ZBrushCentral

Displacement for deforming character?

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

Hi, guys!
I’m very eager to learn how to work with animated characters and displacement. The problem I’m having is that the representation I have with the skinned character is far off from the displaced character =/

I’m interested in the correct workflow for this. Perhaps I should model my mesh completely in maya and only use zbrush for normal maps so i never export the model from zbrush back to maya?

Or should I sculpt and then retopologize to get my edgeflows where I want them to be. for instance if he’s to flex a muscle, I need edges near eachother to perform a crease.

If you model a face in maya and export it to zbrush, sculpt it and then export the level1 back to maya, it’s now completely smooth and lack any details that define the character.

Times when I used the “store morph target” and export the level1 to maya I also get a crazy result, making the head to have very sharp angles etc and it doesn’t represent the displaced mesh either. What is the cage, is this something that ought to work better?
Will that push out the level 1 mesh to conform to the highest subd in zbrush so the representation in maya equals the rendered mesh?

I’m sorry if I’m being a bit fuzzy, but I hope you understand.

Perhaps you could explain a workflow you use for displacement and animated characters combined with cloth, undisplaced armour etc.

Thanks!

#2

What you need is to restore your base mesh before creating the displacement map. Use ZBC’s search feature for cases where I’ve used the terms “restore +base”. You’ll find a number of times where I’ve given step-by-step instructions.

#3

Thanx alot. tried to reply earlier, but it wouldn’t work.
Thanks, I’ll check it out!

#4

I checked up on some posts as you told me and heard(or actually read) of the geometry cage. That’s exactly what I have been looking for. It seems to be really reliable to =)

Why prefer the “store pose target” to the “cage”?

Thanks
-Dag

#5

Using the Store Morph Target option, you’re locking in the original cage of the model. This is the actual model that when divided will result in the highest subdivision level.

The Cage option is only used when you don’t already have a cage that you can use. This option calculates a cage mesh that should subdivide to be as close to the highest level as possible. Because this is a calculated mesh rather than a true original cage mesh, you should use the other options wherever possible.

#6

Thanx alot for the reply!

But then I guess I don’t understand the workflow at all.
If you import your base mesh, the model in zbrush will conform to the original mesh’s cage and whatever scultping you did to change proportions etc is now lost. Isn’t that one of the benefits of using zbrush, fleshing out the form and proportions so you don’t have to do that in maya or any other 3d app prior to detailing.

-Dag

#7

As I don’t quite understand the process, could someone please explain?
I understand that the cage option calculates an estimation of how the mesh should be pushed out in order for the smoothed version to conform to the highest subd lvl and that the result is not always accurate. Also if you’ve added spikes or details that changes the silhouette you also have to retopo it, right?.

But for this to work in the scenario where you import your basemesh at the end when you’re done sculpting, you need to finalize it before opening zbrush.
This seems very strange. How do you people really do?

This is what looks like a working workflow after trying to understand it:

  1. You create the concept art.
  2. you start zbrush, blocking out proportions on one of the free distributed zbrush models and go up in detail to like level 4. then at least you got a good silhouette of the intended model.
  3. Create a cage out of it and export it to maya.
  4. Retopo it in maya, adding bevels to hold certain edges and creases when smoothing.
  5. When you’re happy and someone have finalized it, you export it to zbrush.
  6. In zbrush you start adding finer details, skin pores, textures and so on.
  7. When you’re done you import your mesh from step 5 and so the model will conform to the finalized version from step 5. So whatever larger silhouette changes you’ve made are lost and this is the purpose cause it’s already been finalized.
  8. Export the disp map.
#8

sorry for bumping this thread I’m just still very curious of the workflow preferred using zbrush for animated characters and I’d appreciate if someone could give their opinions regarding mine.