[FEATURE or BUG?] Very soft polygroup masks!

[Cless_Aurion]

Working on Zbrush I’ve noticed that sometimes, when I ctrl+Lclick on a polygroup, instead getting a sharp mask of the polygroup I just clicked on, Zbrush instead will do a very blurred mask of the polygroup (emphasis on BLURRED).
This is ONE action mind you, the model goes from totally unmasked, to having a polygroup masked with a very blurred mask on it with 1 action.

I want to remark that I am not talking about the regular ctrl+Lclick that softens already selected masks, this is a thing that happens AS you are selecting the polygroup with 1 click.

The problem is… I don’t know how I’ve done this! It keeps happening to me from time to time which makes me believe it might not be a bug… But I’ve tried all sort of keyboard shortcut combinations with no luck!

It is quite annoying having to soften the mask when models get quite polygon heavy (since you will have to click easily 10 to 50 times, cluttering your undohistory too), or forces you have multiple subdivision levels, go down to lower subdivs then from there soften the mask and go back up.

Does anyone know how to get this “soft polygroup” mask selection works!?
Thank you all for your help!

[Spyndel]

Hello @Cless_Aurion

Without getting a look at what’s happening at your end, I can only make some guesses.

When you Ctrl-click on a polygroup in Move mode it will auto mask that polygroup. But it’s important to only click on it, and not click-drag on it in any way, because the latter will produce different results. You may find this easier to do with a mouse than with a tablet, depending on your hardware and settings. If you inadvertently drag, even a little, this activates ZBrushs transpose masking( active with Gizmo as well) feature which can very easily result in a soft mask.

Also, if you double click on the mesh portion accidentally, you’re basically masking it, then blurring that mask with the second click. Something about your system, hardware, or technique may be appearing to make this look like a single action.

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If you can’t correct for this, you can always perfrom the classic hide>mask>invert maneuver on your target polygroup. This has the benefit of being usuable without switching to move mode:

1. Shift-Ctrl click on your target polygroup to hide all other polygroups except that one.

2. Ctrl click in empty canvas space. This will invert any existing masking, or mask the visible polygons if no other masking is present. Now your target polygroup is masked.

3. Shift-Ctrl click in empty canvas to un-hide the rest of the mesh. Ctrl click in empty canvas space to invert the masking. Now everything except your target group is masked.

This procedure becomes reflex after a while.

[Cless_Aurion]

Hello @Spyndel !

Thank you for answering!

I am aware of all the things you mentioned, I have been doing them for years now and its true, they become second nature after a while hahaha

I’m trying hard to figure this out because this thing is able to do what I do in 15-30 seconds with only 1 click. Because of the workflow on my current project, knowing how to pull off this would save me a great deal of time.

I’m attaching some images so you can see the specific last scenario I encountered it.
I know it isn’t Ctrl-click-drag because only the very specific polygroup has been affected, while if it was click-drag, only the bottom or the top would be affected.

This is just the model without any masks:

Then this is what happens when I just ctrl+click thus selecting the polygroup and getting the sharp mask:

But then, this is the result that I got after doing that unknown action (Again, I’m not 100% sure what I do to make it happen because I’m working pretty fast), just 1 undo history slot, which means not subd movement of any kind, not repeating any action like blurring the current sharp mask either, so this must be a 1 action hotkey/click combination (or bug).

Again, notice how only the neck polygroup has been affected and how much blur there is on the mask!

Again, thanks for your help!

[Spyndel]

Yes, Im sorry, that doesn’t happen for me.

The most likely thing seems to me is that you are inadvertently making additional contacts or accidentally dragging on the mesh. This could be the result of a tablet sensitivity setting, or an OS setting that is perhaps causing a tap to be a double-click equivalent. The result of multiple quick contacts to the same polygroup would be a blurred mask, and you may not be able to see them as separate contacts with the naked eye. If you’re working with a tablet, I recommend trying all this stuff with a mouse instead, to see if the behavior is more predictable.

Otherwise you will need to contact Support for further assistance.

[Cless_Aurion]

I see! I think I will contact support too then, since its happening at work also from time to time (which is a completely different computer and tablet, not even same UI or anything hahaha).

Thanks for your time Spyndel!

PS. I checked that to get that same amount of blurriness in the mask, it would take about 15 clicks, then invert the mask, and do another 15 clicks, all of them registering on the history too…