ZBrushCentral

Zbrush rigging problem [Answered]

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

Hi. I have low poly mesh (one subtool) with 6 subdivision levels. I set up subtool for lowest subdivision and i opened zsphere for bones creation. After doing all skeleton i hit bind button and all worked great. I`ve done rigging on lowest subdivision becouse i think that should be done in that way (if i am wrong please correct me). After doing needed pose i opened adaptive skin tab and i applied this rigging pose to a new mesh (new subtool). When i applied this, i set up also demanded subdivision level of new generated subtool to level of 6,

but when i opened new mesh i noticed that high poly mesh lost all small details. Subtool was smooth without subtle and fine details.

What i am doing wrong? Should i change something more on adaptive skin tab?

#2

You’re fine using the low res mesh for the rigging but you need to do a few things to make sure you keep the hi res detail:

After setting up the rig, bind it and then:

  1. Set Tool>Adaptive Skin>Density to the same number as the maximum levels of resolution for the mesh you are posing (in your case 6).
  2. Hold Shift and click on the Tool>Adaptive Skin>Preview button. This will preview your high rez mesh.
  3. To have this happen every time you press A you have to sculpt some small brush strokes after you press Shift and click on the Preview button. If this step is not done or is undone you will not preview your high rez mesh.

Note that after doing this you can preview the mesh just by pressing A.

#3

Hi, thanks a lot for your help.

I dont understand point nr 3. Could you tell me more about that process and reason of doing that. When i hit SHIFT + preview button (adaptive skin tab) i see good sculpt with fine details but without rig effect (without new pose which ive done with zsphere skeleton). After that when i click ‘A’ key on keyboard, i see new pose in high resolution without fine details. How should I do that to see that preview of sculpt with new pose affect and with presence of high details?

It isn`t logical for me. I thought that after change of low poly mesh in that zsphere rigging method and after making adaptive skin i will have high poly mesh in new pose (with all details and pose created by moving bones).

Could you help me more with that?

#4

It will not work if you have already posed the zsphere rig. You will need to turn off Tool>Rigging>Bind Mesh and then turn it on again. This will return the rig to its un-posed state. Then follow the steps again.

As for step (3), the point of this is so that ZBrush stores a memory of the hi res state. You only need to sculpt the mesh a tiny bit, just so ZBrush registers a change.

I understand that this doesn’t seem logicial but it’s the way it works and you need to do it if you want the hi res version of the mesh intact.

#5

Thanks Marcus. Your advices was very helpfull for me. That is strange but it worked perfectly in my case. Excuse me for my personal opinion about not logical workflow in that topic. I should accustom for that if I wanna work at this job more :wink:

I have noticed also that may be small rgb brush (not only sculpt brush). Firstly I was worry about destructing my perfect mesh :wink: but if that is RGB brush then I may refill that color later :slight_smile:

I found on this forum also other way to do that: http://www.zbrushcentral.com/showthread.php?172041-Zbrush-4r4-Zsphere-Rigging-Issue&highlight=rigging

That way also work well in my case.

I have to tell that your method is faster and don`t create waste files on hard drive :wink: so thanks once again.

#6

Glad you’ve got it working. :slight_smile: