Loss of detail / Bumpy object on export

[SGT]

Hey y'all - I am using the 13 day trial of 3DF Zephyr Lite. I've created an object in Zephyr and it looks great - super crisp, great texture detail. When I export it (have tried both OBJ and FBX) and import it into unity, the mesh is super bumpy. I can't tell if the texture isn't working properly, if I've exported something incorrectly, or if I've imported something into Unity incorrectly. Any tips for a total beginner?

thanks!

[Andrea Alessi]

Hello SGT!

It's difficult to say without a screenshot, so here is my best guess:

To understand if you're happy with the reconstructed mesh, make sure to enable the lighting in Zephyr as well (the lightbulb icon). If you are actually happy with your mesh, then make sure you are using an appropriate shader in unity, but the default one should work well.

The most common issue we see, is that you may have used georeferenced images (i.e. from a cellphone with GPS enabled). If Zephyr detects GPS data in the exif, it will generate a georeferenced model, which most viewers are not able to correctly render (basically, vertices are written in double rather than in float). In order to avoid this, you have to check the "export in local coordinates" in the export dialog.

I hope this helps

if you have any further question i'm also available to have a look at your dataset/zep.

[SGT]

Here's some screenshots to demonstrate the issue (first shot is in Unity, second is the OG in Zephyr).

It sounds like georeferencing might be the issue as I was using images from a cell phone, although I could've sworn I disabled that. Maybe the new OS update reverted my settings. In any case, I do not see an option to "export in local coordinates" in the export dialog. I've also uploaded a screenshot of what my dialog box looks like.

Thanks for the help - I'll look into the lighting too

EDIT: actually, toggling the lightbulb in Zephyr makes it look remarkably like the Unity shot, so maybe it's a lighting setting there?

[Andrea Alessi]

The checkbox i was referring is "local rendering referencing system", sorry

However, i'm not sure this is the case, maybe you're simply looking it with lighting off in zephyr and with lighting on in unity3d. If the mesh is too bumpy, you can try retopologizing it in zephyr (filtering tool - retopology) and/or smoothing, or, if you don't care about lighting inside your game/application, simply apply an unlit shader in unity

Let me know if I can be of any help!

[SGT]

The checkbox i was referring is "local rendering referencing system", sorry

However, i'm not sure this is the case, maybe you're simply looking it with lighting off in zephyr and with lighting on in unity3d. If the mesh is too bumpy, you can try retopologizing it in zephyr (filtering tool - retopology) and/or smoothing, or, if you don't care about lighting inside your game/application, simply apply an unlit shader in unity

Let me know if I can be of any help!

that's what it is - "lighting on" in Zephyr and Unity look the same. Just selecting an Unlit Texture shader in Unity did the trick. Whoops! Thanks for the help.

[Andrea Alessi]

no problem, happy to help =)

[Zminator15]

I am having a similar issue on Zephyr lite when exporting. I think I figured out what settings it is exporting with, but want the higher detailed one. I am exporting the .obj file to another renderer Meshmixer before I send it off to my 3d printer. I am currently using the test suite of images with the cherabim.

The first image here is what I want it to actually show that kind of detail, especially on the wings, if possible, when exporting:




This is a similarly good setting when I click the lightbulb icon, but i also noticed the icon the right also becomes active though I didn't select it....:



....so I decided to push that "enable/disable mesh/stereo point cloud coloring an tadah! the light bulb and that option turned off and displayed how the other program is seeing the mesh file:



Is there a way to get the mesh and exported .obj or .stl file to keep that level of detail or are those details only super-imposed because of the images used? If talking about increasing the import settings, mesh generation settings, or some other setting, I am fine with that.

[Andrea Alessi]

Hi Zminator,

the mesh detail is defined by the geometry, so that's right, you should evaluate the detail by removing color. With a texture on and lighting disabled, everything looks more beautiful

[Zminator15]

Ok so I am relatively new to using Zephyr. I am starting the process again with the same images, and will use the advanced settings and pretty much put all the settings on high to import, which will take a while to render. Once that initially does, do I just continue with the sparse and dense partical rendering or do i do something there? To remove the color and add more detail, would that be done at the first mesh stage? How exactly would I need to change the settings, and at what stage, to be able to do that?

[Andrea Alessi]

Hi Zminator,

you probably just need a mesh from what i understand. This means you can stop at the mesh and export it.

Also remember that not always higher values bring better results. If you're new with zephyr i would simply stick with the presets while you learnt he software.

Just proceed down the pipeline normally using the high details presets. Eventually, you can try an additional photoconsistency step, but again, if you're just starting with zephyr i would recommend you follow our tutorials and go from there

[Zminator15]

Ok, that is what I originally did and got those results, so this time around it imported all the pictures and did the simple point cloud using all the high settings. Essentially if I continue using those higher settings, should turn out better?

You referenced previously "defined by geometry" as the key factor for keeping the detail. Is that when moving from simple to dense point cloud, or from dense point cloud to mesh?

[Andrea Alessi]

I mean that the texture is just color applied to triangles. Since you're 3D printing, those details are simply visual and you won't be able to "touch" them.

Did you mean you used defaults? If so then yes, the high details settings should give you better results.

[Zminator15]

So I created the mesh and it is much better, but on the wings this time it seems to be having artifacts, if not just distortions. At this point it would just be to fiddle with the settings for creating the mesh to get it the best as possible without those bumps? would using the "photoconsistency" section improve results?



Essentially, for the purposes of making this a .obj eventually to model for a resin 3d printer to slice and print later, if I put High settings on everything, from importing the images, to point clouds to, mesh, would that get the results I want or would it really be a bit of trial an error?

[Andrea Alessi]

which settings did you use to get that? If you're new to zephyr i suggest you stick with presets for the best result with the least headache. As you learn better how zephyr work, you can get better results by playing with the advanced settings.

Using Close range/high details should yield a way better result than the last you posted, so i would probably stick with that for the moment