flatshaded to phong and subdivide question

[3dioot]

I have two hopefully simple questions. The first one is how can i get rid of this flatshaded appearance of my mesh and have it smoothshaded (phong for example). I have tried the tree top sliders under tool>deformation. But i still cant get it to appear like i want. The only way i get to see some smoothing at all is when i change the second slider which i think subdivides the mesh. That is NOT what i want. I simply want to have my basemesh, as it is, to appear smooth instead of flatshaded. This is really bugging me. And i have quick mode off.

The second question i have is about dividing the mesh. I think a better term for what it does now is tesselate. I really dislike the crude implementation of this. If you want to achieve a smooth result you will always have to smooth afterwards. Is there a way to really -subdivide- the mesh and keep the tension and curvature that you just so painstakingly edited in your model to stay?
This is different from the subdiv at the top of the tool>modifier rollout cause that one is just for 'appearance' and doesnt really do anything to the mesh.

Also last question. Since im here now anyway. ;) Is there any way to have the mask work inverted from the start? Its really, really annoying to invert the mask all the time. Seems to me the mask is used alot more to paint what you want to influence instead of the other way around.

Thanx for any pointers you guys are willing to share. :)

I use 1.55 btw

GrtZ 3dioot

[lowkey]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>how can i get rid of this flatshaded appearance of my mesh<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

in Z2 that's hitting the 'f' key for de-activating 'quick-mode'.

to subdivide your mesh go for tool -&gt; geometry -&gt; divide.

but beware, i'm a total newbie...no guarantees! ;)

[3dioot]

Im not working in quick mode and in zbrush 1.55 im aware where the divide button is at. Thanx anyway.

GrtZ 3dioot

[3dioot]

bump?

[Frenchy Pilou]

About Mask and his non orthodox selection !
There is surely a good reason for that :)

For the bump : may be this can help you ? (http://www.pixolator.com/zbc-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=1&t=011960) (slide the page)
Pilou

[akhad]

Still waiting for ZB 2 here but in ver 1.55 the Smooth slider will control the amount of Subdivision (appearance). It's located in Mofifiers just above the Store / Restore buttons. By default it's at 0, slide it to 1. That may help.

[3dioot]

Frenchy pilou,

Non orthodox seems to be the right word. While zbrush is very innovative in lots of ways that benefit the program and make it as special as it is, it also has many quirks that can only be described as being different for the sake of being different. I count this inverse selection as one of them. I wont go as far as to compare zbrush to other apps out there because ive seen what kind of reactions that brings forth from experienced zbrush users. Im certain its usefull to you. Just not to me. I assume, since you didnt offer an alternative to manually inversing the selection, that there is none. Shame. :(

The bump material looks interesting and might come in usefull in the future. It does not relate to the flat shaded/phong question though. Maybe i sidetracked you with my 'bump' which was only intended to try and get some attention to my questions.

Akhad. Thanx for the suggestion. But as i stated in my question it is not my intent to smooth the mesh to get it smooth shaded. I want my non subdivided mesh to shade smooth. Since i didnt find anything on this in the reference manual, nor in the forum or as an answer in this thread i quess you cannot do that either.

Thnx to all who took the effort to reply :tu:

3dioot

[TVeyes]

Masking the way you want is pretty simple. Start with a fully masked model and unmask the areas you want to influence. Masking in Z2 is also improved in terms of selecting and inversing masks. The visibility controls also help alot as they work as a mask when using deformers.

To get the smooth shaded view while still using a low poly model you can adjust the Display properties for the selected model. The model most be a polymesh, i.e not a zbrush primitive.

Try setting Edge Smoothness to 0, Draw Smoothness Tolerance to .1 or there abouts (in Z2 it works fine at about 0.01) and finaly set Draw Resolution to whatever you need (10-15 for me). The settings are located beneath the object preview window(tool palette).

Works fine for me.

Btw, the dividing of a mesh in Z2 is improved. No need to smooth the mesh afterwards.