ZBrushCentral

Zbrush to Blender Pipeline - Need Help Please

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

Hello guys,

I have a base male model made in zbrush that I want to fully detail and texture and then bring into blender for animation. Could someone please give me a run down of the process to achieve this. I looked for tutorials on this but the one I found starts in Blender. I want to start in Zbrush. Would I first sculpt on the base mesh to achieve some likeness of my character, then retopologize it so it animates? For retopologizing a full body and head, where do I place the zsphere that I will project the new topology. Then how do I set up UV's. I want to use spotlight as my texturing method. If someone would be willing to take the time to explain this process I would be so grateful. Thank you.
#2

If you want to start out in Zbrush…here’s one method:

Model your base mesh to the point the main landmarks are modeled in.

Retopologize in Zbrush in a manner that takes into account animation***

Export your retopologized model at this point to Blender as an obj file and make UVS…Export again as an obj and reload right over your zbrush retopologized model to bring in the new UVS.

You could also have used the UV Master plug-in to lay out your UVs before exporting your OBJ to Blender. For a character, I’d prefer to do this in Blender where there are more controls, but you can also set up polygroups for quuick UV island creation and start with UV master in ZB to get an approximation of the UVs you want and edit the results in Blender to finalize them. Just remember to reimport the final UV version back into the working mesh you have in Zbrush.

Back in Zbrush, now with a retopologized and UV’d base mesh, subdivide so you you to have enough “resolution" to hold the detail you need for both sculpting and texturing.

When finished modeling, return your mesh to it’s lowest subdivision level and create a displacement map in Zbrush which you will import into Blender to transfer the finer sculpted details to the more basic obj mesh you imported.

You will use your highest subdivision level in Zbrush to polypaint so you can create your texure. This high polycount has no use outside of Zbrush. Its for making a displacement and or normal map and holding your fine texture detail information to transfer to a texture you can export.

Select a texture size in the UV subpalette. Paint with: polypaint using direct painting, Projection Master, Zapplink, and or/Spotlight. When finished, transfer your polypaint to a texture by selecting Polypaint to Texture in the texture subpalette of the Tool Palette. Press clone to send it to the left hand texture container and export it in whatever format you like. Most of the time you have to flip the texture vertically to be compatible with other 3d programs you might export to. You can do this easily before you export by going to the Texture menu bar and selecting vertical flip. Import into Blender.

Note there’s a texture subpalette on the right of the workspace, a texture container on the left of the workspace, AND a drop down texture palette menu item on the top. Confusing, I know. It gets easier as you spend time in Zbrush.

**** My preferred way to retopologize in Zbrush…not the only way.

Append a zsphere to your mesh as a subtool

Select the zsphere as the highlighted subtool by pressing the shortcut “N”

Using Transform Scale (shortcut E) hold down alt and LMB and drag toscale the zsphere down in size

Use Transpose Move (shortcut W), hold down alt and LMB and drag to move the sphere inside the mesh to get it out of the way.

Click on Topology: Edit Topology and retopologize

When finished, press A to see your resulting work. Set your settings in the Adaptive Skin subpalette and press “Make Adaptive Skin”. Append that new skin to the original Mesh as a subtool. Either delete or hide from view the zsphere. Make sure the Adaptive Skin model is the highlighted one and press “Project All” in the subtool palette to transfer your details to your new topo mesh. You may have to play with the settings a bit.

Delete your original mesh, if you like and now you have a retopologized mesh to export as an obj to Blender, and in ZB to subdivide for detailed modeling/displacement map creation and painting/texture creation.

#3

Nancyan Thank you so much for the detailed explanation. I tried retopologizing and I hate it I must say. I am looking into 3D Coats Auto-Retopology feature. It looks pretty cool. Has anyone used 3D Coat for retopology?

#4

Now this is very nice to see your method for working with Blender and Zbrush. :+1: :+1: :+1: :+1:

THere is a GoB script implementation of the export import to and from Zbrush to Blender and visa verse .

          <b>[color=black]note: check out the thread here </span></b> [http://www.zbrushcentral.com/showthread.php?t=127419](http://www.zbrushcentral.com/showthread.php?t=127419)
#5

Speed87- Alot of forum members use 3D coat for retopology and they really love it. Another program that is mentioned here quite alot is topogun. Not sure if these companies offer free trials, but its worth checking it out.

I put a real push on to learn the ins and outs of retopology in Zbrush so I actually enjoy using it these days, but alot of people prefer other programs.

And U.L. thanks for the link for the GoB thingy…I’ll be checking that out!.. I have modo and lightwave, but I just seem to go back to Blender and I’m mostly in ZB so a goz type thing connecting zb and blender would be great.

#6

I’ve used Topogun and 3Dcoat for a couple of years now and I must say both are great tools. They can make retopo extremely fast. 3Dcoat’s autotopo is a great starting point but you really should learn the ins and outs of topology to get the most out of any program that is going to help you. If you don’t know the basics then you’ll be lost later on.

I personally prefer 3Dcoat to Topogun on the basis that 3Dcoat also has 3D painting and a direct link to Photoshop.

side note: The 3Dcoat guy having a sweet Russian accent doesn’t hurt any either :slight_smile: