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Retopology in Maya or Zbrush

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#1

Hey I am quite a noob to zbrush,
I acquired zbrush 3.5 r3 and created a low poly model of Captain K’nuckle from the the misadventures of Flapjack in maya. I exported the model as an OBJ when I imported into Zbrush I had a notice saying that my model had triangles.

Being naive I sculpted my details on my model it was very difficult getting details of the eyes and mouth. I had to subdivide quite a bit. when got my model to a level that was ok but not satisfactory and polypainted it, I tried to export my model back to maya but the polycount was too high. Even when I went down to sub level 1 maya froze. I know I can retopologize in zbrush but will I need to do it again in maya?

I just want to import the polypaint texture, normal map and displacement so I can light and pose my model in maya.

if anyone can help me I would appreciate it as I really don’t know what I should do!

Shy

#2

When you exported back to Maya did you export at your lowest SubD? I’m assuming before you started to sculpt you had a low res model of your character that was at a poly count you could work with? Did you accidentally delete it in zbrush or is it still your lowest subD level?

You have a few options open to you but probably the easiest is too retopo/remodel in Maya or another external app. Then import that mesh in as a subtool and use project / Zproject brush to transfer the sculpted and polypaint detail.

You could try to let Zbrush do the work by doing your retopo work and importing it as the lowest SubD of the model but I think you might get better results with the former…

Hope that helps!

#3

Hey thanks for the reply yes its was on the lowest subdiv when i exported. Also I had subtools for the jacket and I merged visible then exported it . I tried to export back to maya and using NEX to retopologize but when I tried to select the mesh it had dozen of groups maya kept freezing.

I think retopology in Zbrush is my only option as I do not have any other 3d model software at present. Is it possible to bake in the detail from my high poly mesh to the low poly that I will create in zbrush?

#4

What I think went wrong here is this and please correct me if I’m wrong. You imported your model from Maya which was low polygon. You bumped up the subD for sculpting and polypainting. Left them at the highest subD and hit Merge Visible.

When you do that ZBrush merges all of the high polygon meshes into a single model. The problem is you lose your low polygon model (Which you’ll use to export back to Maya )and like you said the merged version is just too dense to work with inside Maya

It’s best to keep each object as a separate subtool and keep all of the subdivsions for each. When you keep them as separate subtools that allows each tool to hit higher polygon counts allowing for better sculpted and polypaint detail.

For the detail you create on you high resolution SubD you’ll use a few different methods to get that back into Maya. In no particular order: 1. Normal Maps… 2. Displacement Maps… 3. Diffuse Map (Baking polypaintt texture to texture map).

Technically you should be able to create your new model in any 3d app and bring it back to Zbrush to project your detail onto it. But if you did do the merge visible and lost all of your SubDs but the highest one then your probably right. Zbrush might be the only option because its the only one that can handle the polygon count of the model your doing retop work for. Normally you would export the mid-resolution mesh… The only other real option you have is possibly http://www.topogun.com/… Great program but not free.

Quick side not if you have everything from your model showing, nothing hidden or masked out. Go to polygroups > group visible… that should help fix the problem of importing back to Maya and having it broken up into multiple groups even though you exported out a single subtool.

Cheers.

#5

This is possibly a stretch, but it could also be of benefit to you. Try running the model through Decimation Master to get an affordable polycount, bring that into maya and then try doing the retopo there. Just a thought.

#6

@ Jerick
Thats a good idea too! I always forget about that zscript.

Thats probably the best solution if you want to use an external app to do the retopo work.

#7

thanks for the advice fellows really helped I used the declimation masters to decrease the poly count on the body mesh and I’m going to import the shirt and jacket as separate objects into maya as at lower subdivison level . funny thing is didn’t think much about the edge flow of my model when modelling even though all most everything was quads I know what not to do next time. i’m doing this model for college don’t think i’ll hand it in on time but as long as i learn how to do all thes techniques thats what matters thanks again!

#8

No problem, glad we could help. Luck on your project!