ZBrushCentral

Help on saving as tool (.ZTL) (SOLVED)

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

Hi, first of all sorry if this question is placed in the wrong part of the forums, but i couldnt really see any more of an appropriate place.

So i was wondering if anyone could shed some light on a situation i have:

I’ve been working on a model starting at 3k polygons, and its now at a very high level of 10s of millions. When i save it as .ZTL should it save my subdivision levels? im quite new to zbrush so im not too sure of the best way to save things. I came from Mudbox and in there u just simply save the scene.

I ask this because now when i load the tool it has no subdivision levels, its just stuck at the max… which means i cant create any normal maps :frowning:

I still have the low poly version of it as an obj, so another question is: if i cant get the lower sub-divs levels back from the ZTL file, can i some how import the low-poly .obj and make ZBrush use that as the model’s lowest sub div level?

i have a bad feeling that all this work will be for nothing if i cant figure out some way to make a normal map :frowning: :cry:

Any help is appreciated.

TY,
KnightUK

#2

Welcome to ZBrush Central KnightUK.

Try this:

  1. Import your low poly obj. into your Tool palette.
  2. Load your original Ztl. (the one stuck with high subd.). This will now be the only subtool in your Subtool palette.
  3. Click ‘Append’ button in the Tool palette and select your low poly mesh from the flyout.
  4. Subdivide the low poly mesh to the number of levels you had on your high poly mesh and leave it on the highest level.
  5. With your low poly mesh still selected, and the ‘eye’ icon is on for both subtools, click ‘Project All’ button to project your high poly details onto your low poly mesh. PA Dist and PA Blur will produce different outcomes but the default settings are usually pretty good.

You should now be back to pretty close to were you were before you lost your low subdivisions and now have the number of subdivisions you had before.

#3

hey thanks for the welcome.

I’ve managed to solve this through a friend advising me on using XNormals software, and it worked a treat.

I’ve tried your way too and it has also worked so thank you very much, ill remember this for the future.

I’ve done with modelling it now so i only needed the normals, but if i wanted to carry on with sculpting your advise is definitely what I need to do, so thank you.

Thanks for the speedy response btw, its always appreciated! :smiley:

#4

posted by KnightUK:
When i save it as .ZTL should it save my subdivision levels?
Saving the ztl. does save the subdivision levels with it. It’s possible that you might have accidentally deleted your lower subdivision levels. Easy to do, as it only takes 1 click of a button.

#5

Your welcome! Yes, xNormal is a handy bit of software.