A,

Thanks for the reply. I have always been under the assumption that a high resolution mesh (5million or so polys) would crash 3ds Max. I have imported a 800,000 poly mesh into Max, and even though it did not crash my computer, it sure did slow it down. Everything that I have been reading has said to make a UVW map on the low res model in Max first, and then export the obj into Zbrush for further modeling and normal, displace and AO maps, which can then be applied to the low res mesh back in Max. I have done this, but my displacement map doesn’t quite work. This could be because of a lower poly count or the fact that Zbrush creates displacement maps in grayscale whereas Max and Maya use black as the displace. That’s what I have gathered so far, I could be wrong, but that is the information I have gleaned from several sources so far.