ZBrush and Avatar ZTL Files Help

Hihi,

I'm using ZBrush 3.1 - kinda working between Digital-Tutorals Intro to zbrush, Shiny Life Sculpted prim tutorials and the older Canned Mushrooms ones.

I made a few sculpted prims and thought I would play with texturing the avatar models. I've downloaded the grouped ZTL files from the Second Skin Labs site and have attempted to load the female object model.

When I load the model - is there anything I have to do to it before I divide?

Currently I have taken the model up the the 4th division level. Instead of smoothing the model like I expect it to, it stays very blocky. When I drag the division slider down to 1 then back up to 4 when I return to 4 it sends all the polygons haywire. Am I missing steps or are these tools just not compatible with zbrush 3.1

Thanks in advance for any help!
~Fi

After checking the files in Z3 I discovered your smoothing issue. I couldn't duplicate the messed up polygons, though.

[Edit] The UV mapping was not correct, so the file was deleted from this post[/Edit]

Namssor, that is seriously freakin' cool. Thank you so much!!!

Smoothness is definitely improved, and I also cannot duplicate the vertex explosion problem ( I could with previous versions ), but the UV mapping seems to be missing or incorrect.

Is it just that I'm doing something wrong?

[EDIT] It does appear to be missing UV information, which I confirmed within ZBrush and by exporting as .obj with UVs and loading into another program. I am not conversant enough with ZBrush to know how to add it myself. Any pointers?

It's not you. I whiped this out a little too quickly and didn't check everything.

I've solved the problem in a roundabout way by exporting obj. files from Z2, then importing those into Z3. I'm not sure what the difference in file structure is, but it seems I have the issue fixed. I'll test it some more and post something tomorrow when I'm fairly certain everything is correct. I've run out of time tonight. I'm deleting the previous zip file so no one else uses it.

Thanks so much! I'll give them a test and report back! *big smiles*

Edit: or I'll wait patiently for tomorrow.. its late for me too!

/me adds "vertex explosion" to her vocabulary.

Namssor, you are awesome! This is a very wonderful thing you are doing, and it's very much appreciated. Thank you

I've tested the smoothing, "poly explosion", and UV mapping on these newer files. I found that reconstructing the lower resolution subdivisions on the old Z2 files fixed the smoothing problem while preserving the UV maps (tested with Tool:UV Check and Transform:Frame on). I'm not sure why the UVW information didn't make the first transalation, but the issue seems to be fixed here. Again, I'll let this float a while and see if anyone has any issues with the files before updating the web site.

I'll keep the old Z2 files up on the site too. I find myself going back to Z2 because of it's speed with some features, so it can't hurt.

Checking it out now. Thanks again for your generous gift!!!

/me is fighting the urge to stay home from work today to play with her new toy.. sigh*

I've just tested the basics - the smoothing problem is fixed and and the vertex explosion isn't happening anymore. Now I just have to see what I can make with it!

Thank you so much for taking the time to update these tools! <3

Web site's been updated with the new files.

http://www.secondskinlabs.com/Downloads/downloads2.html

DOH! I forgot to come back and say "They work great, thank you!"...


They work great, thank you!

Hi Namssor,

I just found your Ztools. Very nice. I appreciate the UV sorting and clean up on the mesh geometry. Thanks for doing this and sharing it.

Also, I wish I had found your nail template earlier, woulda saved me a bunch of trial and error making av skins.

Thanks for the updated files. I still am having some uv mapping issues with the ZTL tool.
The arms seem to have a problem when you "check" the uv. The back of the head and the feet also appear way out. Please tell me what I am doing wrong ?

Sorry it's not working out for you Terence. I need more descriptive information (images, if you have any) to figure out what is going on with the avatars in your version of ZBrush. Are you fully updated to 3.1? Are you using the 3.0 ZTool model with 3.x? Have you asked the experts related questions over at the ZBrush Central forums? I get very informative responses to my questions from people far more knowledgeable with ZBrush than myself over there.

I've been playing in ZBrush 3.1 with your ztls and and the material baker scripts working out the process for doing some bakes. One problem I have run into is that I get crashes when I blur my mask, either by click or through the Mask palate. I googled and found a thread that may explain it.

http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/showthread.php?t=47292


I also get random crashes occasionally when polypainting across seams - although I suspect that those crashes may be related to the same issue as well.

Not sure if this is something that can be detected and fixed (your posting of these ZTLs is certainly wonderful on its own) - but it sure would be appreciated!

Thanks,

~Fi

Just as an addendum - I was working only with the Female avatar ZTL - but I just tested and attempted the blur mask with the Male Avatar ZTL with the same crashing result.

Thanks for the info. I'll check this out.

First off, thank you so much for these Ztools! I just started making avatar skins this Sunday, and can't believe I'm already getting acceptable results. These meshes make it so blessed easy, just paint the skin right on and use Projection Master to access all those fun 2.5D brushes. Not that the 3D brushes are useless-- colour spray and alpha 40 worked terrifically for freckles

Only one question--I noticed that when I export the texture it comes out as inverted from what I need. Mind you, it's a two second fix (select all, transform, flip vertical), but I was wondering if it is something I'm doing wrong. Being lazy, I'd prefer not to have to flip the texture each time I import to or export from Photoshop.

You are doing nothing wrong, that's how Zbrush handles UV coordinates. You can flip it in Zbrush under the Texture menu by clicking "Flip V".

Thank you! And now I've learnt a new button. Perhaps someday, I will know what they all do....