ZBrushCentral

Making Low Mesh Poly-count from High Mesh for Rigging

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

I sculpted a horse in a high polymesh (2,456,422 polycount), but unfortunately didn’t retain a lower resolution. I was wondering if it were possible to convert it to Dynamesh, change the Dynamesh into a Polymesh3D, and then insert it as subtool for rigging? As of now, given the high polycount, using ZSpheres for rigging distorts the model considerably, and hence the desire to create a lower polycount model (Please bare with me, I’m still relatively new to ZBrush)

Attachments

Horse2.jpg

Horse3.jpg

#2

Here’s a brief workflow. You will have to experiment with settings to get the best results.

  1. Clone your model so you don’t alter the original.
  2. Reduce the polycount with Decimation Master. Get it as low as you can for a good representation of the model, say 10,000 polys.
  3. Use ZRemesher to create new topology based on the decimated mesh. Aim for the same number of polygons. This mesh becomes your new low res mesh.
  4. Append this low res mesh as a subtool to your original.
  5. Subdivide so that the highest subdivision has enough density (approx 2.5 million) to capture the detail from the original.
  6. Project the details using Tool>SubTool>ProjectAll.
#3

Thank you for the work flow. Unfortunately I can only pose the model after a few adjustments (and after amending and adding ZPheres) before the ZPhere rig itself snaps to its original pose. I tried to achieve similar results in Transpose Master, but with the same limited success. In both attempts, the model also becomes somewhat distorted. There’s got to an easier, more efficient way of doing this or am I missing something? Thanks!

(Update)

Seems the problem was the original model was too many polygons, so I remeshed it 100% in Zmesher, to a more manageable size. Then I cloned that remeshed size and divided it three times. The whole model was more maleable when I posed it using ZSpheres.

#4

Yes, you don’t want too many polygons for zsphere rigging. Glad you got it sorted.