It seems to be a familiar situation, you sculpt some area and the polys become stretched compared the surrounding areas. You need more polys here, but not elsewhere.
What’s the best way to deal with this?
I have tried selecting some stretched polys at the lowest subdivision level, and then clicking Edge Loop. It works great on that lowest subdivision level but somehow the higher subdivision levels become garbled.
Thanks.
Why don’t you use Dynamesh?
Because you can’t use dynamesh on the whole mesh when you already have high frequency detail sculpted in: dynamesh has a low maximum resolution and quickly erases any small detail. Also, it creates triangles, so you can’t reconstruct lower subdivision levels.
And because I would like to create a specific topology, with dynamesh you don’t control edge loops etc.
Example: you are scultping details everywhere on a character, you decide to add some tatoo in the back of the neck. You need more polygons there.
What is the normal ZBrush workflow for this? Are you supposed to export your lowest subdivision level to Maya, add geometry there, then reproject your whole mesh, from head to toe, just to add a few polygons somewhere in the neck?
This always degrades your high frequency detail. Why do you have to lose your carefully sculpted toe nail because you need a few more polys in the neck? Is this really the best way to do it?
I would really appreciate some insight on this.
Thanks.
If you have Maya then the best method would be to use GoZ to transfer your mesh back and forth. That would give you the best control of your topology.
Sometimes when using GoZ to return to ZBrush the topology update will produce undesired effects.
Most likely what you will need to do is adjust your Projection Dist (Tool>SubTool>Dist slider). There is no way to have a default setting that will work with every model. By default the distance is set at 1. A good start may be a Dist setting between 0.02-0.09. But this is something that you will need to do a trial and error on. There is no sweet number that will work with every model.
All you have to do is adjust the Projection Dist and then GoZ from your other app. If it does not work do one undo, change your dist again, and then GoZ from the other application.
HTH,
Thanks, I’ll end up doing that. I was thinking about creating the sculpt and the topology at the same time but maybe that’s just silly. All these edge loops may be a hindrance instead of a help in ZBrush.
And… if you have any idea about my next question, I would appreciate your help a lot!
I am asking why ZBrush modifies a mesh when it subdivides it.