Unwelded UVs

[KPtoons]

Hey all. Hoping you can help with this issue that’s been bothering me.

It seems no matter how much I search the net for some answers, I come up short. My problem is this:

It looks as though the UV’s from UV Master are not welded.

When I bake my normal map, it looks fine. When viewed in something like Marmoset’s Toolbag (where I plan on showcasing the final game asset), the UV’s are a glaring issue. Also, when I take the obj from Zbrush into 3dsMax I can clearly see that the UV’s are in fact not welded.

Does anyone else experience this, and have you found a solution within Zbrush? Would be nice if I don’t have to fix this problem in another application. Also like to add that I am still working in Zbrush 4r2b, and not 4r3 yet. Planning on installing that asap.

Thanks a bunch!

Attachments

[Moga]

Did you try to deselect Mrg botton on the Export settings? or use GoZ to send to 3ds max or another platform before xnormal, and mix with the Mrg tip? or Flip your Uvs, because i see that in zbrush you have your Uvs up and in Xnormal down… or open in 3ds max and put it a “normal” modifier (i am not in my computer and i cant find the forum where i read about these, i think polycoun) try every combination, this is what its works for me.

[KPtoons]

Hey Moga, thanks for the reply.

I know what will fix it for sure in Max. Welding the UV’s will take care of the issue. But I was hoping for a solid solution to keep it more streamlined, going from Zbrush to Xnormal, to Toolbag. Maybe a setting hidden somewhere in Zbrush I don’t know about, preventing the UV’s from being welded? Seems odd this would be happening and would require any kind of clean up at all.

I also did try the Mrg option on export, as well as many others. No good, getting the same results.

As for the normal map being upside down to the UV’s, that is just how it is in Zbrush. When you export the mesh things flip right back around. And everything lines up.

Seems the only option is taking the mesh into another application and doing some cleanup. Bummer.

[KPtoons]

The other element that is frustrating, is that viewing the low poly with the normal map in Xnormal’s 3d viewer does not have all this faceting. In fact, it looks normal. This is just a Marmoset display issue, it seems super super picky.

Any thoughts on the issue would be awesome. I know I can’t be the only one that has attempted this workflow.

[Klicek]

try to reset smoothing groups, or set one group per model

[faarooq]

I had same problem.
You got the problem at retopo in zbrush.
You have to get additional values while You projecting it.
because your normals are flipped.
only thing you can do, take the first level while retopo, than flip it and project it again to the mesh.
this time you have to get a good result with additional values (spinner).
remember with minus value you will get this problem again.

edit: i forgot to say, the ProjectRange have to be in + not in - range

[x-ray]

Import the mesh in Marmoset in fbx format.

[system]

it’s because your .obj didn’t have smoothed normals.

in maya go to normals / soften edge and export your .obj

in 3dsmax add a turbosmooth with 0 sub-d and export to .obj

[KPtoons]

UPDATE: some things solved.

Okay first off thanks everyone for the great feedback. All of these suggestions were very helpful.

Here is the problem. An OBJ straight from Zbrush does not work in Marmoset. Simple as that.

The faceting issue that I was getting was in fact caused by the UV’s not being welded. The reason for that being what Faarooq suggested, an issue with the retopo normals being flipped. Before you Create Adaptive Skin with your retopo, double check to see if the normals are flipped. You wont be able to fix this with a simple Flip in Zbrush, not 100%. The UV’s will be forever unwelded until fixed in another application.

So, thinking that I solved the faceting issue, I was pretty excited to test in Marmoset and see if it will then display properly with the normal map. Nope. New issue being random hard edges being displayed, the mesh looking inverted with the lighting (as seen in my example above).

The same mesh exported from 3dsMax, with ZERO adjustments or editing, displayed properly in Marmoset. Something in Zbrush is effecting the OBJ. It looks to me to be a bigger issue than just smoothing groups.

Learned some interesting thing through this workflow study, and I hope this is simple fix. Would love to be able to bounce back and forth from Zbrush to Marmoset flawlessly.

Thanks again everyone! If you have any more ideas or are able to test this yourself, I would love to hear.

[pabgo]

ive been having this problem for a while now
so what exactly are you doing? are you unwrapping with uv master then exporting to max? then you export from max to marmoset?
if i retop with a diffeent program who can i make my uv’s welded?

[KPtoons]

Still testing things off and on. What I was able to find last night, was that an obj from Zbrush - Blender - to Marmoset also did not work and produced the same issues.

One thing I will test next is possibly the scale of the mesh.

Pabgo - I am unwrapping with UV Master in Zbrush, and then exporting an obj. I then take the obj directly into Marmoset with zero editing in max. Regarding your UV’s, they should be welded just fine in any other software. And Zbrush does a fine job unwrapping as well, it was just a bug with the retopology normals being flipped, creating an issue when I used UV Master. Hope this helps some.

[system]

From the pictures you posted my guess is that the UV is flipped vertical compared to the normal-map. Have you tried flipping either the normal-map or the UV?

hope this helps

[edit] on second thought, that doesn’t seem to be the problem at all. Sorry about that.

[RiVvenGuard]

I’m actually running into the same problem and I’m just using Zbrush/Maya.

[faarooq]

only thing what helps me, Im cloning the subtool than Im flipping it, after this Im taking the first level of the original subtool and make a retopo, (as topo Im using the flipped tool.)
that helps me to getting the correct face side.
but while retopoing it you have to watch that reprojectingrange slider is in not in -

[pabgo]

these are some solutions if you are planning on doing zbrush to marmoset (not sure if i should be posting here)

Attachments

[RiVvenGuard]

only thing what helps me, Im cloning the subtool than Im flipping it, after this Im taking the first level of the original subtool and make a retopo, (as topo Im using the flipped tool.)
that helps me to getting the correct face side.
but while retopoing it you have to watch that reprojectingrange slider is in not in -

Well i may have set the projection in the neg. I still can’t find a work around for this garbage. its so futuarting cause i dont have topogun. i have to rely on zbrush’s garbage retop.