Zbrush>Maya: Polypaint > Texture Problem

[fairdinkim_m8]

Hey All,

I'm having a bit of trouble transferring my polypaint to a texture. Ive attached 4 different pictures.

The first is of the his res sculpt/polypaint chest-plate. This is what it should look like.
The second is what happens when I press 'New From Polypaint' under Tools> Texture Map in Zbrush
The third is what the model looks like in low-res with the texture applied in Zbrush
And the forth is the model back in Maya with texture and normal map applied.

As u can see it all goes wrong as soon as I create a texture from polypaint and I have no idea why. This is happening on only a few pieces of armor across the entire character. Some export out just fine.

Can anyone please help me!! I have to have this character finished in a few days for my major project

Thanks Heaps!!!!

-J

PS
Using ZBrush 4.0 and Maya 2012

[fairdinkim_m8]

So still have a problem but have a little more info. I know that my UVs are corrupted somehow. If I automatic map in ZBrush and create a texture from polypaint it works fine, apart from the million texture seams ZBrush produces.

So somewhere between creating my UVs in maya and transferring them to Zbrush something goes wrong..But What? I dont know....

Any suggestions?

[daverave]

For the load of seams from zbrush just use the merge uvs set low, do a mesh clean up before exporting to zbrush...............dave

[Jay]

I dont think its your uvs from maya. Its on your export from Zbrush. I usually 'fix' uv seams in Zbrush with a value of 10 to 14. Also in the export settings in Zbrush make sure 'group' is off. This can separate uvs when you export the model out for maya.

The low res in Zbrush always looks like that. The quality of your map output in Zb relies heavily on the subdivision levels of the mesh. More polys = better maps for output.

You do what ever you want with the uvs in Zbrush, AUV etc but if you export with that group on you'll end up with the same problem but with lots of little tiles.

If you are worried its your maya scene, check the normals are correct and make sure the uvs aren't split before making an obj

Jay

[fairdinkim_m8]

Hey Jay,

Im only new to ZBrush, so could you explain what you mean by 'fix' uv seams in Zbrush with a value of 10 to 14. And also how do I get into the export settings in Zbrush.

Lastly what do u mean by make sure my UVs aren't split uin maya?

Thanks heaps for the suggestions, will try anything at the moment.

[Jay]

Sure.

Under the UV Map menu you have a UV map border, this is essentially for over painting between borders, in other words seams. I use btween 10 -14 on the slider.

Export settings are usuall at the bottom of the list in the tool box in Zbrush on the right hand side. Should be visible if you have an object present.

Yeah you can check map UV map borders in the uv editor, kind of like geometry borders, if the uvs arent merged then you'll have a thicker edge

hope that helps
Jay

[goggles]

I also have the same problem. The thing is, i realized the seams after i painted. Can i fix this seam problem after the painting process just before exprting the texture from zbrush?

[Jay]

yeah you should be able to....it shouldn't matter, correct the seam issue and create a new texture, the whole idea of polypaint is that you dont actually need uvs to paint a model, you can bring in the uv version after and still transfer the paint to the new version with uvs. You may have to fiddle with the border edge value for the seams until its right

Jay

[goggles]

can't seem to figure it out. I am so confused. Check inbox please...

[Jay]

lazy arse...check your inbox :)

[goggles]

:) i am doing my best... did you recieve it? i am still trying to find out ...

[CollinBishop]

You are also able to export out the map and check it in Maya. If the seams are off simply go back into ZBrush and use Zapplink to use the photoshop healing brush to fix seams "extremely easy." You also now have the ability to paint directly on a 3d object in Photoshop. Is up to you but I prefer the Zapplink method.

Are you using the original obj or exporting a new one out of ZBrush?

[Jay]

he used auv tiles....maya isnt a fan of it.

Goggles..just give it a whirl like I said...see what happens

Jay

[goggles]

I tried automapping in maya, and importing a new uv map. this time pixel perimeters caused a problem in rendering. When i render, it showed the seams very badly wide open. I had to do this project in max, so i had to go through material diffuse options > bitmap parameters > filtering and checked "none". I also checked how to fix this in maya. Theres also a solution for maya.

I hope that this filtering set to none, does not cause any problems later on...

Also found this;

http://www.cgfeedback.com/cgfeedback/showthread.php?t=4397

and i got confused more :) Zbrush is excellent for painting. But finding the correct workflow is killing me.

Being a self learner is tough !

[Jay]

We are all self taught here, you will find your own workflow as you go along...

What I found was when Ive used it was just leave the setting on default as far as uvs are concerned in zbrush. So you get smooth uvs. So when you return to maya hopefully when the 3 key is applied or the modelled is rendered as a sub d the results should be fine, smooth for smooth so to speak.

Its always best to do the uvs native to the original software and to do them properly. I mentioned auto uv purely because you seemed like a guy in a rush.

With regards to normal map output and displacement map output, we found that in a film production environment that if you were to say have seven levels of subdivision in ZB save a new copy of that file then delete the first 3 levels then output your maps, the maps are then absolutely perfect as they can be. For some reason theres a glitch at the lowest level these days and the maps look bloody awful. They used to say output the maps at base level, so its best to do a high rez base level with all your details....

Jay

[goggles]

automap is working fine mostly. i am trying to learn decent uv mapping for organic models. besides that i think learning the correct ways in zbrush will solve the problems. as you said, softwares dont like each other that much :)
i have never worked on a project thats fine with 3rd division level. that sounds interesting.

[Jay]

what Im saying is delete the first 3 levels of (example) 7 levels then creat the maps