topology brush!

[DarrinH]

Haha - I hear you... I watched the Gnomon DVDs and rushed into ZBrush, then I said "Hang-on" and went back out to fix topology and then went back in, took me ages to finish my first model but I wanted to figure out a good pipeline.
Have you seen the way Zack Petroc does it on the Digital Sculpture DVD from Gnomon, he gets quickly into Zbrush, finishes the model, then traces edge loops onto the texture... and then from there he reconstructs the mesh in Maya using xyShrinkwrap.mel over the Zbrush model -
he doesnt say how he gets the high detail across UVs, which is confusing. (If he had XSI v5 he could GATOR (http://www.softimage.com/Products/Xsi/v5/features/default.asp#2) it)
Very long way of doing things, but YES, bring out the topology brush!!

[APLevitz]

I finally gave up a few weeks ago and bought Silo to cover that need. Been drooling over it for far too long, and the fact is, it's cheap. The time it could have saved this past year is worth far more than I paid for the program. :shrug:

Again, I'm using the product to suppliment ZBrush, which in turn suppliments my animation software. When Silo 2 and ZBrush 2.5 come out, I'm sure they'll continue to compliment each other -- having one tool in no way negates the other.

[Fifth_miracle]

blomstergutt wrote:

Argh.... I could seriously kill for that new "topology brush" now.. I rushed my base mesh into Zbrush (because thats where the fun is), and now I'm paying for it!!!


Go to nevercenter.com and download the demo; you can try out there version of the tool for free. I believe that during the 30 day trial period you can even save out your retopologied files. If you like what you see, the software is inexpensive and well worth the investment. That said though the "topology brush" can be difficult to get used to, and you will likely spend a good amount of time cleaning up the geometry generated by it. My advice...


1. work in sections.

2. rely on the snapping manipulator to help align your sections.

3. the xyshrink wrap mel really isn't necessary if your using Silo, the topology brush accurately follows and maintains the volumes of your "concept" sculpt. Plus Maya will choke when trying to conform vertex point to a high detail mesh. Just get you new base mesh, and resculpt the details in ZB. Its far faster, and in all likelyhood you need the practice anyway. :)



DarrinH wrote:

"he doesnt say how he gets the high detail across UVs, which is confusing."

The answer is that you have to UV map your new animation ready cage. All of your dsiplacement maps are being calculated off your new mesh. Basically, you are using the XYshrink wrap Mel to reconstruct your subdividion levels in ZB. You can layout your UV coordinates anyway you like, AUV, GUV, planar, etc. You don't even need to do so before your transfer the details to your animation ready mesh. ZB will allow you to create/change UV's at anytime prior to calculating you displacement or normal map; because all of your higher level edits are save as real geometry.

[chlywly]

You guys are talking about zbrush messing up topology for animation right? then having to re-create a well layed out mesh and send it back to zbrush and redo all of the detailing?

[TVeyes]

No, they are talking about building a model in a second application and bringing it into ZBrush before the topology is layed out properly. Or sketching a model in ZBrush and then wanting to lay out proper topology.

I have not heard of ZBrush messing up any imported topology. There are of course certain rules seeing as it is a multi resolution subdivision modeler. Any changes you do at a higher subdivision level is most likely reflected in the base (original) level. Therefore you can reimport your base level right before you calculate a displacement or normal map.

What "messing up of topology" are you talking about?

[chlywly]

No, they are talking about building a model in a second application and bringing it into ZBrush before the topology is layed out properly. Or sketching a model in ZBrush and then wanting to lay out proper topology.

I have not heard of ZBrush messing up any imported topology. There are of course certain rules seeing as it is a multi resolution subdivision modeler. Any changes you do at a higher subdivision level is most likely reflected in the base (original) level. Therefore you can reimport your base level right before you calculate a displacement or normal map.

What "messing up of topology" are you talking about?

I was talking about zbrush messing up base mesh topology when you work in high res mode... happened to me, but probably because I wasnt paying much attention to the low res model.

[meats]

chlywly -

To get your base mess "unmessed up" just go to the the lowest level and import your original model directly into your current model and then create your displacement map. Traversing subdivision levels will make it lose your newly imported shape....so just don't go up levels before creating the map.

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