ZBrushCentral

topology problem

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

I’m trying to use Edit Topology to create a shirt. I’ve attached an image (Adaptive Skin), which shows a V-shaped collar area. A second image (TopologyLines) shows that the topology lines are completely invisible in that V-shaped collar area. I assume they are under the model’s surface. Given that I can’t see them, I’m unable to shape or otherwise work with them.

I have seen several posts in the forum on problems associated with the visibility of topology lines. The recommendations are that in the Preferences>Draw menu, Front opacity be set to .95 and Back to .01, which I have done. I also tried settings of 1 and 0. No effect.

Does anyone have any other ideas as to how I can make those topology lines visible?

DocPit

Attachments

Adaptive Skin.JPG

TopologyLines.JPG

#2

Yes, that seems to be a pain for a lot of people. Hopefully it will be fixed in an update and work like it did in 3.5. Those settings in Preferences\Draw of .95 and .01 are the best settings though.

How are you editing topology? Drawing a zsphere then going to rigging and ‘Select Mesh’? If you are, try the following method instead.

  1. Draw your bull model on the canvas then go to Standard Materials and apply the ‘BumpViewerMaterial’.
  2. Go to ‘SubTool’ menu and click ‘Append’ and append a zsphere. Click on the zsphere in ‘SubTool’ menu to select it.
  3. Go to ‘Topology’ submenu and click ‘Edit Topology’ and start creating your new topology.

The only drawback to this method is, when you press ‘A’ key to view your new topology, your model will still be visible making it hard to see the new skin. Just click the eye icon in the ‘SubTool’ menu for your mesh to turn visibility on and off so you can see the new skin.

Now, i’m only suggesting this as a “workaround” and not saying that it is a solution to the problem.

topology.JPG

#3

Zber2,

When I follow that procedure, this is what I get: See image attached. The topology lines seem to snap to points other than the positions where I’m clicking. Any thoughts as to why that might happen?

Doc Pit

Attachments

AlternativeTopologyMethod.JPG

#4

It’s hard to tell what your doing just by the image you posted. I don’t see any snapping :lol: . A complete screen shot might be better. What else do you have visible on the canvas?

Edit: Another thing I just noticed on your image is your draw size. Why do you have it set so big ? Or is that the zsphere. Again, it’s hard to tell by the image you posted.

#5

Zber2,

Just wanted to check back with you. The appended zsphere method is working beautifully. No visibility problems at all. I especially love that I can not only check the progress of the adaptive skin, but I can both view and edit the topology lines either on the visible model or in “wireframe mode” (with model visibility and adaptive skin visibility turned off). I had almost given up on being able to topologize in ZBrush, and, without that ability, ZBrush is much less useful. So, to me, this is huge. Many thanks!

DocPit