ZBrushCentral

Texture resolution problem / production pipeline with maya

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

Hi everyone,

I encounter some problems with the texturing in zbrush, which makes me think i am not using the correct pipeline or do something wrong.
My goal is to use maya 2013 to create basemeshes that i detail and texture in zbrush, and then reimport in maya for lighting and rendering.

My process :
1i create a very simple/structural mesh in maya that i export in zbrush. I divide it one or 2 times to improve the basemesh, and then remove the structural mesh.
2i create the uvs with uv master, using the ambiant occlusion feature.
3i divide the mesh a couple of times, start detailing and polypainting with spotlight on my high rez mesh.
4i hit the creature texture from polypaint, being on the high rez model, which results in creating artifacts in the texture :s

I have the tendency to think that my problem can come from 2 things.
1Either the uv map is not well enough and the resolution is not high enough (at no point i see where you enter the size of the texture you want to make, is that automatical ?
2There is a step that i am missing inbetween, but i don’t see which.

I feel kind of lost to know how i should proceed/ what my pipeline should be. I feel hard to figure out if there is a right way to proceed, with all these new technics in zbrush.
What is the minimum basemesh look that you should have, knowing that there will have a displacement map on it, and how to evaluate the good ration basemesh/displace ? Also i will make the lighting and rendering in maya, which could be very hard if i have too mush high rez basemesh, so do you have tips to di that ?

Hope to find some in there!
thanks !

#2

To control the size of your texture, Open the UV Map menu in the right hand panel and set the size up to 8K.

You could try the following work flow.

If you have polypaint go to the highest level and transfer the polypaint to texture.

Go to the lowest level and create the displacement map. Activate “Adaptive” and “Smooth UV” buttons. We are going to use GoZ so no need to click “Flip V”

If you need, create normal maps.

Click GoZ from your lowest level to send your model to Maya.

Zbrush works its magic and your model is setup to render in Maya.

Frame and light up your model and render in Mental Ray. It is important to use Mental Ray.

This is a quick method. Not the best but enough to test you maps in Maya.

Hope this works for you.