Can someone tell me what is wrong?
I did a topo rig…converted to main…than bind it…but when i go to rotate the microsphere…rotate dosen’t rotate…they just move…and all the parent to child relationships are broken it seems.
I am sure this is a quick fix that someone knows:) Please help!
forgot to attach pic of problem
[attach=59925]microsphereserror.jpg[/attach]
Hmmm…
I only have sometimes an out-of-the-model-comming rig when I bind a rig to a model on which the rig-topology wasn’t originally created.
On the original-model, I never saw this behavior.
For posing, use Rotate-mode and Drag primarily the ZBones (the connection-lines between the micro-zspheres) . Only use the micro-zspheres for rotating around the length-axis of your Zbones.
In every case, the micro-zspheres shouldn’t move away from each others when you are in Rotate-mode and drag a zbone, they must always stay on their realtive length-positions to their neighbours and only move in a rotation manner.
Did you create the topology of this rig on this model or did you adapt it from another ?
Very important: Did you create the rig in my ‘from center to periphery’-rule ?
Otherwise there might be a strange behavior because of missing this.
In which modes do you work ?
You are sure to have Rotate-mode active, not the Move-mode ?
Unbind and delete your model from the rig and pose the rig alone.
If it also behaves strange, you might be in the wrong mode.
Again an update: Now we have also IK-posing (additional to the known FK-capability) with topo-rigs.
http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/showthread.php?t=46117&page=3&pp=15
Thanks to Marcus_Civis for his post in my Topo-Tutorial-Thread.
Ow, that’s great!! If it’s OK with you Rastaman, I will sublime it into the first post next week. (too darn busy right now, also with my sculpting odyssee)
great job from you and Marcus!
Sure Plakkie.
Please also remember to update the links to the tutorials or better link them to my threads. So you don’t need to always update them manually.
Plakkie -
I have followed the instructions for Edit Existing Topology to the letter, and it works fine with the Default Head supplied with ZB3, and with SuperAverageMan. But I can’t get it to work at all with one of my own models. I tried on 3 different models that I created, and no existing topology shows up. Any idea why not? Is there some special way I must save my model first? If necessary, I will send you the model I am working on so you can try it as well. I made sure the subd level of my target model (clone) was at 1 (even tried 2) and deleted all higher subd’s. I even tried it with both the target and original at subd 1. No luck. I deleted any subtools in the original model, still no luck.
I’m stymied at why I can’t get this to work.
Any help would be appreciated.
Brian
Edit: Found my answer…I could not get it to work when the clone was exact clone of original. I had to hide part of the clone’s mesh. Now, with just the head selected, I can see the retop lines.
OMG this new tool is amazing. THis totally changes workflow now. No need to model efficiently now. Just MODEL then retopologize. I love it, Im retopolgizing all of my models now. I LOVE IT THANKS
I made it by reference your tutorial,it is so amazing and impressive,thanks Rastman!
when using the projection button is it possible to only project part of your original mesh onto the new mesh?
also andreseloys hide tutorial expired can someone please upload it again.
You can paint projection on bit by bit, and with a pen and tablet, it is possible to ‘sculpt’ with the projection brush, creating blends between where you want full projection and where you don’t want any projection.
sorry,double post
hi there,
I'm following this thread from the start and it is great and evolving all the time!
When it comes to a head or torso i have no problem, but a have problem with the hands and especially fingers.
-1 projection strength helps alot. but i still have the same problem,
Did anyone succed to make a lowres retop(from a high res mesh) on a hand without holes or any distorted geo? like tha a. example(this an earlier state of my attempts, the problem started when i was retop the fingers)
The only solution i found is to make a higher res retop like the b example that works but it is a litlle bit tiring
Thanks in advance!
P.s. native zb3 tool, zsphere-polymesh
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It is a bit tiring, and I hope that a better solution comes up. The times when I have this problem is when it would be solved by moving the topology points above the surface. I’m having the same problem myself with a model that has a lot of concave surfaces. Unfortunately there does not appear to be a simple, quick workaround for it. 
Plakkie:
You da man! And I would gladly pay $$$ for a video tutorial of the initial post and all the whatnots in this exteeensive thread; makes everything so much easier to remember. (Kept putting off diving in to this subject before I bought M. Meier’s tuts of the retopo basics…)
I hope so also, because i basically spend much more time on the technical level than on the the creative level, i think everybody is realizing that is not so easy because for 20 forum pages we are speaking about the topology tools (and rigging)and not the topology itself which is i think the major thing.
With the amazing passion that most of the people in this forum has i think the problems are becoming less and with a help from the pixologic people we are going to be ok, i’m sure they are working hard.
But still the only way is to make a denser retop. on hands for me. I sculpted the upper limb seperately as a subtool.
Thank again for this thread ,which is becoming dangerously big:D
Hey guys, I just fought this same issue with the fingers for a couple days. If you turn the subdivisions down to 1 under topology, the density to 1 under adaptive skin, and turn the projection strength way down then you can pinpoint some of the mess that is happening. In my case a couple faces want to flip when i join the fingers to the hand. The trick that seems to set it right is to split the quads that are fliping into tris. I realize this is not ideal. The the tris can be deleted after you generate your normal maps in maya or max. I haven’t had time to fully investigate this. I just thought i would throw this idea in the mix. Thank you to all who have contributed to this tread. You Rock!
I woul’d love to model my first character - and this model should also work for animation.
I think I did a lot of research work, to find different informations - but I always could find informaiton, how the tools are working - but I’ve never could find an answer to the question:
How do I know that my new topology will work for animation ?
I work with 3dsmax mainly, and I could find some informations, that poeple mostly build the low-poly mesh with the correct topology in 3dsmax (or other different 3d tools like maya etc.)
And with starting modeling the base mesh they try to get the correct topolgy - they make tests with rigging and skinning - and after getting a good solution in bending ellbows or knees, they are done with the low-poly base mesh.
After this preperation, the mesh will be exported into zbrush to make all the details.
Well, now I am really confused about that - because we do have in zbrush 3 such a wonderful topology tool. And I ask myself, if I would start working in zbrush, making my character, without any other tool - I will end with a high end poly mesh. After this, I have no other choice, I would need to make a new topology mesh for animation … but how can I control and check that this new topology will work for animation ?
How can I check and make tests in zbrush ?
Or would you suggest to export the new topology model into the main 3d animation programm ?
Well… I really appreciate every little help… I think I didn’t really understand the whole process… or I can’t really imagine the right way combining 3dsmax and zbrush.
Thanks a lot,
capu
Okay, unlike a lot (ALOT) of you guys, ZBrush is my only 3D package, I have never taken any classes, training etc. So forgive what I’m sure is a very stupid question here:
Why is topology (and retopology) important? Does it matter if I do not plan to animate my models? What advantages does it give?
Wish I wasn’t so bloody busy with another project right now… sorry I haven’t been around so much on the lab; a few more days and I will have more time.
Realnorth: just to answer your question: I didn’t know about topology until I made my first head-model. I just made a basic shape with many polygons and started meddling with it. At one point in the modeling process I noticed some problems: some area’s had many polygons where I didn’t need them, and some area’s (mouth, eyes) had to little polygons to get the right shape. My answer to the problem: divide more. So there I had a 1.000.000 poly head (the max for me in Zbrush2) where I could have gotten the same result with 50.000. Also, the lines of the polygons near the eyes were straight and horizontal, in stead of curving along the eye-shape. My only solution was dividing many times before the edges became less jaggy.
During the project some wiser people learned me that a good planned topology can work wonders on your model: it will look good even in low subdivision, and more important: the model will work with you in stead of against you. Polygons with horizontal lines will allways try to look horizontal, in stead of curved if you want that.
As I understand it good topology will follow the shape and contours of the model (in a head the muscles underneath the skin) and have more polygons in places that need more detail, and less polygons in places where not much is happening. There is a real art to it. Good topology or ‘flow’ will make your model appear cleaner, stronger, more defined. It’s subtle, but it’s there. In the olden days, and perhaps still, you had to plan your topology before starting sculpting. With Zbrush3, you can sculpt away, and do retopology somewhere along the way when you are sure about the form. It’s very easy now to experiment. Take one of your models, or the demo head, and retopolgize it in a totally different way, make all the poly’s straight, or make circles, whatever, and see how it’s different with the original.
I would invite anyone with more knowledge about the secrets of good flow to post examples here and enlighten us a bit more.
Hope this answers some of your questions Realnorth.
Plakkie