here’s an idea…
ill try combining the head and the body mesh in maya (where they were origionally made) export them out to zbrush and then and use my hi res zbrush model body as a base mesh to get the body details, then the head. if im being vague its because i dont have it all mapped out ill try it and update you on my results.
ok so i dealy i was just going to go into maya merge the head and body and export the now “one mesh” as an obj file.
then i was going to import the new “one mesh” into zbrush and essentialy project my high res head mesh and high res body mesh (that was modeld in zbrush) on to the “one mesh”.
however, it seems that i can only project one mesh on to another period end of story! so the new idea is to combine the two high res meshs and then project them, but i think ive done this already, but ill give it one more try
I’ve got a solution for you. See my post in your thread below this one.
You can use a small, yet increasingly convenient freeware program called xNormal, where you can COMBINE THE HI-RES MESHES!! Just make sure they are properly pivoted (the head’s pivot is way-down-below the actual gemetry, matching the body pivot). Or, if you donnow how, another option is to separate the head geometry (keep the same UVs that you have) and bake the normal map for the head onto it (in either xNormal or ZBrush), then do the same for the body, and then SIMPLY COMBINE THE NORMAL MAPS IN PHOTOSHOP OR OTHER 2D EDITOR! It’s that simple!
Here is the link for xNormal:
http://www.xnormal.net/Downloads.aspx
Its 64 bit version is also very, very nice - if you have a 64-bit system. If not, 32 bit has all the same features, just… Well… Doesn’t work as fast (as all 32-bit verisons of stuff do.)
Then, just export the new LOW-END model from maya AFTER re-uving. Mesh those two in xNormal (the tabs for hi- and low- res models are on the right-hand column, don’t forget to turn off any dilation or other filters, other than that - pretty self explanatory, just don’t forget to right-click on things for options like “load” and similar crap…) and generale your normal map. Shouldn’t take too long (don’t forget to turn all other apps off for this process - like ZBrush, for example) You can do all sorts of other good stuff (i.e. height/displacement maps, ambient occlusion maps, etc.) with xNormal.
P.S.: CHECK NEXT PAGE OUT! I THINK I FOUND AN EVEN BETTER WAY!
Cheers:)
Another way! PROBABLY BETTER! Man, this is soooo simple…
First, keep workin’ in the tool for the head, and generate a displacement map (Tools Pallete -> Displacement Map, go to lowest subdiv, set your resolution, click “Create Displacement Map”). Export the displacement map (that will be in your texture list now) to an image file.
Then, do same for body. Export this to an image as well.
Use photoshop to combine the two displacement maps (to fit the same proper UVs of the complete low-poly model you got in Maya.)
Fire up ZBrush again, now import your low-poly model (combined, with proper UVs).
Subdivide it to as many subdivisions as you have your head and your body at. Go to highest subdivison level. DON’T WORRY ABOUT ANY DETAILING!
Import your new COMBINED displacement map TO AN ALPHA. Again, go to Tools Pallete -> Displacement Map. Hit “Apply Displacement Map.”
If not yet satisfied with the effect (too shallow or too deep protrusions/bumps), simply undo and play around with the intensity. Also helps to have “Mode” turned on sometimes, since this will equalize your medium gray on the disp. map to be same as your 0% effect, black = -50% effect, and white = 50% effect. This will make the displacement map “dent into” your model as well as “bumping out” stuff from it, which it wouldn’t do otherwise.
Cheers!
hey thanks megamorph, but i think i found something simpler.
follow along:
went into Maya and combined the origional geometry and sew together the edges… made it all one complete mesh. then i exported it as an obj.
next i imported the new geometry into zbrush AND THEN…
i followed the steps i listed the first time! except when i chose topology i chose the new complete maya export and for the pice to be projected i chose a zbrush subtool high res combined clone of the head and body.
this is what i got… and yes its all one pice of geometry:lol:
however, the hands are still really messed up if you make an adaptive mesh with projection. so to ease the fix i sub divided the maya combined mesh once before i made the adaptive mesh. it only had one level of sub div. so before the high res mesh was projected onto the new maya combined mesh i simply sub divided the maya combined mesh once giving it two levels of sub div and left the division on level 2… THEN i comenced with the projection. after the projection however, the hands can be smoothed out and rebuilt. (if i didn’t sub div once before i made an adaptive mesh everything would have been fine, but instead of only having messed up hands, the hands would have not only been ugly looking, but would have also had wholes in them. so sub dividing the maya combined mesh once made it to where the hands didn’t have wholes when the adaptive mesh was made.)
jeeze i hope im making since:lol:
You did make some good since, man.
If you’re satisfied with the results - that’s all that matters…
is there no way to to get the hands right from the projection??? instead of rebuilding them?
Sure, man, there is.
Like I said before - make a normal map just for the hands - using just the good low-end hands for the base, and just the good high-end hands for the bake-over. Then make a normal map of everything else - use the messed-up-hands model, low and high levels as well. Fire up Phostoshop (or whatever you use for 2D edititing) and just copy over the “good” normal/displacement hand-area into the “bad” normal/diplacement map of the hand-area. Lo-and-behold, you have your complete normal map with fixed-up hand detail.
Trust me - I’ve done it before 100 times (with slight exaggeration…)
thanks mega and grey32 you guys are a big help.
one more thing though… i seem to be having trouble with the reconstructuction button… its not reconstructing?? whats the deal. ive used it before and it worked, but now its not??? any ideas? do i have to have things at certain settings?
NM i found out how to do it by doing a search in the forum… you have to have UV’s enabled in the texture pallet. dont have to have any UV’S however.
one other thing. i got my projection to work perfectly hands and all. i will give details at a later time however, its 12:31 am and ive got to eat, take a shower, bugg and make my girl friend angry, then hit the sack. i gots class and track practice tomorrow.
Hi foreverman.
I for one, would love to know how you finally got projection to work 
G.
Foreverman,
I found a solution to the adaptive mesh / projection finger problem that has to do with, actually, topology. When you’re in Edit Topology mode, the thing that you have to keep in mind about the fingers is that any cyllinder-like, or actually, just any structure that you re-topo NEEDS to be 6 SEGMENTS in crossection OR MORE (like in a six-sided cyllinder or 8-sided cyllinder.)
I discovered this when I ran into the same problem trying to re-topo the hands of some old model of mine. I re-did it 2 times, and only then realized each finger has to be done with 6 segments around, not four (not like a series of 1-polygon extrusions you could have in other apps.) The tip of each finger, then could be something like 2 quads combinded into a sectagon. This solved the wierd “holes” problem in the geometry. After doing it this way and using adaptive skin / projection it seems to work out nicely.
I hope that sheds some light onto the former problem.
thanks mega morph for the info
the way i gots the projection to work is as follows:
simply export a new low poly model (your hi-res mesh will be projected on to this) from what ever 3d package you have.
then in zrush (obviously import the low res mesh and what not) sub div the low res mesh once giving it 2 lvls of sub div.
then project. there may still be some minor parts of the mesh that you may need to use the smooth tool on and some minor resculpting like in the hands, but nothing major like it would be if you hadn’t sub divided the low res model first.
one other thing is that if you want to regain the origional low lvl model you can reconstruct you new projected model, export it to maya or what ever, project the uv layout from the first low res model onto the one you exported from zbrush and tweak as need be.
now this method has worked for me so if you have any questions please dont hesitate to ask, and sorry for getting back so late with my method. hope it helps people
Yea, this works well, good point.
I guess the only problem with doing “re-topo” in Maya / Max is that you can’t really see your hi-res (if you already have one, that is.) The new ZBrush pipeline is supposed to be all about non-linearity (meaning you can do any part of the process at any point in the production, not in any particular order.) If you stick to the old pipelines, like these, you should have no problem with topology in the first place:
Maya/Max -> ZBrush -> Normal Map -> Maya/Max -> Render Output / Game Engine
-or, a little newer,
ZSphere -> Adaptive Skin Base Model -> Maya/Max UVing -> ZBrush -> Normal Map -> Maya/Max -> Render Output / Game Engine
Your sugguested one would be (if I read you right) something like:
(Maya/Max) -> ZBrush |
…| – 2 Objects in ZBrush -> Retopo -> Maya/Max
(Maya/Max) -> ZBrush | corrections (no HiRes reference) -> ZBrush -> …
The new non-linear ZBrush pipeline variation:
Maya/Max/ZSphere -> ZBrush HiRes Detail -> Retopo to new Base Mesh (with hiRes reference) -> Maya/Max UVing -> ZBrush Normal Mapping -> Maya/Max -> Render Output / Game Engine
The :b4: pipeline also works with the 2 models combined with, per se, the MultiMarker…
hmm when yo project your mesh in zbrush and then reconstruct the adaptive skin you just made to get the lower poly count, you can export that lower poly count into what ever 3d package and just layout the uv’s. then export the new uv layout model from 3d package and import it to your new adaptive skin in zbrush to update the lvl one sub div uv’s.
the part where you smooth the hands out with a little rebuild is in zbrush after the make of the adaptive skin.
is this what you understood?
I own a Powermac G4 and am using ZBrush 2.0 ( I believe that I will not be able to use the 3.1 version when it becomes available because its written for intel based Macs) this is the version available to me so it looks like I’m going to have to learn how to do everything in 2.0 ( or buy another computer). Could someone direct me to a tutorial or some other information that could help me? Thanks
if z brush two has a subtools pallete then what you could do is use the append button in the subtools pallet to add a second pice of geometry… or however many pices of geometry you want… and then use the extract button which will make a new tool with all of you subtools combined. then if you want… you could import an obj file and project your new combined tool onto it for a solid pice of geometry like i did with my character in this thread.
how i was of some help and good luck :D