Hi everyone, I have just solved a huge problem I was having with Decimation Master in ZBrush 2018 and thought I should post the solution here in case anyone has the same problem. This is important because Decimation Master has now become a key part of the ZBrush workflow due to Sculptris Pro functionality.
Basically, if you are switching over from ZBrush 4r8 to ZBrush 2018, you need to delete the old ZBrush data folder for 4r8 that is on the C Drive or uninstall ZBrush 4r8. Go to C:\Users\Public\Public Documents and you will see two folders one called ZBrushData and one called ZBrushData2018. Delete ZBrushData. If you don’t, Decimation Master can end up using both folders when decimating and for some reason this results in a mesh that is completely unworkable, even at low polygon counts and especially if you are using Sculptris Pro. Deleting caches, restarting ZBrush or tinkering with performance settings will make no difference because the mesh itself is at fault. Brush strokes (tool edits) were extremely slow prior to deleting the folder after performing any level of decimation and my CPU usage was roughly five times the normal amount at 50% or so, which was really bad. The problem got even worse at high polycount decimations. After trying practically everything and contacting Pixologic, I realised Decimation Master was using both folders and this was ruining the mesh somehow. Just delete that 4r8 folder and you should be good to go!
Another thing I found while trying to solve this, if you hit the “optimise point order” button in “modify topology” menu after decimating, your decimated mesh will be easier for Sculptris Pro to analyse and your brushes will be a bit more responsive. I don’t understand why this is but it definitely makes a difference!
Happy ZBrushing everyone!