Hi,
I have a high res sculpt based on a low res mesh with multiple subdiv levels (7 in my case). I want to use the deformers now to reshape the model. But with deformers I cannot have subdivs it seems.
If I freeze/unfreeze my subdivs the reprojection is messed up. I guess it is a simple projection algo based on finding next poly/normal or so. Basemesh poly count is unchanged.
What is the recommended workflow for deformers with subdiv? Thx!
Hello @ceend ,
In order to successfully project detail from one mesh to another the meshes must occupy the same space, or very close to it. You cannot drastically alter the form of a mesh and project detail from the previous form of the mesh. That means Freeze Subdivision Levels will not work in this situation.
Remember you can always pose a mesh at the lowest level of subdivision and the changes will update the highest levels of subdivision. If you have multiple subtools and simply want to pose the mesh while keeping the high res detail then I might recommend Transpose Master. However this is not compatible with many of the Gizmo Deformers as they change the point order and this will break the TPose mesh. The mesh would need to be posed with other features. If you’re determined to use the Gizmo Defomers, the point order issue is going to limit a number of options you might have had.
Otherwise in this scenario you would delete your lower subdivision levels, deform the mesh as desired with the deformers, then create a duplicate of the mesh and retopologize it with ZRemesher or other method to create new base level topology. Then subdivide the duplicate sufficiently to hold the incoming detail, and project the high res detail from the original mesh onto the new one using the manual process described here. This will create a new multi-resolution mesh in the new pose.
Good luck!
As always highly appreciated.
In the meantime I applied a GoZ workflow where I exported the 2 low poly meshes and used the new mesh as a morph target to align the subdiv mesh to the deformed one since the poly count is equal. Bringing them back into Zbrush I can easily raise the subdivs. Worked perfectly fine.
Btw.: can I define a subtool as a morph for another subtool inside zbrush? I could use the obj export/import as morph right?
The meshes need to have the exact same topology and point order for the OBJ mesh update function to work. This is something else that the point order change from the Gizmo deformers may take off the table.
Otherwise, yes. You could simply create a morph target for the mesh, then import the alternate pose OBJ into the stored morph target. But you have to watch that point order. Programs have a lot of sneaky ways of changing the point order on a mesh–sometimes this is even an import option enabled by default in some programs.