Thanks for the info, upham! It is always a good thing to know alternative workflows.
Andrea
Hi upham. I downloaded blender and tried your suggestion… nope! :evil: It didn’t work for me either. I export my obj from zbrush to max, move a vertex export it from max, import to blender remove the box, export back out again. Upon reimporting to my lowest subdivision level then moving up to the next level my model blows up just like always.
I might be able to get it working by tweaking a few settings, I see by looking into the obj file that blender looks like it orders the vertices the same way as zbrush likes them. I’ll play around a bit more anyway.
I’ve narrowed down the problem a bit more too actually. It seems like this problem happens on my models only if they contain any triangles. If I have an all quad model I can modify the lowest sub division level in max and reimport without problems. I can’t remember if it was a straight up import or I did anything special to make it work.
Also here is a snippet of a .obj file from zbrush:
f 1/1 2/2 3/3 4/4
here is a snippet of the same line in the file after being exported, but not modified in max:
f 3/3 4/4 1/1 2/2
The vertex order is swapped around but its not simply backwards, and I’ve been unable to find any setting to get it to be like zbrush.
If I manually edit the file to swap the face element vertex info to match how zbrush would like it then when I reimport into max it works. I can change the uvs, and move verts around etc.
I’m thinking about writing a small app to reorder the vertex info myself but I haven’t programmed anything in years so it might take a while 
Hmmm …
In the TOOL > GEOMETRY is a small button labeled SMT right beside the DIVIDE button. Turn this off before you divide.
This is working for me. Give this a go.
Also you know that ZB’s XYZ is different from Max’s XYZ direction. You have to make sure the iSwitchYZ and eSwitchYZ is turned on in the Preferences > ImportExport settings. (Then go to Config subpalette and Store the config)
Any luck??
Could you post a pic of the exploded mesh?
Have you applied the latest Max 7 service pack to 7.1? (Not that it does much for the obj-export mess)
Upham 
Hi upham, thanks for your ideas but I got tired of playing with settings in all these different apps just to export a file from max back into a zbrush subdivision model so I ended up writing my own little app and it does the trick.
It makes a whole lot of assumptions, so I don’t know how useful anyone else would find it, but it works on the models I’m using it on so far.
I tested it out by moving around some verts on my model in max then importing back into the zbrush subdivision and it works good.
If anyone would like to try it out you can leave me a message here and I will get back to you. I’m too embarassed to post it up 
I spent the past two days writing it, and it wasn’t quite as simple as I thought but it sure felt great finally getting it to work and testing it out and not seeing my model explode for once. 
Aside from the all the quad vertex data being swapped around, max writes all the triangle data at the bottom of the file so that needed to be put back in order too.
Time to move on to the next problem 
Your own app? That sounds really interesting. Send a PM to you.
Boa
Hey, I’d be interested in seeing how this app works as well! Please post it!
Throw some documentation in there as well for this dummy!
Thanks for writing this! You never know what it might grow into!
Upham
Hi upham, if you send me a private message with your email address I will send you the app and some instructions. It’s still got some issues I’m working on with regards to being able to change the uv layout in max, and reimport that back into zbrush so I’d like to see if I can fix that before I post it up. Thanks for your interest.
OK, I’m almost ready to post it up. I just gotta make a couple minor additions and write up a decent help file. I am able to move geometry around in max, and also change uvs and reimport into zbrush subdivision without exploding object. It was tricky
Here it is. Using the two apps included in the file I can change my uvs and move geometry around in max and import back into my zbrush subdivision. There’s a short description of the process included. It’s not exactly a straight forward process but it’s the only way I’ve been able to do this. I’ve played with so many different apps trying to get this to work with no luck.
Let me know if you find this useful. I’d get a cheap thrill out of it
I changed the instructions a little bit. There was an error in one of the steps. Also I included some pictures of max and zbrush settings to get things working. Thanks to Boa for helping me figure some things out.
OK I hope nobody is getting annoyed with me constantly replying to my own thread by now but after some more experimenting I realized not all obj files can be exported back into zbrush subdivision by simply converting to editable poly.
So once again my program is useful, at least to me :lol: Anyway I’ve made some changes to it. I’ve reduced the two apps into one, and made some other updates so now it works properly on editable poly and editable mesh objects in max. Before it would only work on editable mesh objects. It also deletes all the intermediate files it creates which were annoying.
Well hopefully this is it now :rolleyes:
I tested your app with editable polys and with editable meshes and it worked as it should
Congrats that you figured it all out!
Andrea
With that app,I failed.
When Zbrush import xxx5.obj,it says do not match …
I use Max 7,if anything wrong here ?
All I have done is follow the app’s readme.
xjtubigmi,
It can be tricky sometimes. All it takes is one setting to screw things up. You can email me the specifics three_dguru666 AT hotmail.com. I’ll see if I can help you get it working.
If all else fails you can send me the ztl of your zbrush model, or the base object with a displacement map if it’s too big and I will test it myself and let you know if it’s a problem with my app or something in your workflow.
Are you using zbrush default import export obj settings? Also make sure you follow the import export obj settings for max exactly in the readme as well.
Also make sure both obj files you export from max (if you’re changing geometry and uvs or just uvs) are either editable poly or editable mesh. The program compares the two files and they have a different vertex arrangement in the file depending on the type of object you export from max.
Check my post below too. It could be a problem with one of the steps in the help file. It assumes you originally exported your model using guv tiles from zbrush, and are changing that to something else. If you’re not using guv tiles then following the step in the included help doc can screw things up. Sorry for this. I’ll have to change that step to be clear about this. The instructions were a little too specific for the obj files I was testing this on.
This app was tested using max 7 so that’s not the problem.
Let me know if any of that helps. If not, feel free to email me.
Upham did you ever download my app? Did it work ok for you?
I wouldn’t mind some feed back even if it’s negative telling me its a piece of crap :D. All I know is it works for me, but thats also because I spent a week playing with obj files and experimenting so I know what works and what doesn’t.
xjtubigmi,
One more thing. I can see a problem if you are following the included help doc. I’ll have to change it to make this clear actually.
The part about breaking the faces in the uv editor. What you need to do is make sure you have the same number of faces uv mapped between when you first import your model from zbrush, and after you’ve made uv changes in max. For example if you had originally used guv tiles in zbrush but decided you wanted something more 2D friendly you’d have to realize that using guv tiles every face has its own uv mapping coordinates. So you’d have to keep things this way. You can still map the model any way you want to, but you can’t change the number of faces that have their own uv mapping coordinates.
If the number of uv mapped faces after you’ve made changes is different from your originally exported obj file from zbrush then zbrush won’t let you import it back into the subdivision and will give you the error you got.
I hope that makes sense.
Thanks for your reply.
I will follow your advice and try more.
If any problem,I will surely mail you my pic and max document.
Thanks a lot!
One thing I recommend you check is that your original mesh doesn’t have any N-gons, polygons with more than 4 sides. It is possible for the export/import process to choose differently how to quadrangulate your mesh, which will reorder your verts and cause those nasty explosion meshes. This is not specific to any application such as Max or Maya.
Just a thought.
-Royal
This is my work flow:
Step_1:Init Zbrush
Attachments
Step_11:Export as ‘s3.obj’
That’s all,can you help? Thanks a lot!
Attachments
I think that in the export zbrush panel you have to unpress the group¡
Andreseloy
Yes andreseloy is correct. Turn off the groups before exporting from zbrush. Also turn off normals, and groups in max for both importing and exporting. This should get things working correctly. You don’t have to collapse the stack before exporting from max either, but it doesn’t matter.
By the way I figured out one reason why the exploding object happens to some models and not others. For me it happens when I hide a part of my model and subdivide it zbrush. This will create triangles. ZBrush will order the triangular faces differently than Max when you export your model. If you use quads only this won’t happen as long as you convert your object to editable poly before exporting it back out.
You also won’t encounter an exploding object between Max and ZBrush if you start your model in Max first, even if it includes triangles, again as long you convert to editable poly before you export. This is because ZBrush will not change the vertex order when you import the model, unless it was exported as editable mesh. So if your object is originally exported from Max it will remain the way Max likes it after being exported back out from ZBrush.
I uploaded another zip file containing configuration pics between Max and ZBrush and added a bit of info to the read me as well. Same stuff as I mention here pretty much.
You look like you’re using the older version too. I merged the two programs into one and fixed a couple issues, so you might want to download the new zip file.