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Retopologize or not...

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

Hi!
After reading around in the forums I have a bit of understanding regarding
retopologizing the model, but I have some wonders still.

:small_orange_diamond: As I understand you have to retopologize your model if its going to be rigged by an animator. Right?

:small_orange_diamond: If you have some artifact in your mesh you can retopologize it and get rid
of it. At the same time “I” can make more dense mesh where needed to
get extra fine detail? for example around the face?

Is there any other reason I should retopologize?
I only use ZBrush to model concept and 3D art. Not for animation or other
production purposes. At the time being anyway :sunglasses:
Also to model details from OBJ imported from other 3D software.

Best.

#2

from what you said. you probably don’t have to retopo. you only need to retopo if you’re going to be using your meshes inside another package, or if you want to adjust the flow and mesh resolution. If it looks right in Zbrush, and is only going to be in Zbrush, then it is right. If it is going to go into something else, then it will need good topology.

#3

Thanks goast666, I actually going to import it to C4D. Then I have
to retopo?
Why? :confused:

What exactly does retopo do (with the mesh I mean before exporting)
There is a mesh already to export?!?
, and why do I have to retopo before exporting?

Thanks for your patience. :cool:

Best.

#4

if you’re bringing in a mesh from another app. then the topology on the model is probably already what you want/need it to be. But if you start in Zbrush and then move to another application the low-res mesh is probably not optimized for animation/rigging/texturing/silhouette, etc. Doing a retop takes that ball of clay you started with and then makes it into a logical mesh so another application can view it. You could dump out your 4million tri mesh and call it done, but almost all other applications will lag/crash/freeze if you try to work with too many polys. That is only with a 4 million polygon mesh, I never want to see what a 22million polygon mesh would do.

Also, if you post up some images of what you’re working on, I could better tel you if it should get new topology or just stay the same.

#5

Thanks a lot goast666, it really helped me understand the reason.
So its for the dense polycount also, great info. Now I understand better how
to plan my workflow better.

Thanks, I’ll see if I can get you a screen of my first model. But I quite sure
of the answer already though, :wink: :sunglasses:

Best. :+1:

#6

Can you explain this part further in detail, HOw do you retopologyze the face mesh to add detail? and can I only retopologyze a small part of the mash and not all of it and if so how do I make the new geometry part of my original mesh and replace the old part?

#7

I haven’t actually tried it yet but when I tested the function of retopo
I suppose<- It works like this. You are “drawing” polys when you retopo and if
you “draw” the more dense in some areas it creates more poly in a smaller area. More polys in a smaller area gets more detail in the end.
Maybe I’m totally gone LOL in this theory but it should work, I’m going to
try it anyway.
Best.

#8

Hey every once in a while I look in youtube for Zbrush tutorials and sometimes i come across something really cool. I recently downloaded some PDFs on Topology by a member on these forums that were very helpful and still are but he mentioned a technique of pushing Shift and painting topology on the model, he also mentioned that if the model was too complex ZB would crash for sure. Anyway I looked at this youtube video and I was amazed at how sometimes we miss the simple little functions of the software that would help a lot of we took time to just push a button. The way it goes is like this, if you have a mesh you’re going to retopo after you’re at the stage where you’re going to ckick “Edit topology” Don’t! just click the button right below that, “Get topo” or select topo or something and choose the same mesh again and that’s it! Just remember to hide any part of the mesh and show it again for all your edges to be visible. It was for the purpose of patching gaps and holes but it’ll also work great to combine different meshes. I know this is probably old news but it’s great old news! Here’s the link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifnGYk4jmHQ