Hello All,
I wonder if any of you know about a good video tutorial to explain step-by-step:
How to make a well detailed Dynamesh object into a low-poly but also keep the high-details from the detailed Dynamesh.

I understand the basics of what needs to be done for creating somehow textures from High-Details into the low-poly version such as Displacement maps or Normal maps (or both!) but not sure how to do it exactly, I mean the process with ZBrush > 3DXchange > iClone with all the textures and see it works perfect in realtime.

I'm not talking about only the sculpted details but also about the UV and Textures.

So if anybody here knows about a good video tutorial it will be very helpful not only for me but for lots of other users who wonder how to create props within ZBrush to use in iClone.

Sorry about my bad English and thanks ahead!

The process is the same regardless of the software 

1) create your sculpted model
2) retopologize this model to a low poly mesh
3) UVmap the low poly retopologized model
4) make your diffused textures & bake out the normal/displacement etc maps using the uvmap as a guide and the high topology model as the source of the information
5) Make any morphs for viseme in either sculptris or if your using a software to rig that allows for this do it in there you can use that too.
7) rig it and weight it elsewhere in a software of your choice whatever blender, maya, whatever.  
8) export the finished stuff into the exchange and then into iclone.  

For this you need a course if your learning from scratch.    

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. You're on your own, and you know what you know. And you are the guy who'll decide where to go."
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     Dr. Seuss

Thanks urbanlamb,
First of all thank you for your quick reply, I appreciate it!

As I said I understand the basics of what needs to be done but... still there are so many buttons and stuff I would LOVE to see in a video tutorial, I mean... it sounds really simple, but I easily lost in the mess.

I have a feeling that once I'll be able to do a simple prop with all the details from ZBrush to iClone the rest will be simple.
So if you know of any video tutorial out there to actually see these stages you describe it will be very helpful!

yeah I dont for zbrush I did a series in blender to go through the process.  A lot of us use 3dcoat also around here as well including me.  I get the feeling though this is not just about buttons, but hopefully someone can supply you with a video to help.   

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. You're on your own, and you know what you know. And you are the guy who'll decide where to go."
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     Dr. Seuss

urbanlamb (11/5/2015)

---

yeah I dont for zbrush I did a series in blender to go through the process.  A lot of us use 3dcoat also around here as well including me.  I get the feeling though this is not just about buttons, but hopefully someone can supply you with a video to help.   

It's mostly a software understanding and less of how it works, because I always got stuck in something related to the export / import which makes me go crazy and wasting so much time looking for solutions that should be so simple.
I mean, I've tried so many "solutions" to see what is the most fluid and simple for me to get the job done in one software before I export to 3DXchange and move on to iClone.

It seems that I can model, sculpt, texture paint... basically I can get my final high-details object in all the software I've tried (lately trying ZBrush again only because of the latest updates). 

3DCoat:
I also tried it with 3DCoat, I like the UI it's really cool and easy to fall in love with it.
The problems I had with 3DCoat was that after I retopo the voxels (or whatever they called) which was so much FUN and easy to do, created the UV from it and even paint over (so far so easy). But than...  the export part became hell for me
I've managed to export the low-poly (retopo I've made in 3DCoat) and exported to 3DXchange as .OBJ  but no luck with the displacement maps... so what I got was a sharp low-poly model in 3DXchange, and when I import the Normals and Diffuse... it didn't smooth the object and gave it the details, also the material didn't show up.
Displacement export was also confusing in 3DCoat.... so what I have is a perfect object in 3DCoat but no way to actually move it into 3DXchange to look the same with all the details, that's where I gave up on 3DCoat (for now).

Blender:
I Love blender!   I've tried all again... made a sculpt with Dyntopo (so much fun!!!).
And once again... exporting the all thing into 3DXchange does not give me what it looks like, it's a total mess... I have lots of problems with exporting and importing displacement maps successfully to 3DXchange, that's where I gave up on it (for now) again.... and moved to ZBrush.

ZBrush:
I just started messing with it after a long time... I don't want to keep moving from application to application, but maybe the exporting from ZBrush will be the most simple because there are not so many options like in 3DCoat that can confuse me, but I still would love to see how it's done....

All the other software I've mentioned above was easy to understand via video tutorials but I never made it work when I needed to export to .OBJ  or even  .FBX  in to 3DXchange, while for others it's so natural and piece of cake.

I'm in a big confusion... trying my luck with ZBrush now, I hope I'll make it work somehow... frustrating :\
That's why I'm still looking for a step-by-step video tutorial for:  ZBrush > 3DXchange > iClone
But so far no luck, but I believe if I'll see the full process even with a very simple cube dynamesh with some details I'll get the idea.

If anybody here uses ZBrush and can do this, it will be extremely helpful for so many iClone users now and in the future so thanks ahead! 

My only suggestion is generic advice:  Start with the most simple item possible when you are learning the process.

I think from the way you wrote your posts, you already know this, but I'll share my thoughts anyway.

Examples:

• If a cube or sphere will suffice, use that.  After that, try putting a bump on the sphere.  If you can do that, you can probably do any geometry.
• Start with one material.  After you figure that out, try two materials.  If you can do two, you can probably do twenty-two.
• Start with a very simply texture, like a checkerboard.  If you can do that, you can do a fancy one.
• Be sure you can do two bones and three morphs before you struggle with 20 bones and a dozen morphs.

That helps you avoid the complication of having to learn everything all at once.  If you get stuck, there are fewer variables to untangle while trying to figure things out.

I hate to see people spend hours detailing a model or a texture, only to be unable to get it from Point A to Point B.
I hate to see people build complex models with lots of detail and many components, only to discover they've done something incompatible with their pipeline.

I give my son this advice all the time.
Sometimes he listens.  As he gains experience, he is gradually learning why I tell him these things.

---

iClone 7... Character Creator... Substance Designer/Painter... Blender... Audacity...
Desktop (homebuilt) - Windows 10, Ryzen 9 3900x CPU, GTX 1080 GPU (8GB), 32GB RAM, Asus X570 Pro motherboard, 2TB SSD, terabytes of disk space, dual  monitors.
Laptop - Windows 10, MSI GS63VR STEALTH-252, 16GB RAM, GTX 1060 (6GB), 256GB SSD and 1TB HDD

Thanks justaviking! 
it is a great advice I always use and suggest everybody do the same.

That's what I do on my "tests" to try find solutions, I start from a simple sphere or cube... add details and so on instead of working on a complicated object.
Still I'm wasting time find a solution to what I wrote... because it's more like a software thing I'm fighting to understand the right things to do to make the export / import working for me.

Unfortunately I will keep fighting with it for days and hopefully I will get a working result... so far, no luck and I'm digging for a video tutorial that actually show this but none for ZBrush to 3DXchange with all the displacement and rest of the stuff.

Yeah not sure I use blender to sculpt or did before I got 3dcoat but still will use blender for touch up.   I make maps in 3dcoat or in blender and recently started to make the displacement maps etc inside substance designer I find the result is better but i still do diffuse texture inside either blender or 3dcoat.   If its something with morphs you just make it into a character so export in fbx format and then you might need to import the morphs seperately depending on the route you take although from blender the morphs import flawlessly. I have even done it directly from 3dcoat just to see and also not an issue its just .. not rigged so i have to make a dummy rig then so I prefer blender.  Then I just bake all the maps up and slap them on inside 3dexchange or inside iclone if its the displacement map I put that on last inside iclone  after I am sure its properly rigged and the morphs are working.

   




~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. You're on your own, and you know what you know. And you are the guy who'll decide where to go."
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     Dr. Seuss

Actually I start small, no character just a single prop (object).
It could be a  chair, sword, shoe... whatever so as I mentioned for the matter of practice and understanding I don't even go that far (not that it's hard for me to sculpt... that's the easy and fun part for me). 
I think that the all baking thing is the real problem.

I just want to do the all process from creating a prop + all the displacement or any baking related textures and EXPORT so it will work perfect on iClone (via 3DXchange of course).

But the problem is not 3DXchange or iClone, I just need to get the idea of how to bake the High-Res (dynamesh) into the low-poly version and... combine it successfully which is very complicated without see how it's done.
I've seen lots of video tutorials (still watching more) but none are for 3DXchange and some are very old and not up-to-date at all.

I'm not complaining or anything hehe, it's just so much waste of time for me it stops my creativity and frustrating which is too bad and I can't wait to finally understand how to do it exactly step-by-step in ZBrush. (or if I won't be able to do it in other software).

My goal is to make a Prop in only one software and export to 3DXchange.... but I found myself moving from so many software just trying to make it work, so far no luck for me and my stupid brain.

Since I'm not sure, I will ask:
Are 3DXchange and iClone supports Vector Displacement maps?  or regular Displacement maps?
I'm going to test some projections and baking soon but I would like to know.

EDIT:
YES! supports and I'm amazed how good it looks, I found my answer here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjN_1Ah4ZyA  

I wish Reallution will make a video tutorial on this like they do for Unity & Unreal Engine, something like from ZBrush how to project and bake to setup in iClone. 
That will be very helpful