Jump to content
3DCoat Forums

[Solved] Importing high poly objects for painting


simmsimaging
 Share

Recommended Posts

  • Advanced Member

Trying to figure out a good workflow for my studio and while voxel sculpting looks promising, I find it too difficult to get really good hi-res details. For now I'm doing that in Zbrush still, but I want to use 3DC for texture painting.

The issue is that I am also tired of problematic displacement/normal map export workflows (using lo-res mesh with maps from hi-res mesh) so what I have been doing is using Decimation Master to output as small a hi-res mesh as I can from Zbrush. That I use via Vray proxy for rendering. These are fairly high res, but well within rendering limits for me. The problem is getting a low enough res mesh that I can bring into 3DC for additional texture painting. The decimated meshes are still 1 million polys and more. How can I get these into 3DC for texture painting? Tried a straight import for per-pixel etc but it just hangs and hangs and eventually I gave up.

Thanks in advance

b

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Advanced Member

Import relatively low-res mesh (low subdiv level, 50-200 k) with UV-map.

Use File->Import big mesh to import high-res mesh over low-poly mesh. Both meshes should have same uv-set.

Thanks Andrew, but I don't think this would be an an option - I just have the one hi-res mesh after decimation. It's pretty much the same thing as exporing an .obj from Voxels - you get one triangulated mesh, not multiple sub-d levels. Is there any other way to get a high res model in? I know I could import it to voxels, but then I lose all the fine detail and I'm back to square one.

b

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Contributor

Thanks Andrew, but I don't think this would be an an option - I just have the one hi-res mesh after decimation. It's pretty much the same thing as exporing an .obj from Voxels - you get one triangulated mesh, not multiple sub-d levels. Is there any other way to get a high res model in? I know I could import it to voxels, but then I lose all the fine detail and I'm back to square one.

b

-In Zbrush use "Unified Skin" to get a lowpoly out of your sculpt.

-Import decimated Hires as "Reference mesh" in 3DC up to aprox 3mil.

-Import Unified Skin lowpoly in retopo room and merge to scene using microvertex or Ptex.

-Paint

Should work. :)

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Advanced Member

-In Zbrush use "Unified Skin" to get a lowpoly out of your sculpt.

-Import decimated Hires as "Reference mesh" in 3DC up to aprox 3mil.

-Import Unified Skin lowpoly in retopo room and merge to scene using microvertex or Ptex.

-Paint

Should work. :)

Cool - will try that later today! Thanks!

b

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Advanced Member

Cool - will try that later today! Thanks!

b

So I think I did this right, but what I now have is a 3rd mesh, that is an approximate of the Zbrush hi-res, although rougher, but that I can paint on in 3DC. That part is all good, but this is a new object with new UV's, so the textures painted for it won't fit the hi-res original. Did I miss something?

Thanks for the help.

b

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Advanced Member

I did not know there was uvs on your decimated hires... :pardon:

When merging to scene:

If you set number of millions to 10million polys

Set carcass level at its highest

Set texture to 4096

Then I really dont see how it could be rougher than your original...

(If you use Ptex it should even be better)

Then when you're finished painting use file-export-Hipoly object(second or third option) and you should get a new

hires that is as good as the original...with Uvs..and with your texture.

Sorry, should have been more clear. My goal is to paint texture maps I can use on my hi-res mesh (the decimated file, but still 1-3 million poly). I didn't realize your method was for replacing the object entirely - I will try the higher res method and see how it goes. Thanks for the help.

b

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Contributor

Sorry, should have been more clear. My goal is to paint texture maps I can use on my hi-res mesh (the decimated file, but still 1-3 million poly). I didn't realize your method was for replacing the object entirely - I will try the higher res method and see how it goes. Thanks for the help.

b

You can transfer the texturing to your decimated .obj using texture-texture baking tool. :)

3Dc is not gonna choke because it wont even be really loading the file.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Advanced Member

You can transfer the texturing to your decimated .obj using texture-texture baking tool. :)

3Dc is not gonna choke because it wont even be really loading the file.

Ah - this may be the answer I was looking for - much simpler! It seems to be working okay at the moment, but I'll need to test it a bit more. Thanks again for the help!

b

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Advanced Member

An interesting thread!

I appreciated if there was a dedicated thread for common and not so common Import/Export scenarios and other

complex workflows! All the options which can only get accessed when cleverly combining tools are imo more

difficult by far to grasp than anything else in 3DC!

There's many videos which discuss newly added tools....

Unspectacular but important work scenarios needed to achieve professional output from a first drafts however

are pretty much undocumented!

Certainly this is no field which can get explored by experimentation alone because it is easy to let 3DC hang or even

crash when just trying things out with random settings.

On the other hand 3DC can do extremely cool stuff, given the person sitting in front of it knows what he is doing

or got the "golden" hint. When even highly experienced graphics professionals like Hervé and Brett are puzzled and

have to ask there must be quite a gap in the documentation somewhere...

I'm sure a person like Artman could help many of us out with a series á la "Did you know" in the Zbrush-Central Forums.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Contributor

An interesting thread!

I appreciated if there was a dedicated thread for common and not so common Import/Export scenarios and other

complex workflows! All the options which can only get accessed when cleverly combining tools are imo more

difficult by far to grasp than anything else in 3DC!

There's many videos which discuss newly added tools....

Unspectacular but important work scenarios needed to achieve professional output from a first drafts however

are pretty much undocumented!

Certainly this is no field which can get explored by experimentation alone because it is easy to let 3DC hang or even

crash when just trying things out with random settings.

On the other hand 3DC can do extremely cool stuff, given the person sitting in front of it knows what he is doing

or got the "golden" hint. When even highly experienced graphics professionals like Hervé and Brett are puzzled and

have to ask there must be quite a gap in the documentation somewhere...

I'm sure a person like Artman could help many of us out with a series á la "Did you know" in the Zbrush-Central Forums.

Most of the stuff we are talking about here is documented:

Import Big mesh function.

Merge to microvertex.

Texture Baking tool.

Its all in manual and settings does not require much experimentation.. ;)

As for myself I have problem with stuff that takes more than 20minutes :( (im working on fixing this)

so... its easy for me answering quick answers to posts but really hard to write down long well written workflows.

Anyways users have really specififc problems also..

Im confident within the next year more and more infos will be posted by users,even deep complete tutorials about interaction with other apps.

Meanwhile,feel free to ask questions whenever you feel like it. :)

(Ps:Look at Leigh's next webinar for example,it seems hes gonna show a complete workflow.Its just the beginning)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Advanced Member

What about exporting low resolution mesh from lower subdiv level before decimation while subdiv levels still exist?

Other way - decimate it to 300-600k and paint in per-pixel mode if you need just texture, then export and use it for your high-poly mesh.

Thanks Andrew.

The first method you suggest is probably the best way as long as you have UV's prior to decimation - in this case I just lost my UV's along the way and ended up with a finished sculpt on an object that was hard to UV and too high poly to paint. The second method I do not think will work because the pre-decimation mesh and post decimation mesh do not have precisely matching UV's so you end up with weird texture artifacts when you apply one painted on the low-res mesh.

For now I have two lines to try as well though: the first will be to ensure the object has some kind of uv's (even AUV out of Zbrush) prior to decimation - there is an option to keep uv's in that process. Then from there I will try and decimate it a second time, again with keep UV's, to create a lower res from the *already decimated mesh*. That might work - but right now I can't seem to get Zbrush to decimate the second time when UV's are applied :rolleyes: Always something...

The other way is to use the Texture Baking tool as Artman suggested last night. I made a totally new lo-res mesh with completely different UV's, painted that, and used the TB tool to export for the higher res decimated mesh. Seems to have worked fine - but I need to test it further to see how accurately the maps match the geometry for a variety of shapes etc.

I have to agree with Polyxo about workflow needing better documentation. I know that many of the parameters are listed in the docs, but many are not, or are barely covered, and there is very little about which tool/option to use when, and in which order. 3DC is actually very complicated in that you can do many things several different ways (I think you can import a model about 12 different ways, and I am not aware of any documentation that really makes it clear which way to use at any given time :) ). I'm all for simplifying the process (removing extraneous options entirely) or a good workflow doc/ thread. Once I figure this one out I will post it - it may not be the best but if it works it may be useful to somebody.

b

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Advanced Member

Texture baking is giving me some issues that I can't figure out how to resolve: see attached images for a screen cap in 3DC of the texture, and the texture-bake result on the hi-res mesh in Max (it's a super rough rest, so don't worry about the crap model and texture). No displacement/normals, it's just a colour map test.

The texture is lining up well enough, but I'm getting this weird artifacting at the corners of all the polys and some odd areas of texture stretching etc. I exported the baked map at 8K and painted it at 8K using Per-Pixel Painting. I played with the in/out depth parameter on the Texture Baking tool but it doesn't seem to be doing anything.

How do I get rid of those weird artifacts?

Thanks in advance

b

post-1221-12653927788162_thumb.png

post-1221-12653927895309_thumb.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Contributor

Texture baking is giving me some issues that I can't figure out how to resolve: see attached images for a screen cap in 3DC of the texture, and the texture-bake result on the hi-res mesh in Max (it's a super rough rest, so don't worry about the crap model and texture). No displacement/normals, it's just a colour map test.

The texture is lining up well enough, but I'm getting this weird artifacting at the corners of all the polys and some odd areas of texture stretching etc. I exported the baked map at 8K and painted it at 8K using Per-Pixel Painting. I played with the in/out depth parameter on the Texture Baking tool but it doesn't seem to be doing anything.

How do I get rid of those weird artifacts?

Thanks in advance

b

post-1221-12653927788162_thumb.png

post-1221-12653927895309_thumb.png

Try this,maybe it will work: :pardon:

Dont paint on lowpoly.

Import hires as reference mesh.

Import lowes from retopo menu-import

Merge to Ptex with big res.

Paint.

Then use Baking tool from ptex scene to your original decimated mesh.

you have AUV + projection from a lowpoly to different topology,its bad omen.

Higres-to-Highres there shouldnt be much distortion.

Anyway,its just speculation... :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Advanced Member

Try this,maybe it will work

Dont paint on lowpoly.

Import hires as reference mesh.

Import lowes from retopo menu-import

Merge to Ptex with big res.

Paint.

Use texture

Then use Baking tool.

you got AUV + projrction from alowpoly to different topology,its bad omen.

Higres-to-Highres there shouldt be much distortion.

Anyway,its just speculation... :)

K - I will try that. Thanks Artman.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Advanced Member

K - I will try that. Thanks Artman.

I tried this approach and the result is actually worse. I was not able to output as hi-res a final map - Texture Baking tool would not let me go higher than 4K for some reason - but the artifacting is pretty much the same, only larger due to the res difference I think.

Any other thoughts as to what would cause this? The new mesh is much closer to the topology of the hi-res. Must be a setting thing or something I'm doing wrong.

Thanks /b

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Contributor

I think it could be res related, the attached is the new map (painted at 8K via Per-Pixel on the new "medium" res mesh made as per Artman's direction) but rendered at 2K via TExture Baking. It's not just lo-res, it's totally messed. Is this expected?

b

post-1221-12654109395172_thumb.png

Hmmm...can you try GUV?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Contributor

Here is another way,less hassle and quick to test:

-Make lowpoly unified skin out of your Hires.

-Assign Uvs at level 1 and Divide lowpoly to match Hires polycount.

-Use project all button in subtool palette

-Export level 1 and export highest level.

...now you can use Andrew's first suggestion :) (Import big mesh)

You also get nicer uvs and nicer mesh.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Advanced Member

Here is another way,less hassle and quick to test:

-Make lowpoly unified skin out of your Hires.

-Assign Uvs at level 1 and Divide lowpoly to match Hires polycount.

-Use project all button in subtool palette

-Export level 1 and export highest level.

...now you can use Andrew's first suggestion :) (Import big mesh)

You also get nicer uvs and nicer mesh.

Thanks - I will give this route a try. The GUV thing wasn't working - Zbrush would not assign the GUV's to even a 600K mesh, just hung and hung. Clearly the best thing is to not decimate my meshes - too bad I can't get the right details out of them with maps. This is proving almost as troublesome! I'm getting tempted to just physically sculpt the stuff and take a picture of it ;)

b

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Advanced Member

Here is another way,less hassle and quick to test:

-Make lowpoly unified skin out of your Hires.

-Assign Uvs at level 1 and Divide lowpoly to match Hires polycount.

-Use project all button in subtool palette

-Export level 1 and export highest level.

...now you can use Andrew's first suggestion :) (Import big mesh)

You also get nicer uvs and nicer mesh.

I can't seem to win on this one - I tried the 'project all' approach but Zbrush just choked on trying to transfer the details on the 600K mesh (600K active points in Zbrush, so actually I think that's 1.2 M polys). I'm about ready to toss the model now.

On the upside - I think I have figured out a pretty good workflow for use with other models (as long as I don't botch the UV's like I did this time ;) ):

In Zbrush:

- lo-res mesh, apply UV's, then subdivide and sculpt as needed.

- pre-process for Decimation Master with "keep UV's" on.

- when pre-processing is done set your DM poly count for the hi-res version and apply (for example 20% decimation). Export that result as an .obj.

- Then undo, and reset the DM poly count *but do not re-do the pre-processing* and you can generate another mesh from the same computation, and it seems to have matching UV's. Set that one to a 3DC painting friendly sort of res (i.e 2% decimation) and export that.

- import lo-res to 3DC and paint away. Export maps and apply them to the hi-res model as per a normal workflow.

This gives you a hi and lo res decimated/optimized mesh that has matching UV's, much like a normal workflow would, but with a fraction of the poly overhead.

The nice thing about this workflow is that

(1) you get a fully detailed hi-res mesh to render without needing/using displacement/normal maps and still have one you can texture paint for all other maps and

(2) If you want to sculpt *really* high detail in some areas you can then take your hi-res decimated mesh and sub-divide that further and continue sculpting. The result is kinda like getting HD sculpting with *way* lower poly counts.

For example: original mesh at max level was about 15M polys. Not the limit for my system, but I was unable to sub-d further without blowing through my memory limit. After Decimation Master I had that at about 1M polys and still had virtually all the fine detail. I sub-d that mesh up to about 6M polys and was able to sculpt in more detail - equivalent to what I would have need 50M poly's to get without decimation.

I'm pretty happy with this so far - but needs more testing to see how it holds up.

b

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Advanced Member

Most of the stuff we are talking about here is documented:

Import Big mesh function.

Merge to microvertex.

Texture Baking tool.

Its all in manual and settings does not require much experimentation.. ;)

As for myself I have problem with stuff that takes more than 20minutes :( (im working on fixing this)

so... its easy for me answering quick answers to posts but really hard to write down long well written workflows.

Anyways users have really specififc problems also..

Im confident within the next year more and more infos will be posted by users,even deep complete tutorials about interaction with other apps.

Meanwhile,feel free to ask questions whenever you feel like it. :)

(Ps:Look at Leigh's next webinar for example,it seems hes gonna show a complete workflow.Its just the beginning)

Hello Artman,

thanks for your reply and your generous offer for further help!

Those questions will come up for sure...

I should have been more specific with my comments!

You are of course correct - these topics are covered inside the Help-File.

I've printed and read it entirely. However - the information given here often

doesn't help me much with my specific problems.

Maybe I would somehow come along with it when I was working in the Gaming Industry and had a

pipeline which - once set up could simply get repeated with just small variations.

I personally don't work in the whole area of Digital Content Creation.

Instead I used 3DC in the area of (medical)product development in the last months, my focus therefor is

pretty different from a user who wants to output nicely performing Low Poly characters for Games.

Of course I would not seriously expect any dedicated Tutorials for niche areas of use of this program!

But I'd like to gain a better understanding of the underlying principles of this Software.

With any other Software I have used after two years of use latest I had a pretty good understanding of areas of

strengths and weaknesses, I know before which operation one should better Save the file, what workarounds

are necessary and what things one should generally do inside an other package...

Not so with 3DC!

This Software on certain tasks amazes me as does things quickly which would have taken forever

inside other programs...

Then again I fail loading lightweight files without an error report or the program

freezes after the 3rd repetition of a command. Or Undo fails, the App crashes and reloads previously perfectly

looking files with visual artifacts - if at all. My greatest problem about this is that I often have a hard time

to distinguish whether these behaviours occur due to errors of the User - or of the Software.

I know that every Software has its shortcomings, this is inevitable - especially when new Features are getting added

on a daily basis...

What would help me was a better understanding of what is going on under the hood:

What is challenging for the App? What combination of techniques should get avoided? How to use all these myriads of

Import and Export options efficiently? What exactly are the Pros an Cons of the various alternative techniques found

in any area of the Program? I am continuously thinking that I am wasting time - that there could be a more elegant

way to edit. What areas can be neglected under certain circumstances, with what trick do I smuggle lost Detail

back into the file? When is it lost forever? I think with a better structural understand and how stuff is wired with

each other one could move more freely inside this Software regardless of the Industry one is working in.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Advanced Member

I have not read through the entire thread but as i understand it you have trouble painting textures on your highpoly mesh Brett, why don't you simply polypaint it directly in Zbrush. Paint each map here, export them out and map them onto your mesh and build the final material with the different maps you painted in Zbrush. Then you don't have to rip your hair out when you attempt to do it in 3DC. That's what i do and it works just fine for my highpoly Zbrush sculpts.

/ Magnus

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Advanced Member

I have not read through the entire thread but as i understand it you have trouble painting textures on your highpoly mesh Brett, why don't you simply polypaint it directly in Zbrush. Paint each map here, export them out and map them onto your mesh and build the final material with the different maps you painted in Zbrush. Then you don't have to rip your hair out when you attempt to do it in 3DC. That's what i do and it works just fine for my highpoly Zbrush sculpts.

/ Magnus

Painting in ZBrush is possible, but I much prefer the tools in 3DC - for texture painting it's hard to beat. Polypainting can be very fast though, and for some stuff it's fine. If I run into too many snags I may have to switch to that route, but I'd prefer to stay with 3DC if I can.

b

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Advanced Member

i did it like this

I made an mistake in explination .Zb dont export texture in obj ,but it exports the texture in same folder.There are 2 files the obj and the texture.And 3d coat has applied the texture saved in folder.

Thanks for sharing that detailed workflow. If you are importing your high res decimated mesh then for sure you can import and paint right on it (although I'm finding it should be UV'd prior to decimation, as the decimated mesh doesn't seem to work with AUV and it's a hassle to UV any other way). The high res mesh is probably why it's lagging though.

It would be perfect if 3DC could be optimized to paint on hi-res mesh like ZB. Then all this lo/high res stuff would be redundant.

b

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Carlosan changed the title to [Solved] Importing high poly objects for painting

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...