ZBrushCentral

problems with morphtarget translational shift + more

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

Hi there, I imported a model from max > zb, stored morph target, subdivided and sculpted.

Now when I go back to level 1 and switch morphtarget my original mesh is restored but it is offset from my sculpted mesh, meaning the model appears to jump from one location to another.

As you can imagine this means dire consequences for generating a displacement map for my original mesh.

  1. how can I recenter the morph target mesh with the sculpted mesh

  2. if 1) is impossible, can I reimport the original mesh as a lvl1 morphtarget

  3. what does “cage” do, does it generate a level 1 mesh that will get me the closest to my level 6 sculpt (i.e. most efficient low poly shape for subdividing/displacing to level 6 sculpted mesh)?

  4. if I can’t reimport a level 1 morphtarget, I can probably reimport my original mesh as level 1 itself - would this be a viable alternative or would it introduce error?

  5. unrelated, but I can’t import a 32bit displacement map into max8 above 3072^2… is that a memory issue? (I have 2gb of ram?).

Thanks!!
Alex

#2

It sounds like you have changed the Pivot Point in ZBrush after you stored the Morph Target. Switch away from the Morph Target and press Transform > C.Pivot (Clear Pivot Point). Hopefully that is all you need to do.

You can view the actual Pivot Point by looking at Tool > Preview > Object Preview window. However you should not change the pivot point using that window. Stick to Set Pivot Point and remember to Clear Pivot Point before storing or switching to a morph target for use in displacement/normal map generation.

  1. As long as you keep the original Pivot Point there is no problem importing into any of the subdivision levels. The rules of vertice count and vertice order of course still apply.

  2. The Cage function modifes the geometry of the current subdivision level so that it approximates the volume of the highest subdivision level. The resulting geometry could be used instead of a level 1 morph target/imported model but it is also useful if you did all your modeling in ZBrush. Bringing such a model into a subdivision surface modeler/renderer would result in a closer Zbrush match when subdivision smoothing is in effect.

Rememember you can press and hold CTRL with the cursor over a button to see a description of its function.

  1. Using a morph target or reimporting the original model is the same thing with one exception. The reimported model will also bring its UVs with it, so if you have performed UV mapping in ZBrush they might be overwritten. You can get around that by a little creative use of morph targets.

  2. Perhaps some memory assignment setting in 3DSmax will help?

Hope that helps.

#3

Thanks so much for your reply…solved my problems and taught me something new!

I love this forum.