3D nightmares

 Warning: This post is such a fucking mess, but that does represent my state of mind while I made all of this. 

 I have spent a stressful week. Having learned  a bit sculpting in Zbrush, I was stupidly confident on making the Christmas elf I did last time as a 3D model. I'm not great, but hey, something simple, kinda anime looking, what's hard about that? Well nothing is really as simple. And 3D is nightmare. Specially if you are stupid and you don't really know a thing about it, like me.

So, I started the sculpting and then I thought, "I have blender, why don't I export the model and render it there? I already have exported the model for 3D printing". Exported and found out that Blender (or any hard surface software I think they call them) doesn't really like models with all those polygons. Even after decimating it, which is taking a lot of polyshit off the model, the model was no good. 

(shit port, it's just an .obj file, still heavy to work properly with blender, no texture, I thinkg the wireframe that decimating the model leaves, fucks up the model when bending  the bones.)

By this time, why didn't I stuck with Zbrush or something, find a way to render there? Well, I'm stupid and obsessive. I don't know anything, if Zbrush has a way to render, or posing (posing I found out you can by doing a type of rigging and stuff), AND I wanted to do it with Blender. Why?  Again, I'm stupid and obsessive.

So I go crazy looking everywhere a simple answer to "Export something from Zbrush to Blender to render or something idk lol".

I clearly didn't know what I needed.

I realize now that by looking videos and learning more I got a better idea of what to ask, on where and how to focus my search. Also, internet, beautiful tool,  it's so likely many people before you might had the same problem, you'll find a answer to a vague question you may have. I did spin in circles for a while, though.

By the time I was closing in on what I wanted, I was clear I wasn't going to make it for Christmas, and that bothered me, so I tried to get things ready for new year at least.

(Model on the lowest subdivision level, using a subdivide modifier on Blender. Textures are also from the lowest level)

So by know I knew how to retopologize and shit, and I could send that shit easily with textures to blender, via GoZ. Cool. Still the textures where shit, and I didn't know how to send a small model that I could make look more complex by raising some kind of levels. A subdivision modifier in Blender, while it took care of big simple surfaces (tits, arms), it fucked up the details. Or rather, in my stupid innocence and IGNORANCE, it didn't reproduce the details of the highest subdivision level like they were on Zbrush. Of course it couldn't, it's not for that!

It was clear I had to get deeper and start following some tutorials I've been avoiding because they weren't a direct easy answer to my question. We all want an easy, direct, fast way to do stuff, but I had to compromise. So my idea was to follow tutorials as fast as I could. I'd been avoiding them because they looked long and complex., they didn't seem to have my exact needed answer and I was afraid of wasting time on something just so I couldn't use it. 

Low quality character, with good shit on it. That meant looking into baking maps. Everyone talked about that, "you gotta bake the maps", but I didn't know what the hell were they talking about, and I figured, "something I have no idea about? Scary. That means more studying, more time, I never gonna make this in time". I watched a way to do it Blender and I was so confused. 

By the way, getting your answer it's a mix of what I said above, someone may have asked your question before, it may take you a good time looking around, spinning in circler until you actually realize what you wanna ask, and sometimes, you get exactly what you were looking for.

After losing my shit on every video because I didn't find an easy answer, trying stuff, wasting my time, I knew what I was looking for, and found it.

Export High Poly Zbrush Model to Low Poly Blender Model 

It easily explained exactly what I wanted to know. Easy and direct tutorial, left me exactly where I wanted, how I wanted. Thing is, when I started I didn't know I wanted that.

Anyway, I should've make the model better, better details, better... Everything. But, time.

I made as best as I could anddd... it's not complete shit. That's the best thing I think it can be said about it.

Imma tell you something tho. 

Tits. 

Face's shit. Textures shit. Details shit. Anatomy's shit. Tits tho. You can always count on tits. 

This is the moral of the story. That's what you learned today.

Ps: I love when I upload something I instantly lose a follower. Better they know now what kind of messy shit-artist they are following, and honestly too many people behind me make me nervous.