ZBrushCentral

Need for a helping hand (UVs and mapping)

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

Hello ZBrushCentral!

I’m a 3D student and I recently started using zbrush for my work, there is however something I need help with.
My question is as follows:

I have a Tool with multiple subtools, currently they have separate UV’s and I am in dire need to get all my subtools’ UV’s on
a single UV map.
I tried using UV master, but it only lets me create UV’s for every single object.
I checked if merging down all the tools and using polygroups to create UV islands would help, however that did not work.
Maybe I’m not supposed to merge the tools together to do this? I currently do not have any other 3d applications near by to redo the UV’s and bake textures, It would be preffered if everything could be done through Zbrush.

Is there a way of creating a single UV map for multiple subtools through Zbrush?

Hope you can help me out, Thank you very much for your time.

#2

The Multi Map Export plugin will let you combine several maps into one:
http://www.pixologic.com/docs/index.php/Multi_Map_Exporter#Create_All_Maps

#3

Hi there, thank you for your reply! I tried this as well, here’s the result I got when using it:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3708078/UVlayout.jpg

As you can see, it’s very cramped up, and I was wondering if there is a way for me to move the islands around, or perhaps
there is something I didn’t do right? I just exported the normal map through multi map export as a test, all subtools have their own UVs.

#4

You can use UV Master to temporarily flatten the tools. This will let you use transpose to scale and move the islands around the UV space as needed to prevent overlaps.

#5

Thank you for your reply!
I can’t seem to flatten all of them at once, and using UV master to flatten each subtool in a clone didn’t work at all, i could move the islands around but it seemed to reset itself once i pasted the uvs back into the original mesh.
And zbrush wont let me flatten them in their original toolset, as they have subdivisions.

#6

You’ll have to work on clones one at a time unfortunately, but it should still be able to successfully paste the UVs back from the clones : /

#7

Very strange, it keeps resetting the UV once I unflatten the clone.