ZBrushCentral

ek retopology

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

Well I buckled down last night and tried ONCE AGAIN to retopologize something I made with zpheres and zsketching. Once again I experiencd intense frustration and wasted hours on this project (I then tried the same in Modo, but admittedly I don’t know that feature in Modo - still more frustration).

A few weeks back I purchased 3D coat…not sure why, but it was on sale :roll_eyes: I tried out the sculpting and got completely frazzled plus as I’ve put alot on my plate as an advanced beginner with Zbrush, Modo, Lightwave and Blender yet another software package was just too overwhelming.

But I thought, what the heck, before I go to bed I’ll try to retopologize in 3d coat. Heaven. Got it done in a few minutes. This is one feature in 3D Coat (not the rest however) that is totally intuitive.

I know this product as a retopology solution has been mentioned here before, perhaps many times, but since I had such success for it I thought I’d give it: :+1:small_orange_diamond:+1: :+1: :+1: :+1: . It would be nice if this was possible in ZBrush, but for now I’ve given up…I’ve tried all the workaround and its just a timesuck. Don’t get me wrong, I love Zbrush. I’m just frustrated that some nice features that I was just getting the hang of have been broken in ZB4. Its an enormous set back for me on the learning curve.

#2

Originally posted by Nancyan:
“I’m just frustrated that some nice features that I was just getting the hang of have been broken in ZB4.”

I hear ya! Do you think the Pixologic team have ever heard of that old Chinese Proverb…“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”?

#3

I hear ya, That’s exactly how I felt when I expected to retopo in Zb4 compared to 3.5 (I thought it was going to get even better) low and behold they broke it (at least that’s how I feel). BUT! after not accepting that as defeat (43 consecutive hours later) I’ve devised a way that isn’t nearly as irritating or having to purchase another program or what have you. I know it’s really simple but basicly start retopo in Zbrush and lay down nothing but points (Z spheres), don’t connect them just place the points where you like such as ex.1 how you want the mesh to flow. It works really well for me at least, then when your happy just connect he dots as in ex.2, if this isn’t acceptable and anyone finds a better way let me know (without purchasing more software).
I’ve added ex.3 pic to illustrate my method: ex.1 is the individual points this way you won’t select any lines in the back. ex.2 is with them connected after I put them where I want. ex.3 is of course what it would look like as an adaptive skin. If this helps anyone great, if not like I said lemme know a better way. I’m still new and always looking for better everything and easier everything too.

                        John Medellin

Attachments

ex.1.jpg

ex.2.jpg

ex.3.jpg

#4

I’ll give it a try, thanks!

#5

This is the best way to retopo in ZBrush 4. It has the advantage that you can create topology over multiple subtools if you want:

http://www.pixologic.com/docs/index.php/Joseph_Drust#Using_Appended_ZSpheres_to_Retopologize

#6

Thanks for that post I definitely look forward to trying those methods and techniques that are in there!