Effective use of the "Reconstruct Subdiv" function
Verfasst: 20.01.2008, 00:42
Effective use of the "Reconstruct Subdiv" function
Difficulty: Advanced
The Reason for this (small) Tutorial
I realized, that often when you import your basemesh into ZBrush, you will lose some of its volume and it's pretty timeconsuming to sculpt back the volumes and it might lead to a different look of the model than projected.
The solution
A good solution for this is to model your basemesh with a meshsmooth modifier on top of it. This will help you to see how your model will look like later after you subdivided it in Zbrush.
The cool thing here is, that Max and Zbrush seem to have the same subdividing algorythm. So what you can do, is to export the subdivided basemesh into ZBrush and "un-subdivide" it there. Thereby you will keep the volume of the object and the silhouette will already look as projected.
Sounds great! but the only problem is: The basemesh needs to be quad-only and there is no cheat
Step by step
1. Add a Meshsmooth modifier with "NURMS" as method to your basemesh.
2. Now you can modify the model in order to make especially the silhouette as "final" as possible
3. Remember to keep the mesh Quad only. It's easier than it sounds. the mesh might look a bit dirty or too dense, but since it's only the basemesh we can afford that.
Get this script, it will help you finding the non-quad-faces:
Select Non quad Polygons script
you can also find it on this Website:
Bobo's Max Scripts (I wonder if it's Bobo the seal )
After you ran this script, you can find it in the hotkey menu's category "BoBo_s Tools"
4. Export the model as obj. "Quads" or "Polygons" has to be selebted from the dropdown menu. These are the options in the following screenshot, that I used. I disabled all unimportant stuff, since I didn't have any UVs or smoothing groups.
5. Import the model as tool into ZBrush
6. Make sure you are in the lowest possible subdivision level and click "reconstruct subdiv" under "geometry" in the "Tool"-palette.
7. This should perfectly un-subdivide your model. If not, then there might be issues with the mesh in max, of if nothing happens, you might need to turn on "EnableUV" under Texture in the "Tool"-palette (see picture at "6.")
I hope this little "trick" might help some of you sometime.
Difficulty: Advanced
The Reason for this (small) Tutorial
I realized, that often when you import your basemesh into ZBrush, you will lose some of its volume and it's pretty timeconsuming to sculpt back the volumes and it might lead to a different look of the model than projected.
The solution
A good solution for this is to model your basemesh with a meshsmooth modifier on top of it. This will help you to see how your model will look like later after you subdivided it in Zbrush.
The cool thing here is, that Max and Zbrush seem to have the same subdividing algorythm. So what you can do, is to export the subdivided basemesh into ZBrush and "un-subdivide" it there. Thereby you will keep the volume of the object and the silhouette will already look as projected.
Sounds great! but the only problem is: The basemesh needs to be quad-only and there is no cheat
Step by step
1. Add a Meshsmooth modifier with "NURMS" as method to your basemesh.
2. Now you can modify the model in order to make especially the silhouette as "final" as possible
3. Remember to keep the mesh Quad only. It's easier than it sounds. the mesh might look a bit dirty or too dense, but since it's only the basemesh we can afford that.
Get this script, it will help you finding the non-quad-faces:
Select Non quad Polygons script
you can also find it on this Website:
Bobo's Max Scripts (I wonder if it's Bobo the seal
)After you ran this script, you can find it in the hotkey menu's category "BoBo_s Tools"
4. Export the model as obj. "Quads" or "Polygons" has to be selebted from the dropdown menu. These are the options in the following screenshot, that I used. I disabled all unimportant stuff, since I didn't have any UVs or smoothing groups.
5. Import the model as tool into ZBrush
6. Make sure you are in the lowest possible subdivision level and click "reconstruct subdiv" under "geometry" in the "Tool"-palette.
7. This should perfectly un-subdivide your model. If not, then there might be issues with the mesh in max, of if nothing happens, you might need to turn on "EnableUV" under Texture in the "Tool"-palette (see picture at "6.")
I hope this little "trick" might help some of you sometime.