ZBrushCentral

Retopology : move points - don't stick to mesh

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

ZBrush retopology with ZSpheres is awesome. I love how the points stick to the mesh being traced, and how the geometry shrink-wraps perfectly with projection turned on. it’s brilliant!

however, how awesome would it be if when the move tool was selected, and vertices were being pulled around on the surface of the mesh… if they “slid” around across the meshes surface (as opposed to being relative to the camera)…

are there any plans in the future to build in this functionality? (or does it already exist, and i can’t find it?)

thanks!
ben

#2

It doesn’t exist in Zbrush right now.
I also hope they add it for future releases.
The lack of this feature is the main reason I do my retopo in another application…well, that and the inability to do a 4 sided extrusion.

#3

thanks goast666,

i am thinking i might need to leverage another app to retopo more rapidly… do you mind if i ask what you use? from my research it looks like NEX is the best option…

I’ve tried Maya “Make Live” approach, and Modo “constrain to background” - but they end up being really “janky” and not working how i want…

i would actually like to be able to brush verts around that stuck to a surface… like, with a variable sized paintbrush…

-ben

#4

You have quite a few options for retopo.
3dCoat
Topogun
Modo
Max
XSI
Maya

Pretty much anything can do a decent retopo now-a-days.
I personally use Modo because you can use the paint/sculpting tools to move surface geometry around a surface (as well as any other tool inside modo, things like bevels, insets, smoothing, symmetry, etc).

Modo is also my main tool for work so I am very comfortable in it so it will give me the fastest results.

If you’re a Maya user and Nex seems to be the way to go, give it a shot and see how you like/dislike it and make your decision based on your own experiences and what you feel the program can do to speed up your workflow.

#5

thanks again for your reply goast666,

haha Topogun, that’s pretty punny.

I also use Modo, and have used it consistently for poly work for about 1.5 years now. i have found constrain to background works well (stick to another mesh layer). But I’ve found it works best when laying down strips of quads with the pen tool, I have been unable to get it to work when I’m using the brush/sculpt tools.

I’ll have a background mesh as my “Live” object, and I’ll have the foreground mesh which I’ll use the paint tools (move, smooth) to brush the vertices around, and my intention was to get it to stick to the surface of the background mesh… but it doens’t. it just goes all over the place as if the background constraint wasn’t there…

also, the mirroring is erratic at best. i often need to cut my mesh in half and duplicate it to get mirroring to work. if something is the slightest bit asymmetrical, symmetry is gone.

thats why i really want slightly better retopo tools for ZBrush, ZBrush feels better, symmetry works better and the sticking / shrinkwrapping is insanely good. It just needs the sliding / stick to mesh option and that’s it. ZBrush is becoming a program I don’t need to leave. Which would be better IMHO.

-ben

#6

Not a problem.

if you want to use sculpting tools you need to change the projection type to vector based…I don’t remember what it defaults to.

I love Zbrush, I live and breathe in the program. If I could be in it all day I would, but alas, there are times when I need a SDS modeler for pieces in a mesh.

I’ve never lost sym in a model in Modo yet…but I’ve seen people do that, and go crazy nuts trying to fix it. I do however loose sym in Zbrush on a regular basis…well, I used to. Now I know to avoid the rotate action line when working near the center of an object…eh. Little work arounds for each program I suppose.

I personally can’t wait for goZ for the PC. Granted, that doesn’t do much for me as I actually view game models in a different engine than anything that works for goZ.

I haven’t been in Modo that long…6months or so I figure. I love to model in the program, but again, If I can do it in Z, I do it in Z.