Topology & Flow Lab

[chew]

Maybe you guys can help me . I hope you can.

What i want to do is create a character for animation. I would appreciate if i can do the most part of the work in zbrush ( basemesh, moddeling, creating uvmaps ,textureing, rigging and posing ).

So is it posible to create the hole character in zbrush an then export all to 3dsmax for animation and render?

Or can i use the retopology tool to create a basemesh which i can export to 3dsmax for adding displacement etc, animation and for render the hole stuff?

[tuddel]

my topology line is hiding.i cant see it!
help pls.thanks!

its working but i cant see the actual line.

[Lord_McGoat]

I posted this in the troubleshooting forum, but thought I’d post it here as well in case the problem I’m encountering is down to the fact that my starting point is a retopologised mesh…

The problem I’m encountering is this - I don’t seem to be able to import an OBJ onto SDiv level 1 of a model with 6 SDiv levels without losing all but the highest SDiv level (I end up with a model with all the detail but no Sdiv levels). The models have identical topology.

Here’s my workflow in a little more detail…

I’m generating two adaptive skins from a re-topologised high resolution model. One at at a Density of 1 (which I’m planning to take in to Max to set up the UVs) and one at a Density of 6 (which I’m planning to use to transfer all the high level detail to the remapped version).

I export the level 1 version as an OBJ.

I take the level 6 version and go to SDiv level 1, whereupon I import the the OBJ (which as I understand it ought to just update the model at this SDiv level and retain all the higher levels)

I see a “subdividing geometry…” message, and end up with a Ztool with all the SDiv level 6 polys and detail, but no SDiv levels. Incidentally, the model gets bigger at the same time (as if the OBJ is of a larger size)

As you can see, the models have identical toplogy as they’re generated from the same re-topologised model - so what am I doing wrong?? As I remember this was pretty basic and reliable functionality in ZBrush2.5. I’m not going to be able to generate a normal map for my re-mapped low poly version if it disappears when I import it into my high detail version - help!!

Hi Nolan, I know this problem was a while back but just for future reference I had the same thing and used the following fix -

Make your highest level mesh a polymesh3d, which will flip the normals. Flip them back. Now just hit enable UV and use reconstruct subdivisions to get back to your lowest level tool.

Cheers

[tuddel]

i have a problem.i have done most of the topology part but the hands are soooooo hard.i cant scale enough.and when i zoom its soo pixelated.

but the weird thing is when i hit A then i can zoom much more. but when i go back to the actual retologozing part.the mesh becomes smaller again.

[attach=81564]prob1.jpg[/attach]
[attach=81565]PROB2.jpg[/attach]

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[spaceboy412]

tuddel did you try hiding eveything but the hand, works better if you do one hand at a time.

[tuddel]

i did try to do that as well.but still i cant scale in.i can zoom in but i cant see its like pixelated at 800 percent

[zogthedoomed]

To better explain it heres what I’m doing. I’ve roughed out a spaceship design in Lightwave with primitives. I’ve then brought this into zbrush and began to rebuild it using topology tools. So its essentially the same as doing a character from a low res base mesh and then retopologising.

Now the problem is, I’m more than half way through and I’ve suddenly realised that I need to go back to Lightwave, add more stuff to the base mesh, re-import it to zbrush and carry on the retoping where I left off but I can’t get my head round how to do it.

I’m still ploughing through this huge thread so forgive me if its already been answered.

[zogthedoomed]

OK. It was answered in the thread and in the Wiki. You’ve just got to know what to look for. Dave Harringtons (Bonecradle) pdf sorted it for me.

Excellent thread by the way.

[konjo_kothar_vignar]

i just got an idea to draw a face plan onto an un-sculpted smoothed box in zbrush, because im so comfortable with the retopo tools in zbrush, i can retopologize the unsculpted cube with the guide that i drew on it. ive heard of people drawing a plan onto a premade face mesh, but never on a simple box, i think it will be a really simple and easy way to generate a nice face basemesh for future sculpting

[system]

hi rastaman, a few days ago i ran into the same problem like you where you had troubles around holes when projecting the HiRes back onto your new topology like in the eye section for example. In my case i have these spikes everywhere i put a hole in the mesh, and I would like to know if you have found any workaround for this in the meantime.

allie

[system]

Hey everyone,

Is there any way to get my original, non uniform, sculpted mesh back out of the topology version, please? I’ve made a stupid mistake - in my haste to get working on topology I’ve not saved my original tool. Now I want to back up and make additional changes and all I’ve got is a greyed out version of my original sculpt and a single ZSphere which I can’t delete?

Any help out there, please?

Yours desperately…

[system]

I’m pretty new to ZB but from what I’ve done in the past few days I don’t think there’s a way to get the original mesh back.

[system]

Hi everyone !
this topic is awesome and very helpfull, i’ve 2 questions about retopology, sorry if they have been asking by the past (and sorry for my poor english)

When i “retopo” a slim mesh like a membrane (for a wing or other) i see through the mesh and my retopology snap to the topology of the other side, more, it’s very hard to correct topology with that 2 sides.
Is there a way to solve this problem?
Masking is not a solution to make a topology like that we have to constantly look the other side to adjust the new side…

And the second one

When i retopo the fine details i m currently blocked with the zoom, it’s impossible to zoom close to the mesh, i ve found a solution but it’s not a really good things, i unchecked the “topology” button and zoom close to hte mesh then i re-checked the button, it’s work for some points but when i move or rotate the model the zoom automatically go far of my topology…
Is there a solution to zoom everytime close to our mesh?

Very thanks to you !

Ciao

[SNARK]

Hi.

When I select the tool I want to retopo, it comes in with an orange cage and all the vertices selected. What am I doing wrong?

Thanks!

~S.~

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[Thomas_Mahler]

Here’s a ilnk to a video tutorial I did for a buddy of mine, it shows my whole mesh and color reprojection workflow. Visuals AND Audio this time, isn’t that incredible?

http://www.thomasmahler.com/files/Retopo%20for%20Dummies.mov

Happy retopologizing!

[system]

just a thank you for the video ! it’s helpfull for dummies !

but if you have an answer for my question you’re the best (see 2 post above)

thanks

[rubent100]

Nice tutorial, out of this whole thread, you posted the only video… Do you have more somewere for us newbees?

[SalmonGod]

thanks Mahler… you just made something very simple, which I used to think was quite complicated

[system]

I finally got some time and motivation to put together a series of videos based on the curriculum I’ve written. I realize there are other videos around that show similar things.

These three videos cover modeling from a PolySphere primatve all the way to retopology and how to keep SubDivision levels during this process. I’ve tested these methods many times and worked out many common mistakes. These lessons are designed to be useful for all skill levels. If you need more step-by-step, you can look through my old posts

Here is the link for the new videos:
http://www.jcappelletti.com/z3tut03/index.html

Totally for free!

-JC Cappelletti

Attachments

[rubent100]

you are a life saver! saved me tons of time of learning how to retopo. thanks a ton.