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Texture map issues when importing / exporting from maya > zbrush

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

I was playing with Zbrush today actually, it’s really good, got some questions if anyone can help. (I’m also sending a mailshot so ignore it if you read it here)

I’ve been messing around with the idea of making a statue for a project in ZBrush. I can’t seem to find the answer on the online ESC tutorials.

I was thinking of modeling a medium poly model, UV mapping, texturing in Maya and Photoshop, importing into ZBrush then adding the detail. After that I will export medium poly model back to Maya and use displacement methods for the final render. As the texture was done in medium poly and as long as I don’t displace too much which the texture work and not look stretched ?

The alternative I thought was not UV mapping the model but taking the medium poly into Zbrush, adding detail, then making a UV map in zBrush, painting in photoshop…exporting the medium poly into Maya with displacement and texture maps. In theory this method means i should have a high resolution texture UV map that should fit perfectly in Maya.

The problem i see is that you have to render the mesh with displacement map just to see the texture because it might not look great on a medium poly mesh.

Any ideas which would be the best method ?

#2

If your UVs are relaxed and you don’t get stretching with a checkermap, you shouldn’t have problems. The benefit of texturing in ZBrush, however, is that you can see your displacement and paint over it. So if I sculpt a scar on my character’s face in ZBrush, I can then paint that area red in ZBrush. You’re going to have a hard time finding exactly where that scar should be in Photoshop when you’re painting your color map…unless you’re using ZAppLink of course :slight_smile:

-Dustin