Hi there
i recently made a mask using Boolean meshes and i now i am struggling to re mesh the model.
any advice on what i should do or what i be better starting again from scratch?
Hi Charlie.
Be sure to upgrade to the most recent version of ZBrush. This is free for registered users, and out of date versions aren’t officially supported.
You shouldn’t need to start over. Live Boolean does not destroy the original meshes when it creates a new merged tool. You can return to those pieces and adjust as necessary, then re-create another Boolean tool.
As to your issue, how exactly are you struggling?
If you’re referring to losing hard surface form when ZRemeshing, understand that hard surface work with ZRemesher is more complicated than ZRemeshing soft organic forms, and will likely take more work to get good results. Also note that no auto-retopo solution will create low poly geometry as deliberate and optimized as a human could without significant effort from the user. If you require topology of this quality, you will have to model it or manually retoplogize.
Keeping in mind that ZRemesher is not a tool to try and capture fine detail with (you may want to consider keeping those small bolts separate), your model is clean enough you should be able to get some decent results without too much work. Be sure to read about the new hard surface support features inZRemesher 3.0.
It would be helpful, prior to ZRemeshing, to make sure every planar surface is a separate polygroup. In your case, your geometry is mostly clean, hard edged shapes that should respond well to the Polygroups > Groups by Normals function. If you ZRemesh with the “Keep Groups” function active, it should generate polyflow that respects the polygroups better, and tends to create natural crease lines in between the groups.
General:
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Give ZRemesher enough polygons to work with on the target poly count. You will need higher values for more complicated meshes with more features.
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If the mesh is symmetrical, switch on Symmetry along the relevant axis while ZRemeshing. This generally produces better results for symmetrical meshes.
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Remember that ZRemesher doesnt fuse meshes. You have to weld the shapes together prior to ZRemeshing.
Finally, remember that low poly surfaces with a mix of curves and hard edges require creasing to subdivide correctly. If you fuse your meshes (dynamesh or boolean) with a high enough resolution (for instance, with Dynamic Subdivision active), it may not require this as the edges are well defined by hi-res geometry.
If you’re aiming for lower poly geometry though, you will have to apply creasing to the edges you want to stay sharp when subdividing. You can do this through the Tool > Geometry > Crease menu, or with ZModeler. If you fed Zremesher a mesh with high quality polygrouping and got clean results, you could use the “Crease PG” command to instantly create creasing at the border of every polygroup, which may work well in your situation.
Hello again
thanks for the tips i haven’t read all of the them but i will let you know how things turn out
It looks pretty good to me. You will have to be more specific about your areas of concern.
You could get better results if you polygrouped every plane as I mentioned above. Basically any surface that will be separated from another by a sharp edge needs to be its own polygroup. Your current polygrouping does not create crease lines every place you need them.
All low poly meshes will look rough until they are subdivided. A purely hard edged model can be subdivided with SMT off to prevent any smoothing, but any shape with a mix of smoothed surfaces and hard edges will need creases. Creases require deliberate topology so that edges are properly placed. When working with hard surface, you will have to put in the work to assign creases, polygroup as necessary, and touch-up the geometry that ZRemesher gives you. It is not a magic button process, unfortunately.
You can use dynamic subdivision to preview what a low poly mesh will look like when subdivided with its current topology and creasing.
i also used the group normals method you mentioned
Please upgrade your program. If you continue to use an outdated program, its going to impair our ability to assist you.
It’s important to remember that this is a skill you develop over time, not just a matter of pushing the right buttons. Furthermore, working with hard surfaces is complicated—you’ve chosen a task with some challenge to it. Make sure to keep your expectations in line with that.
Further notes collapsed below--click to read
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A ZRemeshed mesh is typically low poly. Low poly meshes are coarse, low detail meshes. They will not look smooth until you subdivide them.
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Hard surface detail will not stay sharp when subdivided at low poly unless it is creased or smoothing is disabled. If you want a sharp line between your nose and the face, there should be a creased line there.
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ZRemesher may or may not place a line there in the correct location. You can increase the likelihood of ZRemesher doing this, by studying the tool, and ZBrush in general, and understanding the different approaches available in any situation.
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One way to get ZRemesher to put a line in the right place is to make sure the nose and the face are different polygroups, so ZRemesher will respect the boundary when the “keep groups” function is pressed. Currently the nose appear to be the same polygroup as the face, so ZRemesher will make no distinction. Likewise, if you want a sharp lines between the sides and the center of the nose, then each of those zones also needs to be a separate poly-group. Every single sharp line on your mesh needs to occur on polygroup borders.
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If you cant get a good result that way (you really should be able to though), try creasing all the edges you want to stay sharp, and ZRemeshing with “Keep Creases” instead. Or if you have very clean edges, try working with “Detect edges” instead. Usually its best to focus on one strategy at a time–all these options enabled at once can cause conflicts. There is no one right answer, but you will need to learn the tools.
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Make sure you’re not wasting your effort. Why are you ZRemeshing? Do you need a low poly version of this mesh to apply texture and displacement to in another program? Are you just trying to create a fused surface for sculpting and dynamesh is unsuitable for some reason? What is your end output, and do you need such a precise piece of low poly geometry for it?
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You can eliminate a lot of trial end error by aiming to keep the poly count as low as possible, then just manually touching things up with ZModdeler. Rather than doing things over an over til it gives you perfect results, just get in the ballpark and fix the rest directly.
Good luck!
i am using zbrush 2019.1 is that up to date?
The current version of ZBrush is 2019.1.2.
ah i see sorry my bad i thought i was up to date
Looks good to me!
Once you get the polygroup zones showing up more or less correctly, you can start trying to optimize it a bit more.
Disable “adapt” in the ZRemesher menu, and enable “Half”. You’ll reach a point where its too low poly for ZRemesher to work very well, but you might be able to reduce that polycount a bit with a few “half” ZRemeshes.
If you can get the poly count to a lower density while still keeping the groups intact, the topology will be easier to edit with ZModeler, allowing you to stitch together or redirect problem areas.
Cool
thanks again i think i used z remesher guides for some parts
thank you so much for your advice and patience but i might start over on the mask and try using something like snapshot 3d instead since i have never tried it. im just not cleaning any clean results from z remesher
