Having Trouble With Project All - Mesh Artifacts

#1

I have a head model that I need to tweak my edgeflow on, but when I attempt to “Project All” my projected result is unusable. I don’t understand how “Project All” could not be working because I am changing so little on my mesh that it’s almost entirely the exact same model.

Here’s my workflow -

>I am Unifying my High-Poly mesh
>Exporting the lowest subdivision level as an .obj
>Importing the .obj into Maya
>Very minimally changing my edgeflow in one spot, exporting the retopologized mesh as an .obj
>Then appending the retopologized mesh as a new subtool on the High-Poly .ztl
>I match the # of subdivision levels between subtools and “Project All”

If I start at the lower subdivision levels, I can only Project All up to Level 3 before I get some pointy artifacts all around the eyes of my model. Is there something I can do to avoid this? I have been messing with all of the projection settings I can and I still can’t get anything higher that subdivision level 2 to project correctly.

-Nicholas

#2

I’m not particularly familiar with Maya but from the steps you’ve describe there shouldn’t be a problem, so I doubt it’s something there.

You could try replacing the low poly mesh directly with your new version by importing it with your original model as the selected subtool. Confirm that the topology has changed and see how ZBrush handles it.

Would it be possible to post some screens of the errors?

#3

I’ve attached a photo of the original, flawed topology, and a picture of the small change I made. I’m not sure why the edges on the centerline were collapsed anyways, it’s an older basemesh. The last picture shows the jaggy spiking I’m getting during the projection.

#4

Here’s another screen of the area around the eyes.

I did try replacing the low poly mesh with the new one, but the result was even worse than when trying to Project All with the subtool.

One thing I noticed is that when I import the fixed-topology basemesh as a subtool, both models (besides the change in topology) are exactly the same, but once I divide the geometry of the new subtool, it changes the geometry on Subdivision Level 1 as well. Maybe that has something to do with it not being able to project properly.

#5

when you press “Project All” and it does not look good then DONT keep pressing “Project All”
good chance its going to make it worst.

   set both tools subdivision high then "Project All"
    if it does not look good then press UNDO
   and try adjusting the "Project All>DIST slider ( to the left or right)
   then press "Project All"
   
   if  no luck then mask the problem are and blur the mask and project all
   OR
   set both tools subdivision high then press tool>morph target>store morph
   and if you see spike then use Brush>morph and brush over the problem area's and it will remove the spike.

if you adjust the subdivision level slider with morph it will not work,
if morph is stored on subd 3 then only subd3 can be morphed.

you could try the GOZ plugin and it should work as long as the polycount does not change in Maya to zbrush

#6

I figured that out on my own. The pictures I posted were from the absolute best result I had gotten, and I got if from one Project All on SubD Level 6.

Thanks for the tip on the morph targets, I’ve never used them before.

#7

once your poly count get high you may not see any different between subd 6 and subd 5
so if subd 5 looks the same as subd 6 then project at subd 5
this will speed up the projection using the lower subd
so project at subd 5

the DIST slider is a key factor, so if the ear is projecting and connecting to the head then adjust the DIST slider,
DIST stands for DISTANCE meaning the distance between the ear and head,
to much DIST will try connecting two parts that are close to each other,
less DIST will try and not connect like the ear to the back of the head,
move the DIST a little and see because if you move it to much it may cause things not to project in another area so its try and error to see whats the best,

if you use MASK then the mask area will not project in the masked area,

so if you keep getting spikes in that area then mask the spike area before you project.

if you use MORPH on the original mesh and then you project all then you see spike
you can remove the spike by using the moprh BRUSH because it will morph it back in that area back as the original mesh that doesn’t have spikes