ZBrushCentral

Merging Subtools?

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

I’ve started creating stuff in ZBrush, but before I start any more work I need to ensure my process is correct.

I am currently working on a boot, which is the main subtool. I have also been working on things like buckles which include four subtools. I have merged these buckle subtools.
Back in the boot subtool I have appended the merged buckle to be positioned on the boot.
I have been adding various merged subtools in the same manner. However when I check the geometry of some of the subtools the geometry the count slider is grayed out. I though it may have something to do with masking, but when I hit shift/Ctrl/A it doesn’t solve the problem.

I decided to start from scratch because I can’t reduce the poly count to run UVMapper on the problematic subtools. I just thought I’d post my issue here first in-case someone could save me some time.

#2

I am sorry to tell you, that when you merge your subtools, you will loose the subdivision history :cry:

#3

Cool!!!

Thanks for the good news. I knew it was coming.

At least I’ll gain more experience starting from scratch.

Would you advise merging at a low poly until all Subtools are in place and them merging all, which will allow an increase of poly’s on the final model.

Would I be right in stating that all subtools should really be set to the same poly count before merging e.g 2?

Thanks again

#4

I’m beginning to believe what I am trying to do is impossible and my only option is to re-topologies.

I’ll try and explain:

My goal is to produce a final model which I can slide the polycount up and down. This will allow me to create UVs (UVMapper) of the lowest polycount.

1.I start off by creating the shape of a boot using ZSpheres.
2.Once I’m happy I hit ‘Make Adaptive Skin’, re-load the skinned subtool.
3.I then increase the polycount to 6.
4.Draw a mask and extract an area.

The problem is, now I have two subtools I can adjust the polycount slider of the main boot. However the extracted subtool’s Polycount slider is grayed out.

This means whilst building a model by appending other subtools which have been created seperately doesn’t allow me to control the polycount overall.

#5

Yeah the ultimate solution would be a retopo.

I normally export all my subtools out with all the maps and bring them back together in Lightwave. Tedious because there is still no GoZ but you learn a lot about the process :smiley:

#6

Thanks dsoellbuster

Looking forward to learning more about retopo.

#7

you do know that if you had your subtools had subd levels you can get them back by using Reconstruct Subd in the Tool:Geometry palette. ideally if you merged all your tools at various levels you can reconstruct the whole tool down a few levels. what you really want to do in that instance is to make sure all your tools have the same amount of levels so when they are merged they can all be reconstructed down to the lowest level for them all to use in uvmaster and or/transpose. this is what transpose master does btw.

Edit: yes using extraction will create a tool that usually cannot be reconstructed, if that is what you want its best to make the extraction at a low sublevel of your main tool, and or actually make it from the original tools geometry using morph difference.

#8

@ spaceboy: hey man … yep you are right, but unfortunately reconstruct subdiv doesn’t always work. I’ve lost a lot of time because of that, so i don’t really trust that option anymore. Only pixolator knows why it sometimes just refuses to work :smiley:

Also using ZSketch and unified skinning will require a Retopo in most cases anyway.

I only use reconstruct in emergency situations.

#9

Two ways that the reconstruct gets grayed out that you can dos something about. One is to check the parameters of the export pallet as if it is ‘nan’ instead of a number that knocks it out. and the other is to poly group and split the object into its original parts and then reconstruct them. when Zbrush has a triangle it cant reconstruct and so one of your parts may contain a triangle. Re-topology is the long way around that you want to avoid. Are you trying to apply the UV’s to a clone or and original? make sure the texture size is huge, even at 8k x 8k, so maybe apply AUV’s with an 8k x 8k and then go to the plug-in and try again to unwrap. One thing I have learned about problems in Zbrush is that there is usually a work around/short cut to resolving a problem.

#10

Thanks to everyone for there advice.

Another aspect of my workflow is after applying UVMapper is to import into Poser which obviously means I need to keep the poly count low.

Arran, I’ll give your suggestion a try, the only issue is the result may not be quite as clean as a retopology. But then we are all looking to decreases our workflow time. After all if we can half the time then we can turn over more work and that’s what I’m looking for. UVMapper has all ready done this (THANKS PIXOLOGIC!!!).

The biggest problem with keeping poly count low on merging is ‘EXtract’. Whilst you can produce seperate subtools and append them at their lowest, ‘Extract’ doesn’t really work at a low Poly count (masking doesn’t pick up the detail at low) and once you’ve extracted at a high poly count you can’t reduce the poly count for that new subtool.

Keep it coming guys I can see the light…

#11

A point about merging subtools: your subdivision levels will be kept if the number of levels is the same for all subtools, otherwise the levels will be reduced to that subtool that has the lowest number of levels. In other words, if all your subtools have three levels, then the merged ztool will have three levels; if one of your subtools has only one level, then the merged ztool will have only one level.

HTH,

#12

Thanks marcus

I now understand you explanation. I just need to remember it when I’m working.
The main issue I currently have is the Masking/Extraction. Masking and extracting at a high Poly count won’t allow you to reduce the Polycount of the new extracted subtool. However masking a low poly count model doesn’t give the detail to correctly extract the area you want. I’ve even masked at high poly then reduced the poly count and extracted, but that doesn’t work.

Thanks again for you explanation, it’s good to be able to have my understanding of the workflow confirmed.