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Duplicate meshes generate a new texture

ZBrush Usage Questions
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#1

Hi

I’m not sure if this is something that should be moved to a feature request category, as I don’t know if there’s a specific reason for why it does it, but I was just wondering why ZBrush is designed in a way, that when you add a texture to a mesh, and then you duplicate that mesh, the texture is duplicated as well? And if there are any plans to change this at all?

The main concern I have, especially as I’m following a specfic workflow/course for hair creation, is that, when multiple hair cards are being placed, it’s constantly duplicating the texture, which takes the file size up quite a lot. Obviously, the size of the texture/resolution is one of the reasons for this, such as if it’s a 4K texture, but even a 2K texture can be just as bad. Just from adding a head mesh with 2K textures, and my hair cards/chunks, each with a 2K texture, the file size has shot straight up to over 1GB.

I mean, sure, it can be argued that ZBrush isn’t ideal for this sort of thing, compared to Max or Maya, but I can see the benefits of doing it via ZBrush thanks to how much quicker it is at placing hair cards thanks to the Move brushes, isolating parts with Polygroups, and how much easier/quicker the Bend and other modifiers are. This kind of process is very slow in Maya when I’ve done it, and it was for the course creator, hence their approach to doing it all in ZBrush. :slight_smile: It’s just the texture duplication that lets it down.

Thanks

#2

Hello @DustyShinigami

How are you duplicating the mesh? This will happen if you actually create a new duplicate subtool. If you simply duplicate the mesh within a single subtool via Ctrl_dragging with Gizmo or with an IM brush it should not.

#3

Yeah, it’s via duplicating a SubTool. As I’m working with hair cards, I need to be able to place them individually/one at a time. I’m able to work on some and then merge them all down into a single ST though.

#4

If you either Ctrl-duplicate a mesh or insert them with an IM brush it will automask all other geometry allowing you to position the last instance independently of any other geometry. Brushes like MoveToplogical will only affect the first piece of contiguous geometry you contact. If you want to go back and adjust individual pieces of geometry, convert them all to separate polygroups with Polygroups> Autogroups. Then each polygroup island can be quickly isolated with the Shift+Ctrl shortcuts for polygroup visibility, and or the Masking shortcuts. Many brushes will work with Brush> Automasking> Mask by Polygroups to only affect the first polygroup contacted.

:slight_smile: