Sculpty Maker V1.5

No support for the new 'oblong' sculptmap formats with the current versions.

Any chance dear 2k is planning on adding that feature?

Yep.. I've had a version that supports them for quite some time, but I need to tidy it up before releasing it or people will get frustrated and shout at me because they can't figure it out.

Ideally I want to make it so that we don't have to specify the sculpty dimensions. ZSculpty will examine your object and decide for itself which dimensions would be best. So something long and thin will be exported as a long sculptmap.

Gimme a couple of months..

If you need a betatester, I'm all for it. ^^

Srtange.. followed the video but,. Everytime i click on make Sculpty the program Hangs
and starts eating up resources and i have to kill it, anyone else have tis problem and found a solution?

I did when I tried to have it make sculpty maps from meshes with many many polygons. Don't know if that helps at all...

the most confusing part is, i start a brand new polymesh Sphere. no changes just a standard one export it to obj and i try it there. it supposed t owork all the time so they say, same thing locks up.. Same goes with the Zsculpt zscript, really confusing.

Edit:
So im wondering if im got a library missing on my machine..

hmm. If oyu are creating a zBrush sphere, converting to Polymesh 3D, exporting to .OBJ - then yes, it should work every time. Maybe check your export settings? Could be one of those got switched around somehow. Not exactly how they are supposed to be set, but I remembr 2k posting something about them recently.

Ah, here it is:

/8/b6/289783/1.html#post2195601

Doesn't work for me; I load the .obj file, hit the button, a prompt says that the files was saved in the folder (the deskotp, in my case), but in "the folder" there is nothing. Also, in response to the user who experimented the same problem, the prime time I ran it, it hanged forever to me too. I had to block it, delete the exe, download another copy; from then on, it doesn't save anything.
My file was made with Lightwave 9, converted as an .obj file through deep exploration; and it is not a matter of a different pipeline: when I loaded it in ac3d (sorry, I hate zbrush... and ac3d is able to output correctly any kind of meshes, provided that they have a correct spherical map; which my models have, anyway. I used also the sculpt bases provided by ac3d, having 32x33 subdivision, but it didn't changed the factor; the models was rednered correctly in both cases) and saved from there as a sculpt map, I had it rightly outputted; I uploaded it in sl, and the sculpty appeared like a breeze.
Why I wished to use scultmaker, then? Well, 'cause apparently ac3d doesn't allow to save a sculpt map bigger than 64x64, in the case a bigger resolution had enhanced the final detail.

That is your problem right there. SculptyMaker is made specifically to convert objects created with zBrush - it doesn't work with just any 'ol object. The shape must start out as one of zBrush's primitive shapes.

Too bad.

That's not quite true, I've had varying success importing from another app into zb and exporting again for conversion with sculpty maker.

A lot of the time I transfer zb prims into other apps which are better for less organic shapes, work on them in there then import back to zb to export for the sculpty maker to finish up, but I've found that as long as zb can read the OBJ without converting it to quads and triangles, you can export and convert without a problem.

Not all programs can though, I've had trouble with Modo and Mudbox objs in particular.

Sculpty maker is easily my most trusted and precise method of converting everything, including the most complex single prim objects.

I'm curious. I'm just starting with Maya, myself (and am no doubt a few months away from using it for SL). Has anyone had experience with a Maya to Zbrush workflow?

I've had terrific results from Sculpty Maker, but I use Zbrush almost exclusively these days. 2K put an awful lot of time into tweaking it, and without it, I could never have animated my sculpts as well as it allows me to do.

Maya's converter is great!. It was my conveter of choice before I made Sculpty Maker.

When working with smooth objects it's actually better than Sculpty Maker as it tends to enhance the smoothness of your objects. Although this can sometimes be bad when working on sharp edged objects.

I have a test model which I used when developing Sculpty Maker and no matter what I tried I couldn't match Maya's quality on that particular model. I just gave up eventually.

What I didn't like about Maya's convertor and probably one of the biggest motivators for making Sculpty Maker was that I had to manually flip the UV coordnates on the parts that I had mirrored in ZBrush. So if I made a monkey and mirrored its left arm and leg to create the right arm and leg then I would have to flip the UVs in Maya before converting

It's also a tedious process when working with the import scripts that rebuild your model inside SL. Although there's another import script that's supposed to make the process a little easier. I'm sure Chosen Few will have some good advice on that. He's the Maya boy around here.

But yeah, if you're working with organic stuff then Maya's converter produces awesome results. But just don't expect the import process to be quite as easy as ZSculpty.

Oh, and *ALWAYS* use the Maximize Scale option!.

Is my cheque in the post?

Don't forget you can flip sculpts inside out and mirror in SL now. I get a lot of trouble with stuff turning inside out when I import/export from different aps, I've never really worked out exactly what causes it either as it seems completely random. Something technical about the normals getting flipped or something.

Hmm. I start in zBrush, export. obj for editing in other apps (like Hexagon), then back to zBrush for export via SculptyMaker - but I have never been able to convert an object that didn't start out as a zBrush shape.

If it is possible to start in other apps, it'd be nice to know some specific apps/configurations that will produce shapes compatible with SculptyMaker.

sculpty maker crashes everytime..when I clicked on make sculpty button..using the obj file I made in z brush..





Can anyone help me in trouble shooting with this? I tried with a new download version from shiny site again now too, but it still crashes everytime i clicked on that button


thanks in advance.

Have you tried converting a very basic, low resolution sphere that's been converted to a ploymesh? Have you tried the zSculpty plugin for zBrush? Have you read the Sculpty Maker page on Shiny Life for other troubleshooting tips?

Are you converting an object that you have already been modeling on? Some more info would make it easier to diagnose your problem.

Ok, I'm trying to use the sculpty rezzer and I'm apparently not doing something right... I put the sculpty rezzer script into a sphere, and the section into a cube and placed the cube, named section, into the sphere. I put all of my sculpty maps into the sphere and clicked on it. It flashed between th sphere and cube a few times and then said done. Nothing rezzed though... Please help...

Whisper: Check the spelling on the sculpty rezzer objects you created - they must be EXACTLY as listed in the instruction, including capitalization.

I've quickly scanned this thread and the main page...Has anyone tried using Mudbox with it? By that I mean either directly (guessing this will not work, yes I tried it anyway and not sure.. The .Obj file vanished..poof) or importing into ZBrush and converting?

My problem is with ZBrush refusing to install on Vista 64 but that's one for the swear box to solve.

I just like Mudbox...Simple interfaces please simple minds.

You should be able to start with an object created in zBrush, export as .obj, load into MudBox, sculpt it, export as .obj, import into zBrush, then convert via the zSculpty Plugin - or re-export as .obj from zBrush and convert with SculptyMaker.

SculptyMaker relies on the particular makeup of the zBrush .obj file format to function, so I don't think it will work coming directly from MudBox. If you start with an object created in Mudbox, then I think the UVs would not be correct for sculpty conversion.

I think it's got more to do with the way the information is laid out in an obj file, if you convert one from each to .txt and take a look, you'll see that the info is the same, but it's formatted differently. If it can be converted to zb's formating without running it through zb to convert it, then the sculptymaker program will be able to read and convert it without any trouble.

Here's a small snippet from a few objs, all of whichare the same 6 sided cube (originally from AC3D, although that doesn't matter) to give you some idea.

Mudbox obj info is like this:

g g0_0
v -1.130000 0.060000 0.000000
v 0.160000 0.060000 0.000000
v 0.160000 0.060000 1.250000
v -1.130000 0.060000 1.250000
v -1.130000 1.270000 1.250000

AC3D:
[/code]mtllib ac3d test obj.mtl
g g0
v -1.13 0.0599999 0
v 0.16 0.0599999 0
v 0.16 0.0599999 1.25
v -1.13 0.0599999 1.25
v -1.13 1.27 1.25[/code]

Finally Zbrush:

mtllib zb test obj.mtl
usemtl defaultMat
v -1.129179 .059956 0
v .159884 .059956 0
v .159884 .059956 1.249092
v -1.129179 .059956 1.249092
v -1.129179

These were all from the same obj, which was originally from AC3D, opened and saved again from each program. The only major difference I can see other than the material line is in the zb obj, the returns between each line don't show up in notepad, making it like a long string of numbers, but pasting it in here, it seems fine so that might not matter.

Another thing while I'm here. Some time ago, the grumpy old man said he had modified his convertor so it can use the new prim meshes and texture sizes (things like 8x64 and so on). Any chance of that surfacing? I can't bare the thought of turning to blender and it's interface of vile!

I'll even offer my services and write a nice, easy tutorial on how to use it!

I bet he's moved on and up to some new fangled application of choice now...

I'm looking into an exporter for I can get for Alibre, but, I've already tried the demo with one of my designs and found it freezes the app. I wonder... What's the magic format/pattern that makes a file look like a ZB file... Here's a snip of my exporter-demo output... See anything that could be a roadblock? (o.o)

## Wavefront OBJ file
## Created by SYCODE Geometry Library

v 1.163799 2.408561 -0.990343
v 1.163799 2.408561 0.990343
v 1.169654 2.525316 -0.983384
v 1.163799 2.408561 -0.990343
v 1.146423 2.293358 -1.010371
v 1.163799 2.408561 0.990343
v 1.163799 2.408561 0.990343
v 1.146423 2.293358 -1.010371

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Snip =^-^=

v 1.323386 0.000000 0.764057
v 1.323386 0.000000 -0.764057
v 1.435958 0.000000 -0.522646
v 1.435958 0.000000 0.522646
g Object1
f 1 2 3
f 4 5 6
f 7 8 9
f 10 11 12
f 13 14 15
f 16 17 18
f 19 20 21
f 22 23 24

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Snip =^-^=

f 1135 1136 1137
f 1138 1139 1140
f 1141 1142 1143
f 1144 1145 1146
f 1147 1148 1149
f 1150 1151 1152