ZBrushCentral

How to smooth normals on a low-poly model?

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

Is there a way to smooth normals on a low-poly model? I’m exporting clothing to Second Life, and right now I export to Blender, then edit mode, then face edit, then smooth faces. (Alternatively, I can click “generate normals” when uploading to SL, but I’d prefer to edit normals in my 3D software.) Is there a way to do this in ZBrush? The Smooth function in the Deformation menu actually changes the geometry, which is not what I want. And the Display Properties function does smooth edges, but not all faces of the model. I think I’ve read there’s a way to preview how smoothing will look in other 3D programs. But can ZBrush do this itself?

If not, I guess it’s no big deal, as Blender works fine – but I prefer to do as much editing as possible in ZBrush.

Thanks in advance.

#2

ZBrush doesn’t let you edit the user/vertex normals in this way. You can smooth them out for the BPR rendering during render time, but AFAIK this doesn’t actually change the normal information on the mesh. For that kind of operation, its best to stick with an external application (chances are an asset should run through one first anyway if its heading for a game engine).

#3

Thanks for your reply, Cyrid. OK, I thought that was the case. And yeah, I have to run my models through Blender anyway to rig and weight them, so it’s not a big deal to smooth them too. In general, though, ZBrush is more pleasant to work with. :slight_smile:

Anyway, thanks again.

#4

Oh wait! In “normal map” subpalette there is a button named “smooth lowres normals”
Does that mean Zbrush can smooth normals after all? Can someone write a script to take advantage of this? :o