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Keeping Zsphere/Armature volume with Unified Skinning

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

Heya guys,

Normally I wouldn’t first run to the forums for help, but I’ve searched high and low, on the forums, and on the Zbrush wiki, experimenting by myself, but I’m having some problems (In fact, I had it in R3.5, was hoping zbrush 4 would “solve” this).

I’m well aware that one way to keep the zsphere/armature volume is to go via adaptive skinning, but more often that not, there are errors in the end result. Unified skinning retains most of the detail of what I want in my zsketch, except the zsphere volume is lost via unified skinning.

I’ve read here and here about how to do it, but I’ve tried following the instructions, but I am still very new at this. I’ve tried making an adaptive preview, then remeshing, but the zbrush harps on about no polygons or somesuch. There’s the old adage of the experienced and in-experienced soldier, that the former requires few orders, whilst the latter requires a substantial amount to get the job done. I’m the latter, and in this case, can anyone help me with my conundrum?

Thanks guys, I am REALLY itching to get to sculpting, but I’m stuck on this bit =(.

Thanks in advance.

#2

Which version of ZBrush are you using? Please post screenshots so we can better understand the problem.

#3

Thanks for the reply, if I don’t respond after this reply, it’s probably because I’ve fallen asleep from sleep deprivation (Been up all night trying to work this out, searching forums, googling, reading the wiki, etc - it;s 4:10am in Hong Kong where I am).

Anyway, I am using Zbrush 4, I was hoping this “problem” would be resolved in 4, seems like that’s not the case.

Anyway, here’s 2 before and after pictures when using unified skin.

[before.jpg]after.jpg

#4

Hey, I ran into this problem, exactly, on hands and fingers even, when I first started exploring Zspheres 2.

What I found out, and the only way I was ever able to solve this, was to make sure that I had a proper Zsphere armature underlying the entire zsketch mesh.

For instance, like with the fingers, I had to go and manually draw out zspheres to act as “bones” underlying the fingers, in essence, creating an armature for the zsketch.

Then, after I had zsphere armatures underlying all my zsketch work, finally I was able to create a good skin.

It required more work on my part than I thought it would, as I went into it expecting my zsketch meshes to skin up just like they looked on screen with no further support from me. However, I don’t think that’s the case and you must create a logical zsphere “understructure” for the zsketch to skin up correctly.

Now, I left it at that, and adapted my workflow to suit that understanding, however, maybe someone with some secret sauce can post here on how to get around this with their elite zsphere skills. I never did find a magic bullet and I’m still certain to this day that there is one, as I’ve seen some meshes skinned from zsketches using the unified skin method that didn’t have logical zsphere support armatures.

So hopefully one day someone who understands this can say “oh here’s how”. Until then I just create zsphere armatures to support the sketch skinning, and it works.

Probably not alot of help I know but I encountered this exact same issue awhile back so at least I thought I’d give my experience.

#5

Thanks for taking the time to reply ED :).

But in anycase, is there anyone out there who knows how to solve this? Pretty please? I’m at the stage where I’m just dying to sculpt, but I have to get past this roadblock first.

#6

Extra Dimensional posted a very good explanation (thanks:)) and looking at you images, all is exactly they way it should be.
The unified skin will only skin the sketch ZSpheres, not the armature ZSpheres. if you you are ‘missing’ volume in the fingers then it is because you do not have sketch ZSpheres in that area.
If this is not what you are asking about then please post again and include more images demonstrating the problem.

#7

Thanks for being patient me Support :).

I already know the difference between Unified and Adaptive skinning, but essentially what I am trying to find out is if it’s possible to use unified skinning BUT keep the ZSphere data, without having to ZSketch over the ZSpheres.

If it’s not possible, what would you recommend? Are there any alternative workflows to keep the highly detailed ZSketches?

Thanks :).