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ZBrush Models in Other Programs Workarounds Listed (Question)

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

I am curious what people are doing with their ZBrush models in other programs and how they work around any compatibility hiccups. I’m about to purchase it, and for now I don’t have the cash to throw at Maya, but I would still like to do some animations. It’s hard to find a straight answer about what you can and can’t do with ZBrush models in various programs, so I wanted to see if a number of people could just dump their unique experience into one thread. Currently I’m hoping to work with Blender, but I’ve heard there are a few problems when it comes to exporting an entire project over.

I’m also a beginner when it comes to different file types and such. Is there a site that lists these and describes them, over various programs, and hopefully, that lists which are/are not compatible?

I’m just curious to know:

1: What do you use your ZBrush models in?
2: What compatibility issues do you encounter and how do you work around them?

Sorry if these questions are over-asked, I’m new to this medium, and am just eager to begin

#2

Blender will work just fine as an animation tool that you can use in conjunction with Zbrush.
Depending on what you actually want to do will change how you go about getting models to and from Zbrush, so a little more information on your part would help get you the information you actually need.

#3

Thank you for the reassurance!

I just heard that Blender has compatibility issues with ZBrush. I’m sure they can be worked with, but I’d like to know what to keep my eye out for. Since ZBrush is superior for modeling, I want to do as much as I can with my models in that program. I guess what I’m asking is, how far can I get before I need to switch to Blender? It looks like ZBrush is a superior tool for generating a realistic texture. I know that poly-paint is ZBrush specific, and that complex topology isn’t going to animate right. Sorry if this is a silly question, but I’m hoping to make that texture in ZBrush and convert it to something I can bake on, is that fairly simple? Will I be able to do that before bringing the model to Blender?

I know that if I want to sculpt something, retopo in ZBrush and export as an obj to Blender, that I can texture, rig and animate over there. I guess what I’m asking is how far is it practical to go in ZBrush? Can I totally finish my model in ZBrush, then just bring it to Blender, ready to go? Rigging is something I’m expecting to have to do in Blender, because I doubt the systems transfer over?

Sorry for my lack of technical terms. I don’t know how to be more explanatory beyond that. I just want to animate a finished model made in ZBrush. I’m learning as I go and learn things in theory before I get technical. Working from the outside in… So I’m not demanding any lengthy, technical answers, but a list of what I can and can’t do and a basic explanation of what will need special steps to get things working in Blender would be nice. Because when I go to do the research to get through these problems, I won’t even know what I’m looking for unless I ask.

#4

Polypaint is vertex color data, and can be read by a few other programs (I know xnormal is one).

I know that if I want to sculpt something, retopo in ZBrush and export as an obj to Blender, that I can texture, rig and animate over there. I guess what I’m asking is how far is it practical to go in ZBrush? Can I totally finish my model in ZBrush, then just bring it to Blender, ready to go? Rigging is something I’m expecting to have to do in Blender, because I doubt the systems transfer over?

It’s possible to make a model from scratch, retopologize it to have animation-friendly edgeloops, UV it, and give it a texture all in Zbrush. I personally think that some things are still better left to external programs to handle (for example, Blender would probably give you greater control over adjusting the UVs or vertex normals and I prefer baking my maps in xnormal), but because zbrush uses OBJ files it generally gets along with any 3d program worth it’s bytes (so you can use whatever you prefer for different stages of the model).

You were correct on rigging; that’s something you can never directly transfer between different 3d programs, and zbrush is short on having bones and constraints. It does support vertex-morphing however, so depending on what you need to animate and what the animation is for, there’s still some animation work you could do inside zbrush.

#5

Thanks for the info! Sounds like I can do what I need to between the two programs. That’s good news. :slight_smile: So UV Master is handy if you get it, and quick, but it doesn’t give you the precision you’d have in Blender? Would it be practical or possible to use UV Master in ZBrush and make changes in Blender? Thanks for asking my beginner questions, I really appreciate it. :smiley:

#6

Quite possible (I do something similar from time to time).

And if you need to reimport the new UVs back into zbrush for whatever reason, usually you just have to have the sculpt open and import the new OBJ file, and zbrush will give it the new UVs automatically.

#7

Great! Well I’ll give it a try and I’ll come back with details if I have more questions about the process.

I guess I know what kinds of tutorials to try hunting down now. :slight_smile: I guess I’m done asking questions for the time being, lol, thanks for giving me an idea of what I can do.