Studio to Zbrush tutorials?

Cris Palomino · November 2015

MEC4D said:

Cris, Zbrush paint even on not UVs models , you don't need UVs to do the all job in Zbrush , you can model , paint, texture and do all job and at the end create UVs or import one .

However if you want to edit an external textures you created before with other program you need to bake it into polypaint group by group no matter what UVs or no UVs at all and this did not changed since Victoria 1 . You can't even create UDIM UVs in Zbrush, and the moment you edit them they will colapse into overlapped uvs so what is so special about when using Zbrush ? nothing

The only huge advantage of the UDIM UV's is Mari and Modo as they need it so the model can be easy processed and textured .

So if you use mari or modo with Zbrush you are in good spot, if you use DS and Zbrush nothing change

Zbrush don't read material file mtl so it will never load sny textures with the model and the process need to be done manually .

but as Richard said above , we all hope Z5 version will do that but I read that there will be one more version before 5 ..

Cris Palomino said:

MEC4D said:

The UV's really not matter in this case if you have overlaped or not when working with polypaint but the exporter plugin do nice job , still you have to do all the same process , Zbrush still have just 1 texture channel and zero support for tiled UVs so not much changed.

Cris Palomino said:

G3 is much more suited for working with ZBrush as it has tiled UVs (the UVs aren't collapsed over each other in the 0-1 UV space like earlier generations). When you export textures for G3, I find the Multi Map Exporter does the job.

True, but you can paint right away with the Genesis 3 Female and output with MME where you needed to do some work to be able to do that with previous Genesis from my experience (tiling the uvs prior to importing to ZB).

Cath, I realize that, but I was referring to someone bringing in G3 models and wanting to export textures based on the G3 uvs. In that case, the model is already set up and is easy to use.

MEC4D · November 2015

For doing morphs I would suggest to use only dynamic subdivision so you can control the level of modeling and see directly how it will looks like in DS in real time , after you are happy with you apply it to the real subdivision for exporting displacement and normal maps , it is easy to work with and much faster and accurate and you avoid smoothing of the model.

Beside that the highest recommend subd for genesis is 4 what represent 5 in DS unless you working on a very small details or texturing

you will need still RAM for undos and other functions, subdivision 6 of genesis will take 5 GB of RAM and if you do more there will be nothing left to finish the project at the end

Sorel said:

hmmm well this is troubling. I haven't changed anything, and it was fine when I first started using it. Does something need to be clean out? It seems to be capping out at some point for whatever reason. I am using the 64bit as well with 32 gigs. I can only divide a genesis figure to 6 and a genital figure to 8.

Sorel · November 2015

MEC4D said:

For doing morphs I would suggest to use only dynamic subdivision so you can control the level of modeling and see directly how it will looks like in DS in real time , after you are happy with you apply it to the real subdivision for exporting displacement and normal maps , it is easy to work with and much faster and accurate and you avoid smoothing of the model.

Beside that the highest recommend subd for genesis is 4 what represent 5 in DS unless you working on a very small details or texturing

you will need still RAM for undos and other functions, subdivision 6 of genesis will take 5 GB of RAM and if you do more there will be nothing left to finish the project at the end

Sorel said:

hmmm well this is troubling. I haven't changed anything, and it was fine when I first started using it. Does something need to be clean out? It seems to be capping out at some point for whatever reason. I am using the 64bit as well with 32 gigs. I can only divide a genesis figure to 6 and a genital figure to 8.

ah ok thanks for the tip. yeah I was gonna use the 6+ sdiv to model details for normals/displacement maps.

wargis · November 2015

Hello to all Zbrush masters! I have a couple of questions about Zbrush too, concerning texture projection. I have rather basic skills there to make morphs, but never before I used Zbrush for texturing models, especially Gen1-3 models which have templates and more comfortable for work in Photoshop. But lately I had an idea to make custom textures for G2F-G2M from real photos of some celebs and my friends and decided to use Zbrush with its bunch of tools. I described this problem in this thread (http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/66019/texture-projection-in-zbrush-and-other-possible-apps-how-to-make) but the local discussion is more active and I found some answers here already. So I repeat some of my questions here, ok?
First of all, I use Zbrush 4 R6 x32 and don't upgrade because I got accustomed to its UI, but I have problems with RAM limits too. My RAM is only 6GB and it's installed on a laptop, so I cannot increase RAM and Zbrush x32 uses less than 4GB. So when I attempted to use Zapplink as the simplest tool but found that Zapplink works well only with low-res textures and small Document size. When I enlarge Document size in Zbrush to 5000 px wide and use Hi-res textures in Photoshop (CS4), after re-importing Zapplink either crashed Zbrush or slows down very long so I have to abort the process.
The alternative is Spotlight but it gives me blurry textures (it's a common problem). I'll try to subdivide the face mesh to level 4, thanks to Mec4D, maybe it will help. The goal is to transfer any hi-res or mid-res phototexture to the face mesh of DAZ models and to get clear, sharp and natural-looking skin as in the original photo (aside from minor stretching, naturally), so that I can blend it later into the base texture map 4000*4000 px. How to make it via Zapplink without crashes? Or via Spotlight - what should I do exactly, step by step?
The second - how to overcome RAM limits in Zbrush? Is ZBrush R7 x64 so good as described (I use Win x64)? I think 5GB of RAM will be sufficient for non-complex tasks. Can I use all available RAM in the new ZBrush R7? What about Zapplink and Spotlight - any important updates, new features?
And the last question - what other software can you advice me for texture projection, simpler and faster than Zbrush? I found many 3d painting apps, but few with projection features. Maybe Bodypaint, but it has few clear tutorials about texture projection.

MEC4D · November 2015

Model with dynamic subdivision then when you done APPLY it to the normal geometry subdivision and export your maps , this way you save on speed and memory and avoid smoothing of the morphs and maps

Sorel said:

MEC4D said:

For doing morphs I would suggest to use only dynamic subdivision so you can control the level of modeling and see directly how it will looks like in DS in real time , after you are happy with you apply it to the real subdivision for exporting displacement and normal maps , it is easy to work with and much faster and accurate and you avoid smoothing of the model.

Beside that the highest recommend subd for genesis is 4 what represent 5 in DS unless you working on a very small details or texturing

you will need still RAM for undos and other functions, subdivision 6 of genesis will take 5 GB of RAM and if you do more there will be nothing left to finish the project at the end

Sorel said:

hmmm well this is troubling. I haven't changed anything, and it was fine when I first started using it. Does something need to be clean out? It seems to be capping out at some point for whatever reason. I am using the 64bit as well with 32 gigs. I can only divide a genesis figure to 6 and a genital figure to 8.

ah ok thanks for the tip. yeah I was gonna use the 6+ sdiv to model details for normals/displacement maps.

MEC4D · November 2015

Your version can use only 2 GB of memory it is 32 bit program the rest is handled via scratch folder.

You definitely should upgrade to 64bit , 4r7 version it have a lot of new better functions and stability , you can check the all new features on the zbrush website .

there was always RAM problem with 32 bit and I hate it sometimes when it crashed just before I wanted to export my maps but now it working just fine for me and I can go into project that are really huge.

I never used Spotlight for texturing humans the quality was too low, I link photoshop with Zbrush for that so I can work on high resolution much easy and most of the masters do the same way.

You have only one option ..UPGRADE as there is not alterative to your problem

wargis said:

Hello to all Zbrush masters! I have a couple of questions about Zbrush too, concerning texture projection. I have rather basic skills there to make morphs, but never before I used Zbrush for texturing models, especially Gen1-3 models which have templates and more comfortable for work in Photoshop. But lately I had an idea to make custom textures for G2F-G2M from real photos of some celebs and my friends and decided to use Zbrush with its bunch of tools. I described this problem in this thread (http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/66019/texture-projection-in-zbrush-and-other-possible-apps-how-to-make) but the local discussion is more active and I found some answers here already. So I repeat some of my questions here, ok?
First of all, I use Zbrush 4 R6 x32 and don't upgrade because I got accustomed to its UI, but I have problems with RAM limits too. My RAM is only 6GB and it's installed on a laptop, so I cannot increase RAM and Zbrush x32 uses less than 4GB. So when I attempted to use Zapplink as the simplest tool but found that Zapplink works well only with low-res textures and small Document size. When I enlarge Document size in Zbrush to 5000 px wide and use Hi-res textures in Photoshop (CS4), after re-importing Zapplink either crashed Zbrush or slows down very long so I have to abort the process.
The alternative is Spotlight but it gives me blurry textures (it's a common problem). I'll try to subdivide the face mesh to level 4, thanks to Mec4D, maybe it will help. The goal is to transfer any hi-res or mid-res phototexture to the face mesh of DAZ models and to get clear, sharp and natural-looking skin as in the original photo (aside from minor stretching, naturally), so that I can blend it later into the base texture map 4000*4000 px. How to make it via Zapplink without crashes? Or via Spotlight - what should I do exactly, step by step?
The second - how to overcome RAM limits in Zbrush? Is ZBrush R7 x64 so good as described (I use Win x64)? I think 5GB of RAM will be sufficient for non-complex tasks. Can I use all available RAM in the new ZBrush R7? What about Zapplink and Spotlight - any important updates, new features?
And the last question - what other software can you advice me for texture projection, simpler and faster than Zbrush? I found many 3d painting apps, but few with projection features. Maybe Bodypaint, but it has few clear tutorials about texture projection.

wargis · November 2015

Thanks, Mec4D! I would prefer to use Zapplink instead of Spotlight too, but so far it overloads memory of Zbrush. I hope upgrading will solve this problem because I like direct transferring phototextures in PS straight to the morphed head. As I understood, Zbrush x64 copes well with high-res textures, even when RAM is not large, as in my case, true? It exports diffuse maps as Tiff - if I want to get the head map 4000*4000 px and 96 px dpi, so I must use photo resolution equal 96 dpi too, and what document size should I set in Zbrush? I set it 5000 px wide, but it seems too small for good clear texture, and I had to scale down photo-refs in Photoshop a bit. Does the document size in Zbrush have any influence on the quality of the output textures?

And one more question - about zRemesher 2.0 - I love this tool and I've read now it's enhanced for hard surfaces, but became to work worse upon organic surfaces like human bodies and clothing. It would be nice for me to remesh items like furniture keeping sharp edges - once I attempted to make it with free models, exported from 3dMax and found that classic Remesher smoothes straight edges. How about the new one - did they make it easier for hard surface really? It must be a great improvement.

Pendraia · November 2015

So sorry Cath...my condolences to your family. Hugs Pen

In regard to memory isn't there something under one of the menus that allows you to increase the memory used? I vaguely remember something...also check your paging files settings under Windows to see if you can increase the amount there. That will depend on your free space on your hard drives though.

alan_26b874c1ca · November 2015

wargis said:

Thanks, Mec4D! I would prefer to use Zapplink instead of Spotlight too, but so far it overloads memory of Zbrush. I hope upgrading will solve this problem because I like direct transferring phototextures in PS straight to the morphed head. As I understood, Zbrush x64 copes well with high-res textures, even when RAM is not large, as in my case, true? It exports diffuse maps as Tiff - if I want to get the head map 4000*4000 px and 96 px dpi, so I must use photo resolution equal 96 dpi too, and what document size should I set in Zbrush? I set it 5000 px wide, but it seems too small for good clear texture, and I had to scale down photo-refs in Photoshop a bit. Does the document size in Zbrush have any influence on the quality of the output textures?

And one more question - about zRemesher 2.0 - I love this tool and I've read now it's enhanced for hard surfaces, but became to work worse upon organic surfaces like human bodies and clothing. It would be nice for me to remesh items like furniture keeping sharp edges - once I attempted to make it with free models, exported from 3dMax and found that classic Remesher smoothes straight edges. How about the new one - did they make it easier for hard surface really? It must be a great improvement.

You can turn off smooth edges in zbrush prior to smoothing .

alan_26b874c1ca · November 2015

wargis said:

Thanks, Mec4D! I would prefer to use Zapplink instead of Spotlight too, but so far it overloads memory of Zbrush. I hope upgrading will solve this problem because I like direct transferring phototextures in PS straight to the morphed head. As I understood, Zbrush x64 copes well with high-res textures, even when RAM is not large, as in my case, true? It exports diffuse maps as Tiff - if I want to get the head map 4000*4000 px and 96 px dpi, so I must use photo resolution equal 96 dpi too, and what document size should I set in Zbrush? I set it 5000 px wide, but it seems too small for good clear texture, and I had to scale down photo-refs in Photoshop a bit. Does the document size in Zbrush have any influence on the quality of the output textures?

And one more question - about zRemesher 2.0 - I love this tool and I've read now it's enhanced for hard surfaces, but became to work worse upon organic surfaces like human bodies and clothing. It would be nice for me to remesh items like furniture keeping sharp edges - once I attempted to make it with free models, exported from 3dMax and found that classic Remesher smoothes straight edges. How about the new one - did they make it easier for hard surface really? It must be a great improvement.

Max likes to export as tris, zbrush preferes quads make sure your exporting as quads first.

alan_26b874c1ca · November 2015

SnowSultan said:

I'm thinking about trying the Zbrush trial in the near future and was going to begin looking for tutorials regarding the use of it with DAZ products...and now search doesn't work. If you happen to know of any good tutorials that show things like clothing and figure adjustments, texture application and creation, and exporting of detailed meshes back to Studio, would you kindly consider sharing them? Thank you very much in advance.

I have you tried zBrush Central, there are a lot of free tutorials there and Pixologic the makers of zbrush have a great set of newbie tutorials, all free!

Swan · August 2016

Fragg1960 said:

It takes some getting used to and some practice to come up with decent results, but sculpting on DAZ figures is relatively easy except that you will trip over the technical resolution limits that DAZ has artificially imposed on non-vendors (as a user they wont let you import HD morphs out of ZBrush back into Studio because they don't want non-vendors making HD products). You can cheat and use displacement maps, but I'm getting ahead of myself. Watch the You Tube videos as a start so you can learn the basics of ZBrush and it's interface and then look around here on the forums for specific tutorials on using Studio with ZBrush.

Is that still true? You have to be a vendor to import HD morphs? Doesn't that defeat the purpose of a regular user using GOZ?

Swan · August 2016

pearbear said:

I'm not a PA, but I'm someone who just started using Z-Brush this year, and now uses it every day. Here's my suggestion:

It's not free, but if you're starting out in Z-Brush, this Gnomon Workshop tutorial is worth every penny and then some:

http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/store/product/1119/Introduction-to-ZBrush-4R7#.VaCbSvlVhBc

Those videos are AWESOME.

Cris Palomino · August 2016

Fuengirola said:

Fragg1960 said:

It takes some getting used to and some practice to come up with decent results, but sculpting on DAZ figures is relatively easy except that you will trip over the technical resolution limits that DAZ has artificially imposed on non-vendors (as a user they wont let you import HD morphs out of ZBrush back into Studio because they don't want non-vendors making HD products). You can cheat and use displacement maps, but I'm getting ahead of myself. Watch the You Tube videos as a start so you can learn the basics of ZBrush and it's interface and then look around here on the forums for specific tutorials on using Studio with ZBrush.

Is that still true? You have to be a vendor to import HD morphs? Doesn't that defeat the purpose of a regular user using GOZ?

Most things done for surface details will work with normals. Most morphs don't need HD. It really depends on the morph.

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