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Athey — Using Zbrush Decimation Master
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Published: 2011-12-08 23:08:19 +0000 UTC; Views: 17400; Favourites: 125; Downloads: 290
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Description
My general process workflow at work:Lowpoly base mesh modeled in Maya.
Base mesh imported into zbrush.
Lots of subdivisions and detail added, resulting in obscene polycount.
Descimate mesh.
Import obj into 3dsmax. Using Graphite Freeform modeling tools with highpoly mesh as the surface reference and create optimized lowpoly model for in-game use.
Unwrap lowpoly cage in 3ds max.
Export lowpoly cage as obj.
Import both lowpoly cage and the descimated mesh from zbrush back into Maya.
Use Maya's Transfer Maps tool to generate normal map from highpoly zbrush mesh.
Delete descimated zbrush mesh.
Set up shaders on lowpoly cage using the generated normal map and textures I make.
Export to engine.
That's my work flow. Yes, I really do use both 3dsmax and Maya.
This tutorial covers the step of getting the zbrush model 'Descimated' or 'optimized' to a point where Maya and Max can actually stomach importing it and not crashing my machine.
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Comments: 14
Hang on, downloaded it and I don't know where to put it in the folder. Help?
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This was most eye-opening! Thanks for posting, and I'm glad to see both Max and Maya being useful together!
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No offense, but why not use Zbrush's prepackaged retopology tools? :/ I think it would make the process faster and less complicated than taking it into 3DS Max, it does for me when I'm using Zbrush/Blender.
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Ah yes, I'm sure. However I have no idea how to use them. 
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Its very easy,just insert a zsphere inside the model mesh,scale it down inside the mesh.With the zsphere still selected in the subtools palette,go the topology pallete and click edit topology,if u need more info on the tabs and what they do in topology pallette,just hover ur mouse over it and press ctrl button,a small window will pop up explaining it.Thats how I have been able to learn most of zbrush features which are all over the place.
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Yup - I have since, actually done this on my own, so yeah - I did finally bother to figure it out. lol It really is quite nice, actually, and might consider using it in the future for retopo-ing stuff, but some of the stuff I do retopology for requires a number of extra steps for specific work-related reasons that mandate using 3dsmax's tool instead.
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I use decimation plugins too. It's very useful!
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So roughly how many of the triangles get removed after decimation in terms of percent? I know it's variable but i'm wondering how far you can go before it starts looking bad. There's a cool maxscript that allows you to reverse sub-d levels on any collapsed quad mesh. It's not exactly the same as this but still pretty useful.
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Thanks for this Athey! I recently downloaded Tranpose and Decimation master! haha love how this tutorial came in just in time~
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Athey, seeing this stuff always makes me jealous. 
But yeah, I'm envious of the stuff you get to do and get to work with. Not like you need a degree (or maybe you do) to use this program but yeah lmao, I'd have no idea, I can barely use PSP lol.
I wouldn't have the patience for all this though I think it's amazing. I'd love to be able to make stuff, especially in regards to my own characters.
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