Hi,
I’m trying to achieve something similar to this (attached). Any ideas how to make it with Nanomesh? Thanks in advance!
Attachments
The reference image isn’t very high rez, so I can’t say for certain what is going on, but it looks just like a bunch of tiny, uniformly sized/spaced rectangles. I’m going to assume your subject is humanoid in nature, like the reference.
I would look for a textural solution to this first, before relying on nanomesh. The thing with nanomesh, is that you’re attaching meshes to the target’s polygons, and so the results are going to be influenced by the target object’s polyflow. Assuming a humanoid mesh is the subject, no humanoid mesh has perfectly shaped/distributed polygons, so you will get odd results where the target polys vary in size/shape.
Instead, try textural solutions where you’re applying rectangular patterns without regard for polyflow. Try noisemaker, try various projection methods, if necessary make a custom texture with UVs. Apply it as displacement. If you get a texture you’re happy with, you can use it to do all kinds of things to the geometry in zbrush, with creative use of masking and alphas.
If you do want to use nanomesh, you may need to do it section by section, as you’re unlikely to get the results you want with a single pass to the whole figure. You’ll need to adjust the target resolution until the target polygons are the size you want. It may be helpful to create duplicates of the figure so you can make alterations to the duplicate’s topology without disturbing the original, and create the nanos on that. You’re going to want your topology to be as uniform as possible. Polygons on the legs are likely to be larger than polygons on the head, so they may need more subdivision locally to get the nano size you want, whereas polygons in the head may need to be grossly simplified and more evenly distributed.
Spyndel! Thank you so much for such an informative and wide reply! Yes, you’re right, I think I’ll try to do it with Noisemaker. But what about displacement workflow? Do you mean find some nice scales-like alphas and apply as displacement map? I’m fairly new to Zbrush, can you please recomend some tutorials on utilizing this method? Thanks!
Any pattern you create with noisemaker, or any pattern you apply as an alpha can be converted to displacement and actual geometry:
With noisemaker, in the Surface menu, click “Apply to Mesh” to convert the noise pattern to actual geometry. You may need to drastically increase the mesh resolution of the object to capture patterns with fine detail.
Likewise, with an alpha applied as a displacement map, click “Apply Dispmap” in the Displacment Map menu to do the same.
Similar results can sometimes be achieved by converting an applied alpha to masking, and running a slight +/- inflate operation to the mesh.
However, depending on the complexity of the object youre trying to apply this pattern to, it may require advanced mapping techniques to get the effect you want. It’s unlikely that any single one touch projection method will give you perfect results on a humanoid mesh. So one way or another, you may be looking at either constructing a complicated UV’d texture/alpha, perhaps going section by section, or reworking the topology on your subject in a very deliberate manner to get the results you want with nanomesh.
Ok, I’ve settled on a “quick and dirty” way to get you in the ballpark of what you’re after with nanomesh:
Duplicate your mesh as a subtool so as not to destroy your original geometry. For the purpose of this demo I have used NickZ’s male human mesh available in Light box.
On the duplicate, with X symmetry active, run Zremesher on it, with the Adaptive Size slider all the way to the left. This will make Zremesher prioritize uniform shape and distribution of polys. I had the target set to “double” the current polys to get the poly size I wanted, but this may vary with your object. You can always subdivide further to get finer polys.
Create a namomesh tool with a simple cube, flattened a bit. The easiest way to do this is to angle the target cube perfectly into the viewport, and use the Polygon> Mesh to Brush> Target:All Polygons function in Zmodeler. Then select the humanoid mesh, and use Zmodeler Polygon> Insert mesh> All Polygons on it.
Rotate the inserted cubes as you place them until you get satisfactory results. Some meshes need their edges aligned or spun to get the results you want, and you can do this in geometry>modify topology.
In the Nanomesh menu make sure either the “Fit” or Fill" option is active. This will make the nanos conform roughly to the shape of the target polys. Adjust the height of the nanos if necessary, to get cubes that are flatter than they are cubic. Then gradually creep up the size slider until the cubes overlap ever so slightly (unless you actually want the visible reccess between all the cubes, which is also an interesting look). Finally, give a slight value to the Height Variance (HVar) which will make the surface slightly uneven, which will highlight the various square edges.
Convert the nanos to a mesh ( Nanomesh> Inventory> One to Mesh), and make sure it conforms to the original mesh surface, using slight move operations with a large brush falloff to adjust. It’s unlikely you’ll get perfect results in every area. Delete the cubes from problem areas, and try to correct this by hand, inserting cubes one by one with an insert mesh brush if need be.
Wow…Thanks a tonn man! I really appreciate all the info! Will immediately dive into this! Thanks a lot!!!