Import of OBJ's from Zbrush

Seems to be working fine so far, transfered several
test objects, 3d rotate does indeed reveal the expected
geometries.

However, the textures and displacements do not seem
to be applied. I can see the texture showing up in
my library view, but it does not seem to show up
on the model.

Suggestions?

Also, I asked for help with the output rendering options
from tech support a few weeks ago, and was told
they would get back to me. Could someone nudge
them, just make sure they are awake?

Thanks,
Tom

They have already dropped me a note! Thank you…

The file formats for a 3d object coming out of Zbrush are:

.ztl Zbrush’s ztool format
.ma maya ascii format
.x3d a web based format
.goz Zbrush’s interchange to work with other programs
.obj Wavefront perhaps the single most used format for interoperability

Nearly every 3d program from the last 10 years can handle
.obj’s. I had never heard of .osb before harmony, it is not even
listed in Wikipedia’s list of 3d file formats.

As far as I can see, .obj is the only choice out of Zbrush right
now. Although the GoZ sdk is available from pixologic, and it would
be a very cool addition, allowing sculpting/texturing modifications
live to a model with GoZ handling all the transfers back and forth.

Either GoZ or the built in scripting in Zbrush could potentially be used
with the scripting in Harmony to work better together, possibly for
rendering as well. If someone will forward me some sample scripts for
handling rendering with different packages, and which hooks are
essential to handle the exchange, then if I get time I could look
into it. sigh…

And I did just do as you suggested and copied the .mtl and .bmp texture
files over to the import directory (should be done automatically). After
restarting the program, it does indeed apply the texture. Unfortunately
it scrambled it pretty good. I assume Harmony is using one specific texture
mapping. I’ll experiment to see if I can find the right mapping,
but if someone there knows it could save me some time. It would be
nice to be able to change the mapping in the object’s property settings.

Thanks,
Tom

Let me see if I can find out what happened to your file.

The reason that we don’t recommend OBJ is because that file format does not package the textures in with the file. You need to manually copy the textures into the project folder where the imported OBJ file resides.

Regarding rendering, we currently support a render engine through Maya softrender or through Renderman using Pixie or 3Delight.

~Lilly

They had interpreted your last response as the issue having been closed, so they’ll get back to you shortly to help you with any further questions.

To clarify about the way that the rendering works, we use the Script Module to access other software (in this case Maya or Renderman) through the command line. In order to make this work with other softwares, those other softwares have to be accessible from the command line, they have to have a scripting language, and we (or anyone) has to write a script to make that handshake happen.

Currently we’ve only written scripts for Maya and Renderman, although we can look at the possibility of supporting more softwares as we go along. If anyone is interested in writing their own script, if they have that sort of technical knowledge, then this is also a possibility.

~Lilly