Zbrush and maya?

# 1 25-10-2008 , 10:52 PM

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Ok, ive seen how powerful Zbrush is, and know how powerful Maya is. But in relation to eachother, what sort of things can you do?

I have a trial version of Zbrush but dont know where to start. Ive found 1 or 2 basic interface tutorials but i want to create characters ready to rig and animate in maya.

Is this possible? Are they created in Maya, then to Zbrush, or are they best created in Zbrush and imported to maya.

Any tips, guides, suggestions. Come on you guys, ive seen some breathtaking sculptures. Dont let me down. hehehe

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# 2 25-10-2008 , 10:55 PM

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The general workfloow would be to make your base mesh in maya sculpt etc etc then take the low res object into maya, then add the detials as a displacement/normal map etc etc.

Theres lots of litrature on the process, googleing zbrush pdf's shouyold get you going with it as when I started there wasa great practicle guide you could get that had the workflow.

"No pressure, no diamonds" Thomas Carlyle

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# 3 26-10-2008 , 06:22 AM

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I also have a question on this subject, say I make a low poly head in maya and I want to import it to Zbrush to add detail how do I save it as a file type that Zbrush can read and open? Thanks!

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# 4 26-10-2008 , 07:04 AM

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stick to animation mate. make proxys! user added image

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# 5 26-10-2008 , 07:08 AM

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Originally posted by 0Dudeman0
I also have a question on this subject, say I make a low poly head in maya and I want to import it to Zbrush to add detail how do I save it as a file type that Zbrush can read and open? Thanks!

Originally Posted by

My guess is that you'd just export an .obj file (pretty much any 3D program I can think of can import these) then import that into Zbrush.

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# 6 26-10-2008 , 08:33 AM

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the trial doesn't allow import or export, does it?

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# 7 26-10-2008 , 08:45 AM

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/shrug dunno I don't use Zbrush

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# 8 26-10-2008 , 11:02 AM

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Im not sure about the trials import export. Im sure you can as its a 30 day evaluation so you must be able to.

Anyway, simply import a base mesh (obj) from maya or what ever you use as your primary software. Do you sculpts with hi res etc. this file can be saved in Zbs native Ztl format known as a Ztool. If you want this mesh to be used in maya simply export an OBJ.

The ztl file will keep all the info from the base mesh to the hi res in.

You then have a couple options where to go from here. You can either save out a displacement or Normal map of the hi res geo to use in Maya. The dis maps are usually best used on a mesh with a level 1 division so that Mayas approximation node can work its magic and render out all the lovely detail. The Normal maps can be used as a super bump map on the model too though better off for realtime models and game engines where they work at their optimum.

hope that helps
Jay

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# 9 26-10-2008 , 07:53 PM

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thanx guys. ...i think il stick to animation. hehe. Shame, seems an awesome program judging by the vid tuts ive seen,...

then again i need to focus my time on my mediocre animation...one rainy day i may try it but for now ...1 thing at a time!

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# 10 27-10-2008 , 02:42 PM

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I have been waiting forever for the trial version for mac. Someone please let me know when they release it. I cant wait much longer...

_
in response to your post:

I know the gaming industry uses zbrush and maya quite a lot. You should check out pixiologic's site they have some great information for various types of workflow.

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# 11 27-10-2008 , 08:19 PM

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Why dont you just visit pixologic and find out for yourself, if its that important

Jay

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# 12 29-10-2008 , 04:32 AM

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i'm tired of checking every 7 minutes

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# 13 29-10-2008 , 05:58 AM

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7 mins?? Hmmm

Why not every ten mins?

With how long it took for the mac version to actully come out I wouldnt hold your breath. In fact I would go and check every week rarther than every 7 mins

"No pressure, no diamonds" Thomas Carlyle

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