ZBrushCentral

Symmetry Problems

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

Hello, ZBrushCentral. This is my first post here. I started using Zbrush for the first time properly yesterday and I have ran into some problems.

  1. Unfortunately, when I first created my model in Maya - the geometry for the base mesh was corrupted between the transfer of the mesh from the Maya 7 on my college’s Macs to the Maya 2008 on my home laptop. I tried to fix this fundamental problem as much as I could without destroying the original mesh (and I thought I had) but the symmetry seems to be complete misaligned. (figure1)

[messed up geometry fig 1.jpg]symmetry fig 2.jpg

  1. I seem to have lost the lower subdiv levels of my mesh (I think I deleted them because the program told me to so I could increase it). The model at its lowest setting is still 78000 polys! It crashes Maya I and I need to rig it! I also fundamentally changed some of the mesh while sculpting so my original base mesh doesn’t seem to fit anymore! Is there anything I can do to lower the polycount so I can take it into Maya?

  2. I want to edit some of the original geometry of the zbrush model like you can in Maya. Is there anyway I can easy do it? (I found that I should have created individual fingers than try to work with a basic palm shape)

I have attached some pictures of the problems and I really hope you can help! I have this project to paint, rig and even animate for the next two weeks and I really need the help! Thank you.

  • Sophie
#2

You’ll get better response if you confine your questions to one issue at a time rather than overwhelming the reader by throwing in everything – including the kitchen sink. :wink:

Issue 1, I can’t help with.

Issue 2, you can mask the good side of the mesh and then use Tool>Deformation>Smart ReSym to copy the details across. This should actually be done from the lowest subdivision up, one level at a time. But since you deleted the lower levels, you can’t do that and so may not get the best results.

Issue 3, It sounds like you tried to divide the model while one arm was hidden. This divides only the visible portion of the mesh. ZBrush then gave the message that you can only partially divide a model at level 1. You didn’t need to delete the lower levels. All you needed to do was unhide the model.

What you could do at this point is select another tool (like the PolyMesh3D (star) tool) and then import your Maya model again. Now append it to your sculpted model. Divide the model so that it has as many polys as your sculpted one, then use Tool>SubTool>Project All to copy the details across.

Issue 4, I’m not sure what you mean.

#3

Sorry, I am new to this community and I didn’t want to flood your site with threads!

Thank you for the prompt response too. :slight_smile:

Issue 1: Sorry if I wasn’t clear enough for the solution, but I would like to have the symmetry exactly the same on both sides, if possible. :frowning:

Issue 2: This seems to work to restore the lost detail in the arm but there are some weird deformations in the torso that look like border edges.

[figure deform.jpg]

Issue 3: Append? And what Maya model? The unsculpted original low poly mesh that I began with (and was only a few thousand polys at max?). I’m very new to Zbrush so I’m not 100% sure what you mean here, could you please explain in more detail? Thank you. :slight_smile:

Issue 4: Well, for example - I noticed the original mesh I did for the hand is kinda shoddy when trying to sculpt on it. It’s poly count is not as near as high as it should be for the detail I am trying to sculpt. I originally started with a rectangular palm shape and tried to sculpt from that but I am struggling to make individual fingers! I probably need more polys on the hand to fix this but I don’t want to up the polygon count of the entire model just for that - so is there any way I can add shapes on to the hand in Zbrush to make individual fingers?

What are the chances I will be able to fix these problems? I don’t have a lot of time to my deadline and I don’t like to think I will have to start from scratch (especially since I am so happy with the aesthetics of the model and the functionality isn’t quite so important at the moment).

Thank you very much for the help so far! This is really stressing me out so I can’t thank you enough for the prompt replies! :slight_smile: