ZBrushCentral

Easy one - how do I group mesh so subd works as one mesh?

I’m using a slightly edited version of NickZ’s base male mesh. I edited it in Max and now I want to sculpt it in zbrush. Only the mesh when I try and subdivide it the mesh sort of breaks apart at the polygroups and subdivides individually.

I’ve found that turning off smoothing in the subdivide geometry palette stops it, but obviously then the mesh isnt smoothed. The other thing is that if I choose mirror and weld X from the same geometry palette then things are better, but I still have a gap where the feet are (that was one of the areas I changed).

So I guess its something to do with the mesh not being welded together properly. Only I cant find anywhere to actually weld the mesh.

Before and after subd shots below.

Just wondering if anyone came across this before and how I can either export the obj file or somehow use zbrush to group the mesh elements together again? It doesnt do the same from Nick Z’s .ztl file obviously, but I’m using an .obj based on that.

Any help appreciated.

There was an old thread on this but I couldn’t find it for you.

If I remember this technique correctly; before you subdivide the model, go to Tools, Morph Target, StoreMT. Now subdivide the model with SMT on. The model will pull apart as you describe (that’s ok for now), once you have subdivided as far as you want then step back down to subdivision 1 and go to the Morph Target menu and hit the Switch button. Next you may need to crease the polygroup edges (that’s the part I don’t recall). Now step up the existing subdivision levels and the seams should stay together.