ZBrushCentral

Lost with the ZBrush Production Pipeline (Video Game)

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

Hi Zbrush community, our indie game studio is investigating the possibility of using ZBrush for character creation (with a low poly output, as well as a normal map).

I’ve easily been able to find specific tutorials for ZBrush (A Basic Introduction, How to use Zspheres, sculpting fabric) but I’ve been unable to find a good tutorial describing the entire pipeline from Zpheres, to Highpoly, to ZRemesher, to UV Unwrapping, to exporting the Normalmap and finally exporting the Low Poly.

In particular, I’d like to know how to take a high poly model and turn it into a low poly with a normalmap.

If you could guide me to a good source of information (or better yet, provide it yourself) I’d be most thankful.

My research online continues, but I figured I’d also ask you guys. (Searching this forum for Pipeline or Workflow has weilded few results from me, except a tantalizing tutorial which is down at the moment, unfortunately)

Thanks,
any help is appreciated!

#2

Short answer: Work on an object at high levels of subdivision, and export the detail of the highest level of SubD as Normal or displacmeent maps, to be applied to the object at the lowest level of subdivision in an external application. Generating a normal map is a simple procedure. But there are lots of different areas of knowledge involved in how to best construct a character, and how best to export a map that works well with your specific external application.

There’s no escaping the Zbrush fundamentals. There are concepts unique to the program you must understand first. Subtools vs Polygroups, Remeshing, retopologizing, different file types, how to quickly hide or mask different parts of a mesh, the ins and outs of Projection. Start here, and use the search function to zero in on areas of interest:

http://docs.pixologic.com/

From there, look for videos in the Pixologic classroom:

http://pixologic.com/zclassroom/

As far as pipeline, much of this will vary with whatever software you’re using, as every software package does things differently. You will need to search for things like “Zbrush to Max”, “Zbrush Max Pipeline”, or Zbrush to Maya", etc along with specific keywords. There are a lot of user tutorials out there, although some might be based on outdated Zbruush versions. Check out the Tutorials forum:

http://www.zbrushcentral.com/forumdisplay.php?19-ZBrush-Tutorials-Forum

Be sure to read up on GoZ:

http://pixologic.com/zclassroom/homeroom/lesson/goz/

Once you have a better idea of what you need to know, investigate some commercial third party training which focuses on your areas of concern.

Good luck, and Happy Zbrushing!

#3

For the software used Max/Maya/Blender, does it really matter? After all, you should only need triangles and an unwrap, but whatever.

The problem is, ZBrush has too many tutorials, most of them consisting on “How to Sculpt a monster bust”, which is fairly useless in the grand scheme of things.

The ZRemesher also made 95% of pipeline tutorials obsolete (as the lowpoly is created in zbrush now).

Nonetheless, thanks for those links, I’ll check them out! Especially GoZ, which I’ve barely heard of in the past.

Thank you

#4

Yes. Every program does things a little bit differently. You might find you have to export a map a certain way, or rotate it, or that certain UV layouts work better than others in a particular rendering engine. Those answers are best found in the community of whatever other tools you are using.

Not for people who’d like to learn how to sculpt a monster bust, I imagine.

Not necessarily. They are still valid for older core functions in zbrush. If you are working for game output, your needs for precise, economical topology may still require you to manually retopo a mesh in Zbrush or elsewhere. Zremesher is just another tool that you can learn about in addition to Zbrush’s other tools, and apply where useful.

There are many pipeline tuts for Zbrush, in many different applications. Some of them are based on outdated version of Zbrush, but that’s alright, they still contain valuable information. Generally what you need out of them is information on how best to generate and apply Zbrush exports in your external software. If you want to learn how to model a character, lay out UVs in Zbrush, paint a texture, export a Normal or displacement map, project information from one mesh to another, all those things are covered in the Zbrush documentation. As I said, there is no escaping the Zbrush fundamentals. Otherwise, it’s a matter of knowing exactly what you need for your specific animation software or game engine, and those answers are outside of Pixologic’s documentation purview.

If you want professional quality training on how to work back an forth out of a specific program, you may have to pay for it. I can’t advise you here. In know Gnomon has a Max character creation DVD in which Zbrush is used:

http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/store/product/153/Character-Modeling-for-Production

and Digital Tutors has a number of Zbrush pipeline videos:

http://www.digitaltutors.com/software/ZBrush-Pipeline-tutorials

Good luck!