ZBrushCentral

Looking for threads for Multi piece character workflow

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

Hi Zbrush central,

Im looking for threads on how to properly separate a full character into multiple pieces, 2 at the minimum (head and body).

This is so i can have more detail in the head without subdividing the body. But i dont know the full process, what types of maps to use? (16bit or 32) How to deal with seams? I imagine aurick has answered this question before but using the search here and google search Site:www.zbrushcentral.com i couldnt find any.

I would love to use this workflow but im afraid of losing work because i dont know all the in’s and outs.

Thanks

#2

First off, it’s no wonder you didn’t find any information if you were using the forum search engine. IMHO, the forum search engine is totally useless and extremely frustrating. Your best bet for finding information is the ZBrush Wiki or Google. The searches works much better there.

Splitting up your mesh… Go to your lowest subdivision level and, using Selection Brush (Ctrl+Shift), split up your mesh into seperate polygroups (Tool > Polygroups > Group Visible) then split the polygroups into seperate subtools (Tool > SubTool > Groups Split). While still on your lowest subdivision level, select each subtool and crease the edges (Tool > Geometry > Crease) to avoid seperation when you step back up in subdivision levels. Keep in mind that you can’t sculpt across multiple subtools so avoid sculpting near the seam area. Only way is to merge the two subtools and then split them back up later. Also, if you merge subtools, they have to have the same number of subdivision levels.

What types of maps to use…I don’t understand what you mean as this has nothing to do with splitting up your mesh. However, each subtool can have it’s own texture providing it has UV’s.

How to deal with seams?..one way is to hide them with another subtool ie: belt, clothing, collar, hair.

#3

Thank you zber, i was thinking something along the lines of what you said but its little details like creasing border edges that i would have missed and would probably cause a lot of headaches.

In terms of what type of maps to use. I was referring to certain displacement maps. Is it preferred to use 32bit over 16 when dealing with multiple objects, regardless of resolution since 32 bit store scale and zbrush has had some scaling issues in the past (i dont know if they are still present).

As for seams, will they always be there when i render with an external engine, even if have a mask/buffer and dont touch the edges?