ZBrushCentral

Who Knows how to merge subtools into 1 tool?

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

Hello, I need to be able to export my designs as one tool so I can use the meshlab program to convert the obj to stl and ultimately have them prototyped.

What exact steps are needed and please give exact detail as I’m new to zbrush and I’ve never used any other design programs.

I’ve read http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/showthread.php?t=57065 and http://zbrushcentral.com/zbc/showthread.php?t=65611&highlight=Unified+skinning+ftw yet I still don’t get it. Whenever I try it messes up the entire design

Why doesn’t zbrush have a simple merge all subtools into one button plus at the same time remove the hidden polygons and simplify this process for us. And certainly would be helpful if it could export in stl

Thanks, I’m hoping someone can simplify this process or at least walk me through step by step

#2

get subtool master. it has a single button called “merge”

#3

Oh, I already had that… I’ll check it out… thanks alot…

#4

Couldn’t have been easier… exactly how it should be… thanks alot!

#5

Is it possible to remesh it after the merge so to lower the poly count. I should have kept the poly count lower for each subtool then divided it after the merge but this was my first design. The file size is 66.8mb and I would like to keep it under 50mb for file uploads for quick quotes

#6

My obj file was 66.8mg. I opend the design in the free program called Meshlab and saved it as “SAVE AS” STL Meshlab converted it to STL and the file enlarged to 108mb. I then used the free program “7-ZIP” to zip it to a zip file. There are other file types I could choose but zip is common and the online instant RP quotes can open zip files. Now the file size is 37.8mb This will help for now but the real solution is to keep the original obj file size much smaller.

If someone could tell me how to easily remesh this merged tool so that I have less polygons it would be very helpful for future projects. Right now my polygon count is 2.2mil which turns into a 108mb stl file.

Thanks, your help is very much appreciated

#7

Just bumping this up…

#8

Retopology. :+1:

#9

Hi Visions,

Re-topology seems to be the answer. However, it is worth noting that the projection function can be a little problematic when dealing with a tool made up of several subtools.

Here is a link to a recent problem I’ve been working through, which may crop up for you also when you start to re-top your merged tool. There is a step by step guide on my current workflow here, which you may find useful…

http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/showthread.php?t=66625

#10

Thanks guys,

Hurricks I had read through your thread before several times, still sounds like hell… Now doesn’t the subtool master merge remove the hidden mesh and polygons? After reading your thread again it sounds like it doesn’t. I’ll let the RP companies fix it if it needs fixing and if they want to charge me or give me a hard time I"ll take my business to someone else…

#11

From what I understand, subtool master merge does not get rid of hidden polygons. I could be wrong. However, retopology should, and it will also get rid of holes in the mesh. I only use the topology tools to create new subtools because I’m an illustrator, so take this advice with a grain of salt and just email pixologic.