Hi All.
first time posting and really need some help. I am really struggling to figure out how to make chain mail for a sculpt that I have so it will 3d print. Ive tried nanomesh, micropoly and I cant seem to get it right so it wont have errors. a couple of questions
I have converted it to the Bpm thing. so its mesh but I’m still not sure what else I need to do after that? on nanomesh.
if anyone has some advice or tutorials on it as its driving me nuts.
thanks in advance for any help
Hello @DannoAus ,
Creating chainmail from start to finish is a broader subject than I can tackle in a forum post. What do you mean by “errors”?
If you are referring to errors in the way the chain links display or align this is usually a matter of manipulating the underlying topology to ensure consistency of polygon shape which is a very broad subject and requires a diverse understanding of the ZBrush toolset. It may also involve alternating the rotational options for nanomesh with a checkerboard polygroup pattern so you are only affecting every other nano at a time. ZModeler has options for assigning polygroups in a checkerboard configuration.
What usually makes this process easier is the realization that you don’t have to create all the armor at once. It is often necessary to create the armor in smaller sections at a time, sometimes while changing the underlying topology to suit the section of armor you are currently making.
If however you are referring to printer or slicer errors, this is probably the result of creating overly complicated non-watertight geometry or overhangs. If you are attempting to create the chainmail as real geometry it is going to be too complex to export directly for a printer. You will need to fuse the geometry, resurface it, subdivide it, and project the high res detail onto the new watertight mesh. When the armor detail is projected it will displace outward from the surface of the mesh rather than creating all the tiny undercuts that are likely to result when you fuse a lot of tiny rings to the surface of another mesh.
This would not be dissimilar to the result you would get from simply displacing the mesh with a textural or alpha solution with UVs. You may wish to consider which would be more efficient for your goals. Any detail gained from creating the armor as geometry is probably going to be lost in a miniature 3d printing process.
Good luck!
Hi Spyndel
the errors are based on basically being non manifold I think would be the term I think I mean lol. sorry fairly new to 3d sculpting so I am having trouble explaining what I mean lol. I was using nanomesh and getting the chainmail on the surface. Even after using BPR it doesnt seem to be manifold.
I just watched a clip of someone using feathers and then using boolean function joined them into 1 mesh. I will have try this myself. but Chain mail is so hard to get right.
I think projecting it might be what Im after. as I see so many miniatures with really nice Chainmail and mine are no where near as detailed or manifold. its frustrating lol.
I really appreciate the response to my question.
Well, any tool or process in ZBrush that redraws topology (Dynamesh, live Boolean, Sculptris Pro, Knife brushes, etc) has the potential to introduce errors like these. Sometimes users can attempt to fuse geometry in some pretty ambitious ways and this can result in some problematic connections being made. This is why it’s important to check your mesh for errors with Geometry> Mesh Integrity> Check Mesh after any phase of your work where you have been redrawing topology, and before moving onto any phase where you need the topology to remain stable and unchanged.
If you check your mesh and see Mesh integrity warnings in ZBrush, that problem needs to be dealt with. These errors can have differing levels of severity, but any mesh reporting them should not be trusted. It can result in the mesh crashing when you attempt to work with it, or produce odd behavior when used with other features.
For minor errors often times “Fix Mesh” will deal with it. However it is possible that your mesh is fundamentally malformed or problematic in one or more areas, and that the mesh will continue to generate these errors even after “fixing” it. In these cases you need to identify the problem areas, and either redraw the topology in a stable configuration, or cut the area away entirely and resurface it.
Dynamesh in particular can create especially problematic geometry if care is not taken to make sure it is a closed volume and that every area of the mesh has a sufficient degree of thickness. If Dynamesh reads a volume as open or 2D, or a section does not have sufficient thickness, the geometry in that area may begin to disintegrate after a Dynamesh process, leaving floating points or non-contiguous sections of mesh floating in space around the surface. This type of geometry is going to be a problem for many processes in ZBrush even if it is not reporting errors. Sections of geometry like this are prime candidates for cutting away and resurfacing when you have a mesh that keeps reporting issues.
In the case of fusing a bunch of tiny rings to the surface of another mesh, this will almost certainly produce complicated geometry with a lot of tiny overhangs, undercuts, and negative spaces that would be problematic for a 3D printing process if you export it directly. It could also result in geometry that is problematic for ZBrush. For best results in ZBrush and 3D print, you want to be working towards clean, closed, watertight volumes. For your purposes here I do recommend resurfacing your mesh into a clean watertight solid that reports no errors, and re-projecting the geometry from your original mesh as surface detail.
Now, if no errors are reported in ZBrush and ZBrush reports that the mesh is watertight, I might be skeptical of any minor issues the slicing software reports. These programs can be overly fussy, and I personally never experienced a mesh that would not print as expected if it reports as sound coming out of ZBrush. However, your experience may vary.
Hi Spyndel
really appreciate that response. i was wondering if Zbrush had that function. i will have a look and see.
I think I need to learn that resurfacing side of things
thanks again