ZMay tools

ZMay Tools 

Created by Ton Thien Hai

Contact: tonthienhai@gmail.com

Portfolio: https://www.artstation.com/tonthienhai

Tutorial:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqXw6e-pkH8

1. Introduction

ZMay Tools for Maya and ZBrush is a useful tool that allows you to easily transfer objects between Maya and ZBrush using the `.Obj` and `.Ma` formats. This tool supports managing crucial information like Smoothing Groups, Crease Sets, and PolyGroups, ensuring compatibility and efficiency when working between the two software programs.

2. Key Features

- **Import/Export `.Obj` and `.Ma`:**

  - Supports importing and exporting multiple objects simultaneously between Maya and ZBrush using the `.Obj` and `.Ma` formats.

- **Smoothing Group Support:**

  - For `.Obj` format, ZMay Tools can retain Smoothing Group information by dividing groups based on Soft Edge and Hard Edge. When exporting to ZBrush, these Smoothing Groups are automatically converted into PolyGroups.

- **Automatic Crease Set Conversion:**

  - When using Crease Sets in Maya, ZMay Tools automatically converts Creases into Hard Edges during export, thereby creating Smoothing Groups, which helps ZBrush recognize and efficiently use PolyGroups.

- **Crease Set Support in `.Ma`:**

  - With the `.Ma` format, ZMay Tools preserves Crease Set information. However, only a single PolyGroup is maintained for each object, and Smoothing Group information is not retained.

- **Advantages and Disadvantages of `.Ma` and `.Obj`:**

  - When exporting with the `.Ma` format, all Crease edge information is retained, but only one Smoothing Group exists.

  - When exporting with the `.Obj` format, Smoothing Groups are converted into PolyGroups based on Soft Edge and Hard Edge. Crease edges are recognized from Smoothing Groups, but individual Crease edges are not retained.

3. Important Notes

When exporting an object from ZBrush to Maya in the `.Ma` format using ZMay Tools, you must first manually export any file with a `.ma` format and name. This is because ZBrush has a limitation where the first `.ma` export results in a file that is only 1KB in size and does not contain accurate data. After manually exporting once, subsequent exports will work correctly.