File referencing?

# 1 10-07-2014 , 02:09 AM

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Recently I purchased a very nice female digital model online. One reason for doing so was to study the model and how it was built to perhaps learn new techniques in modeling. I was actively learning organic modeling quite a few years ago but many other interests and projects got in the way and I have since forgotten much of what I learned. The adage "use it or lose it" certainly applies to me in this instance.

One thing I wanted to do with this model was to reshape and enhance certain features of the form. When I first viewed the model in Maya (2013) I was presented with the fully rigged character with a very low resolution "base mesh" of the model. I assumed that the base mesh which was soft bound to the IK skeleton was referencing the high-resolution version of the model at render time so that when the render was complete I saw the high-res version in all her glory. What I'm very much puzzled by, though, is I cannot figure out where the high-res version of the model actually is, if that makes sense. I would like to export a .OBJ version of the "enhanced" version of the model to possibly print a 3D version via a 3D printer. But when I export the existing mesh I only get the very low-res version.

So can anyone tell me how this works? By "how this works" I mean where IS the high-res version of the model?

The outliner shows the base mesh, associated items such as eyes, teeth, shoes and other accessories, etc. along with a reference node (which, when selected, hi-lites the bound skeleton), a "humanIK1" node (which, when selected, lights up the controls for moving the IK skeleton), a "softMod1Handle" node which I don't know what it does and a "fbikCharacter" node which is a character set node.

I really appreciate your help on this.

Mike

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# 2 10-07-2014 , 01:26 PM

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File reference uses assets in an external file, so the first question is whether you have more than one file. If not, then the high res mesh must be in the same file. You say it only shows up during render time? It's possible it's hidden in the viewport, so try checking display layers and fully expand each node in the outliner. Even if it was referenced from an external file, it should be visible in the outliner. If possible, can you show a screenshot of the outliner?

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# 3 10-07-2014 , 04:46 PM

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Hi Stwert,

Thanks a bunch for helping me out on this. I've attached a full screenshot of the layout in Maya. I use two monitors with all the tools and windows in the left-hand monitor. Thus the reason for the super-wide screenshot. I've also overlaid a rendering of the model so you can see how she looks fully rendered. I can send anything else that might help in figuring this out so just let me know.

Sincerely,

Mike

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# 4 16-07-2014 , 04:23 AM

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Hey Stwert, can you still help me on this? If not, no worries. Thanks.

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# 5 16-07-2014 , 01:17 PM

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I'm actually not sure. It doesn't look like there's any file referencing and I don't see where any high-res meshes would be. My best guess is that the base mesh is what you have and the detail is added through a normal or displacement map. But it's hard to say for sure without the file.

-stwert

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# 6 16-07-2014 , 09:22 PM

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Displacement map. Hmm, that might explain it. I'm honestly not that familiar with utilizing displacement maps for organic models. It does ring a bell, though, as I tried an experiment where I did a "smooth" on the base mesh and then when I rendered it, the female form was grossly distorted.

I did fail to tell you that in the package I bought of this model were a couple of .obj files of the mesh and one of them was a fully detailed form of the girl in the proper "resolution". So would a displacement map be derived from that somehow? Or perhaps the artist built the model as a subdivision surface or polygonal mesh and then derived the displacement map from that before exporting the model as an .obj file for archiving? Looks like I'm going to need to bone up on displacement mapping.

Thanks again for your help!

Mike

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# 7 16-07-2014 , 09:49 PM

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Yeah, that sounds right. I'm not experienced with generating displacement maps either, aside from using grayscale textures alone, but I'm sure that's what's going on. You could map the shader network for the skin and check if there's anything that looks like a displacement map.

-stwert

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# 8 17-07-2014 , 04:42 AM

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Yep, there is a displacement map and I'm beginning to think the model was created, or at least finished, in ZBrush from which the displacement map was then created for use in Maya. I noticed, too, that there IS a ZBrush file in this "Aleysha" bundle. I don't have ZBrush on my newer computer so I'll have to install it so I can view that file. I think it will probably answer the question. I'll get back to you on it.

Mike

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# 9 18-07-2014 , 09:44 PM

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I found I have an earlier version of ZBrush which will not open the file because it was created on a later version. I need to purchase the latest version of ZBrush anyway which I'll be doing next month. Then I can look at the file.

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