ZBrushCentral

The Poser Issue - Deeper Than You Think :

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

Hello Pixolheads.

I thought I’d spend some time looking into this issue of Poser morph targets getting messed up after being put through ZBrush3.1. I’ve come accross something I think you guys, and especially Pixologic, really need to look at.

First of all, the result you see below is the result you get whether or not you use PoserScaler. Just for the record though, this snapshot ‘is’ after using PoserScaler. The only thing that was sculpted in ZBrush was a symmetrical brush stroke to the head - nothing else. As you can see, the result is a semi-correct morph. The sculpt has transferred over correctly, yet the area where the head joins the neck is completely messed up.

I’ve seen messed up morph targets before - but never a semi messed up one :confused:
I think the problem here, is a little more than just scaling.

I really hope that Pixologic will see to this bug ASAP because I bought ZBrush initially as a tool for morph target work. All these wonderful new tools might as well not exist if we’ve got to reinstall ZBrush 2 in order to get our work done. ZBrush used to be the finest program ever for working with morph targets. Now, it’s completely useless.

Please, please, please fix this, Pixologic.


#2

Pumeco,

This looks like V4, is this correct?
If so, I personally don’t think it’s a Pixologic problem…V4 has issues. I can successfully morph any figure…but V4.

I actually just created a video that you might useful.
http://www.darkedgedesign.com

Visit my tutorials page and click on Poser Zbrush Poser link.

#3

Thanks :+1:

I downloaded the tutorial (which was great BTW), and from what I’ve seen, the only thing I’ve not done is try to uncompress geometry. To be honest, I never even knew it was compressed. I’ve always been able to access the files direct from the runtime without using a decompressor first.

You seem to have the an opposite opinion on the success of figure types. For me, it’s always been the stock Poser figures that gave me trouble (splitting seams, and problems with tri’s when importing). The DAZ figures, though, have never given me any problems up until now. If there’s not a problem with ZBrush3.1, I can’t understand why Victoria worked in ZBrush2 but not this one :confused:

Weird.

Anyway, V4’s a good mesh, and I’d like to be able to create morphs for it like I used to. I can’t be bothered with the other figures because of the splitting seams whenever you use the Smooth brush on them.

I’ll have another bash at this, and try your suggestions, but I still think somethings broke in ZBrush 3.1

Cheers.

#4

BTW, just a thought - but maybe that Victoria 4.1 update will fix this.
I’ll download it now and see what happens.

#5

Partially related.

Does anyone know of any reason why pressing control and shift would not allow you to marquee select anything on your object? I’m running zb3 on a Mac and its not doing anything when these keys are pressed.

Help!

#6

I’ve just updated my Victoria to 4.1 and the messed up polygons have gone :slight_smile:

I also decompressed the geometry, but now I’ve got a new problem where it’s impossible to save out a Victoiria 4.1 mesh from within Poser. Whenever I export her as an .obj file, the progress bar shoots along very quickly and just saves out a blank file. Do you know if this has something to do with the decompression? Or better sill, do you know how to fix it?

Also, I see the scaling problem now, so thanks again to Marcus for PoserScaler. I’m amazed it took over five minutes to import though, so I hope Pixologic will fix the problem within ZBrush (just as it was before).

It sounds as if you’ve exported your figure without having some grouping activated. To test, just click on the frame button, and if your figure stays all one colour, then that’s your problem. Whenever you click on that frame button, your figure should come up in different group colours.

To fix this, just do another export from Poser with grouping activated :slight_smile:

#7

Yeah, it takes a while to process large OBJs using the plugin as the file is read line by line. If I find a way to speed things up I’ll update the plugin.

#8

So objects from zBrush can be exported, then Poser can “re-attach” the new object to the original Poser file as a morph target? Is this what you’re saying?

Also, has the scaling issue been fixed, or no?

#9

Yes it will append the modifications you make to the original mesh as a ‘morph target’ with a dial. Spinning the dial will make the mesh appear more or less like your sculpt. Note that you do need the original mesh as a starting point, you cant make morphs from just any object.

And no the issue hasn’t been fixed. marcus_civis was kind enough to make a workaround but the basic problem is still there in ZB 3.x.

#10

Thanks. Where is the link to that workaround?

#11

Here: Poser Scaler plugin

#12

Thanks for the link.

I also wondered about alignment of faces to be morphed. Is it necessary to concern yourself with “positioning” when creating the morph target in zbrush?

#13

I don’t have Poser so I can’t advise on the finer points. But any changes you make using the Tool: Deformation sliders are likely to have an effect. How you position the mesh on the canvas doesn’t affect the mesh itself.

#14

I was thinking in terms of using the morph brush tool where it seems one can pull or deform one object onto another. I was jut thinking about the need for perfect alignment while morph brushing in zbrush.

What do you think?

#15

Marcus.

Do you think the Poser/scaler importer could be any faster?

#16

jBibble,
I’d like it to be but I’m limited to zscripting file read/write methods which are rather slow.

#17

Read my tutorial here (at Daz I’m known as “fallygolly” not gr8grfx…don’t ask, it’s a long story.)

http://forum.daz3d.com/viewtopic.php?p=1242254
(You’ll have to become a member, but it’s free…)

I’ve been using this method sucessfully on all the Daz characters I have.

(Keep in mind that if you have intricate light setups then you’ll want to delete all lights during the “Daz Studio” stage to keep the .obj simple. It doesn’t seem to affect ZBrush as much as Rhino 3d, but it still keeps things more “error free.”)

#18

Thanks for the link. I’ll try it.

What do you think of this alternate method? It seems to work for me.

http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/showthread.php?t=45007&highlight=poser

There seems to be at least 3 methods that will work on the forum, but I’m looking for the least cumbersome (fewest amount of steps).

Thoughts?

#19

The reason I came up with the method I use is because the poser export function would give me all sorts of problems… ie exploding meshes, non- functioning morph targets, etc, even when exporting as a “morph target only.” I also found that using poser to export the body in its entirety wouldn’t work well at all. (When I’d get it into ZB3 it would be separated at the texture map seams NOT the body part seams. At first I wrote it off as a ZB3 error, but came to realize that, like many other things, it was a poser problem.) When using ZB3.1 the same thing would happen. (I don’t use ZB3.1 very often… It’s given me more problems than ZB3. It has problems saving polypaint and storing textures. I don’t know why, and I’m just continuing to use ZB3 until pixologic comes out with a better update. I also can’t stand the interface, and can’t seem to figure out how to load my ZB3 interface into it. I don’t have a hell of a lot of time to mess around with it when ZB3 fits my needs and I’m only a little curious why pixolgic wouldn’t have the common sense to make it more “backward compatable.” I get paid for my time, and the idea that software companies waste so much of it with subpar products is a sore point with me. It might not be ZB or pixologic at all as much as a bunch of companies never truly coming up with a real “compatible format.” I’m on the verge of getting out my old Assembly, C++, Delphi, and Fortran books and designing my own programs that’ll suit my needs. It’d probably take less time.)
I also use this method rather than editing the original .obj that’s in poser’s “runtime/geometries” folder because after editing a cr2 file to point to the modded mesh I’d end up with a character that wouldn’t move correctly, and would break apart when any morph dials on it were changed (like “open mouth”).
I’d actually written an “offset script” for importing and exporting poser files into and out of zbrush, but found that just using poser scaler worked better. If I had a script version I could modify it so that it fit my needs even more. Maybe if the major 3d companies would get a clue and program for more compatiblity with poser, and maybe if the people who program poser now would get a clue (possibly by reading the issues posted on this forum) they’d make it more compatible with the big apps. Some of this has to do with the tiresome elitism that stems from the 3d community with the acceptance of poser as a 3d app. It’s a lot more powerful than given credit for, however it’s also problematic and complicated at its deeper levels. (Can you tell I’m tired of this “my Kung Fu is better than your Kung Fu” sh*t?) So because of this there is an entire industry built upon just compatiability issues between overrated, bulkware-ridden programs. People should wise up and give these companies a choice: solve their buggy programs, or go out of business. (Autodesk? Are you paying attention? Not to mention names…)

Sorry if I’m ranting a bit. I’ve been dealing with 3rd party Renderers.

#20

hey guys i havnt read all the responses but i was wondering how i can fix a problem… my prob is symetrypardon the spelling its 3 in the morning and i cant sleep any ways everytime i export an obj (well only the characters like simon for example ) Zbrush throws of the symmetry granted i havnt tried the poser scaler so my question would be will the poser scaler fix this problem or is there something else i can do?