ZBrushCentral

Accidentally turned off symmetry during retopo

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

Hi there!

I hope this question has not been asked already, I searched for it and was unable to find the answer.

This is my first time using the zbrush retopology tools. While I was working on the ear of my model, I must have hit the X key and turn off symmetry. Do I have to suck it up and just go through the same process for the other side or is there a fancy way to smart resym the topology to the other side?

I am going to go ahead and start working on the other ear but I am sure to do this again in the future so I thought I’d go ahead ask. Thanks!

#2

you can just mirror that ear over once you’re done.

#3

I have that same problem right now, but does that mean I’m going to have to convert the mesh into an adaptive skin to make the mirror? I don’t know how to do that. I’ll just continue to retopo one side of the model but after I’m done with that, I have no idea what to do next. Any help would be very appreciated

#4

Hey there Nam,

I think I ended up just doing a retopo on that side I missed separately since it was only that small area that I had missed.

You do have to turn it into an adaptive skin to use SmartResym (this assumes you have finished your topology for the whole model). In your tool pallet, go down to adaptive skin and hit preview, make sure there are no holes in your mesh and that you have your mesh the way you want it, then hit make adaptive skin. Make sure you then switch your active tool to the one that now says skin_yourtoolname, otherwise you will still be working on the preview of the new topology. Then go down to deformations in your tool palette, mask off the side of the mesh you want to keep and use Smartresym. You get better results if you go down in SubD levels and do 1 smartresym for every level.

Another note on creating new skins, if you have sculpted detail that you want to be projected over to your new topology, you need to go down to Projection in your tool palette and turn it on. Then you want to go back to your Adaptive Skin tab and turn up the density until you are getting the same level of detail. This works for transferring polypaint too.

If you only worked on half of the model, go through the same process with the adaptive skin. I have never done it this way before but I would A. Export that mesh as an .obj and bring into another 3d app like Maya and mirror it there and clean up any mistakes. This won’t work if you want to use projection though because the topology will be different when you bring it back. B. Probably better option, I guess I would Duplicate the tool so I have two halves of the same side and then mirror one of them to the other side (in the deformation tab), then in the subtool tab, hit merge. A not about mirroring, you cannot mirror a subtool with multiple subD levels, you will either have to delete higher or delete lower. Either way, make sure it has the same number as the other half before merging obviously, not sure if it will even let you do that if they are not the same anyway.

Hope that helps, good luck! If I got something wrong or need to clarify, please let me know.