1. #1

    Default Efficient problem

    Hi all,

    I started using Sculptris a two weeks ago. And I use them on two different PC's ( one in work when I have a bit time to learn something new and second at home ). My current model counts 2 500 000 triangles. (I think this is not so much).

    And I don't understood why on my PC at home Sculptris work faster, because my PC at work is much more faster. And on my PC in work seems work very poor and slow.
    I'll appreciate some advice, how to speed up Sculptris. ( without cutting down triangles of course .

    PC's specifications

    My home PC
    Processor: Core2 Quad Q6600 @ 3.0GHz
    Ram: 4 GB
    Graphics card: 660 Ti 2GB

    My work PC
    Processor: 2x Xeon E5645 @ 2.4 GHz
    Ram: 48 GB
    Graphics card: Quadro 5000

    Regards,
    - luc

  2. #2
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    Default re

    It's your graphics cards .... Sculptris runs like a Game Engine, using your Graphics card (GPU) for much of the processing. Also, Sculptris is not really meant to go into the Millions in Polygons, not like Zbrush anyway. Yes if you have a good computer you can push it, just understand all your work is sitting in RAM, where as Zbrush saves to disc from time to time. Anyway, you won't be able to Paint your model with any more than about 250K . Use the Reduce Brush, one of the coolest features in Sculptris, Decimation in a Brush!! ...

  3. #3

    Default

    ok, I'll try to reduce triangle count, I thought I'm be able to have a lot more triangles.

    Thanks for replay,

    Regards,
    - luc

  4. #4

    Default

    I cannot reduce triangles count, is even worse because I have to add more to be able using brushes with mask.

  5. #5
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    Learn how to use sculptris first!
    It probably doesn't feet your needs.
    If a million of (dynamically tessellated) poly isn't enough... something smells wrong.
    If, adding pores or such hi freq details is you problem, try to figure out. These should work as bumps and you better add such details via painting mode.
    If you don't like such approaches, zbrush is for you. Not sculptris.

  6. #6

    Default

    Ok, I'll try remove useless triangles, and add more details on painting mode. This is my first sculpt software ever so I have to admit I add definitely to meany triangles.
    Could you tell me how meany triangles is a reasonable amount for "Sculptris"?

  7. #7
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    Wrong question.
    Have density slider in the middle.
    Use the reducer brush.
    Experiment, sculpt, and most importantly, have fun.

  8. #8

    Wink

    So, now detail slider is on the middle
    After a while I was able to remove 1 500 000 triangles and how to say nothing was change, model still look quite this same, but Sculptris work faster. ( so obvious )
    I think still is a room for optimizations but for now I want to add more details and after that remove additional triangles.

    Thanks for help!!!

    Regards,
    - luc

  9. #9
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    Default

    I would suggest that the detail slider be even farther down (at about 1/5th or 1/6th). Sculptris does a great job of keeping the look of a a higher number of polygons with very few triangles. You can still get a lot of those higher details with a smaller brush size while zoomed in, a slight increase in the detail slider (only in the areas that you need it) when you get to that point, or by adding them in with bump maps when you get to the paint area of the program. A quick click with the mouse while you have the Grab brush active (depending on the size and zoom level you have it at), is also a quick way to add a small amount of triangles to an area for smoothness without increasing your triangle count to higher levels that really aren't required.

    I've also tested my laptop to well over 2.5 million triangles with Sculptris before I stopped (could possibly go higher). While it's good to know that you can use that many and be able to get in some fine details to just the sculpture if you wanted, it really isn't necessary. With a little bit of preplanning, you can use Sculptris very efficiently. For the most part, many of the sculpts that I have done average around 200k-300k triangles. Some quite a bit less, but there are also times where it's fun to do quite a bit more.

    For me, it's just a great tool to play around with and get some ideas out. While there really is no right or wrong way to use it, you do sometimes have to be mindful that you stay within the limits of the computer that you are using. It's all in what you want to do with it.

  10. #10

    Default Re

    Don't forget Paint Mode ... You can get a lot of detail painting to the Bump Map. Your Alphas will work much better in paint mode as well. It's "faux" geometry, meaning that it will disappear as you turn to the side, so you'll want to get the silhouette of your model in Sculpt mode, but you can add all the little extras in Paint !!

  11. #11
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    Sculptris is not very efficient when it comes to triangle counts. It adds too many where it's not needed. However it does provide the tools to adjust for these unnecessary triangles. Using a lower setting on the detail slider is a must. There's also the reduce brush. Keep the detail slider as low as possible but still maintaining the look and effect you want from the brushes. After that use the reduce brush to greatly reduce triangles in areas with much lower detail. Depending on your model you can easily take a 2.5 million piece down into the thousands. Also like was mentioned you can use other 3D tricks with shading and lighting and bump maps to create detail without adding any extra triangles at all.

  12. #12

    Default

    Thank you for all advises.


    I reduced triangles count to 554k, and I'm quite happy about that. At the beginning I though Sculptris is very efficient with high triangles count. I thought in this way because we can use alpha mask with brushes which requiter a lot of triangles.


    I attached my progress and if You want You can judge triangles density, and model as well.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Click image for larger version. 

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  13. #13

    Default

    Starting out pretty good there. I would still say that's far too many triangles though. But, if you are just going to be sculpting, it really isn't going to matter all that much. If you are just sculpting, the only thing that really matters is the end result. You can still take a sculpt into paint at that density, but it will take quite a while.

    As an example, here is a quick sculpt of a head that I had made last night. I just resaved out the images with that same material, as well as the wire, to show you the difference. At the moment, this head is just over 50k tris and it hasn't been reduced any yet. Even at 1/10th the amount that you are at, Sculptris does a fairly decent job with how it displays the material smoothly. The eyes are still full spheres, so that's an additional 4096 which could be reduced without much of a difference to the end result. That gives a whole lot more room for details as well as making it a lot quicker to get into the Paint section.



    Added in the actual file itself for anyone to mess with.

    Head1.zip

    Edit: I was just going through some of my older files (which I've already thrown many away), but I found this one as another example. It would be far too big to add the file, but this one ended up at 334,262 tris. That's for the head, body, and the eyes and horns which were separate spheres. This one could easily be reduced further while keeping almost all of the detail.

    Last edited by SporkFuMaster; 09-20-12 at 06:06 AM.

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