Hi guys. I bought ZBrush a year ago, but never got around to using it. Now I’m learning, with the goal of being able to import models into Cinema 4D, as well as Poser and Daz Studio.
I plan on using Cinema 4D as my rendering application, and only use poser and daz Studio for rigging my stuff for other people to use in those applications.
I have a couple of questions about importing the zbrush models into Cinema. I am only now learning about the process and uses for recreating topolgy, so please correct me if i am wrong. I am using Cinema 4D R11, Zbrush 3.1, and Windows 7 with an i7 quad, and 6bg ram, 8800gts 512mb video card.
As I understand it, I can make incredibly detailed models in zbrush. However their usefulness is limited, in this format. The meshes it exports are simply too high of a density to make using them in an external application practical.
Lets say I created a highly detailed human with zspheres, then made it more detailed by using higher and higher levels of subdivision. Do I keep the lowest level, and export that? And then use a normal map to create the higher level details?
On retopologizing. I watched a video where it was used to recreate a boot, and it was very nice. But, lets take my example of a poser figure. I have clothing that I want to add zbrush detail to, then render it cinema. Would I import the clothing, crank the subdivisions, then add detail using alphas, and lastly export the normal map for use in cinema? If I wanted to make a lower res version of the clothing model for memory handling reasons, would I retopologize, then add the detail? Forgive me, I want to get a handle on this. I watched the architectural videos on the learning site, and the detail I can achieve using alphas looks amazing. I just want to be sure I am using best practices for rendering in cinema, or for any other app for that matter.
Thanks,
Jarrett