Learn how to quickly enhance character detail and create game-ready models using a unique retopology workflow with the Wrap 3D program.
This tutorial covers UV mapping, expressions, and displacement mapping for realistic character modeling.
- Workflow
For today’s tutorial, we’ll look at a 3D software called Wrap 3D.
This software will help us fix the topology on our sculptures and add ZBrsuh layers onto them as well.
The sculpt in this tutorial has Decimated topology and isn’t fit to be used in any game or cinematic use.
The sculpt is Exported from ZBrush as an OBJ file and it is important that is an OBJ file for the wrap 3D to work.
In Wrap 3D, click the Tab key in the Graph on the right side of the workspace.
Hover over the Load/Save options and click on LoadGeom.
This will create a node that can be renamed by clicking F2.
Rename the first node Base_Mesh.
Make another LoadGeom and name it Sculpt.
Click the Base_Mesh node and select the Base_Mesh OBJ file for it.
In the Sculpt node, select the Sculpt OBJ.
If the sculpt model is too small or not completely aligning with the Base_Mesh, just like in Autodesk Maaya, scale and move the sculpt to align with the Base_Mesh.
The Base_Mesh has UV Maps and Layers in ZBrush that can turn into different expressions.
Turn off the topology on both the sculpt and Base_Mesh by unticking the Wireframe box.
In the Graph, add a LoadImage node.
Rename that node Guides.
Click the node and add the Guide jpg image.
Connect the image node with the Base_Mesh node by connecting the dots to each other.
Since the Base_Mesh has proper UVs the image guide will have no problem loading on it.
Click on the Visual Editor tab, and there add a SelectionPointPairs through the Selection options.
Connect the left side of the node to the Base_Mesh and the right side to the Sculpt.
Enable Syn Views in the Editor window below the Graph.
This will make it so that if one view is moved, the view next to it will move as well.
Add dots on the Base_Mesh, following the dots on the image guide then immediately after, add the dots to the Sculpt in the same position and order.
This is important for the UVs to wrap correctly onto the Sculpt afterward.
To move a dot, click and drag it anywhere it needs to be.
Add the dots on the rest of the guides until the whole face is finished.
In the Graph click tab and type in “wrap” to find the Wrapping node.
Connect the wrapping node with the Selection Point Pairs, Sculpt, and Base_Mesh nodes.
In the wrapping node, make sure the Parameters settings are set up properly. When everything is set u, click on the Compute button and wait for the wrapping to finish.
Click back on the Viewport3D window.
After it is done, hide the Base_Mesh and Sculpt nodes by clicking the lightbulb icon next to each node.
While the wrapping node is selected, you can see how well the Sculp was wrapped from the Base_Mesh UV.
There are deformities around the ends of the sculpt as well as the lines around the guides are wiggly instead of perfectly curved.
To fix the ends of the sculpt, go back to the View Editor, and inside the graph add a SelectionPolygons node through the selection tab.
Connect the SelectionPolygons node with the Base_Mesh node.
Once connected, you can select parts of the polygon from the Base_Mesh just like in Maya, by clicking the Shift double-clicking to do a loop selection.
There is also a Grow tool that expands the selection by one.
If there is too much selected, you can use the Shrink tool to shrink down the selection by one.
Select parts of the ends of the neck and the inside of the mouth.
Connect the SelectionPolygons node to the Wrapping node then click Compute again.
To fix the wiggly lines around the guides, add a Brush node inside the graph and connect it with the Base_Mesh, wrapping, and Sculpt node.
Select the Clone brush, adjust the Radius and Strength of the brush then lightly click on the guides to straighten them out.
Do this to the entire face.
When you are done with the brush, click on the Accept button.
Add another node in the graph called the SaveGeom node and connect it to the Brush node.
Name the File, select a path for where the file needs to be, right-click the Brush node, click on Save Geometry, and save the OBJ file anywhere on your desktop.
In Zbrush, import the ZTL file provided for the class, and make sure that it is set to the lowest division before the next step.
After that, import the Wrapped 3D file we just saved.
Once it is imported, the Base_Mesh from the ZTL file will transform to look like the Sculpt because of the placed vertices.
The Sculp will have all the Zbrush levels and UV map from the Base_Mesh.
To add textures in Zbrush, click the Texture tab and click on the Import button.
Select the Color 4k PSD file provided for the class, then click Open.
Flip the UV map to the correct side.
In the Texture Map tab, click the gray box and add the Color 4k PSD file.
Repeat the same steps for the Displacement map but this time, the displacement map goes into the Displacement Map tab.
You can control the Intensity of the map by lowering and raising the scale in the tab.
Bonus - Exporting Layers from ZBrush and turning them into Blendshapes
Set the model to the 2nd division, then click Del Lowe and Del Hidden to delete the rest of the divisions.
In the Zplugin tab, open the Maya Blend Shapes sub-menu and click on the TurnOff All button to turn off all the layers.
Wait for the layers to finish turning off.
After the layers have been turned off, open the Maya Blend Shapes sub-menu and click the Export Blend Shapes button to export everything.
In Autodesk Maya import the exported file.
It will take a while before the model loads in.
To use the blend shapes, open the Window tab, Animation Editors, and click the Shape Editor.
From the Shape Editor Window, you can use the blend shapes and change the expression on the model.