I am trying to import a mesh from Mudbox, it is a 3.2 GB obj file. The mesh is around 47 million polys. I am wondering why ZBrush is telling me it cannot import such a mesh? I can bring this mesh into other apps, even Maya.
I have all my poly settings maxed out as well and have run the performance tuner.
It seems that the 64 bit is constrained to the 32 bit somehow. I’m really not able to push the polys beyond what the 32 bit version can. http://www.zbrushcentral.com/showthread.php?191523-UV-unwrapping-with-UV-master-breaking-Ztool-in-ZBrush-4r7-64-bit
I’m not sure what is going on. I’ve tried saving some tools with superhigh polys and I get ZCrashes
That’s not quite correct. Both programs have an officlal maximum of 80 million polygons per subtool. The upper limit per subtool is set in the Preferences > Mem menu. If you are trying to import, or trying to subdivide a model that will result in a mesh greater than this specified limit, it will fail.
However, as the 32 bit version of Zbrush is limited to utilizing 4gb of memory, and the 64 bit version is not limited in ram usage to any practical extent, whether you could actually hit that limit in the 32 bit program before it becomes unstable is pretty much impossible. With enough ram in the 64 bit version you can easily hit that limit.
Dividing a mesh with 18 million polygons in 64 bit zbrush will result in a mesh with 72 million polygons. Dividing a mesh with 21 million polygons will fail, because it would result in a mesh that is over the 80 million polygon per subtool limit (subdivision multiplies by a factor of four).
You are still bound by system capability. Just because you can subdivide to 80 million polygons, doesn’t mean you have a system that can comfortably manage working on that burden. You can still experience instability after a certain point.
The great benefit in working on 64 bit Zbrush is not the ability to manage infinite polycounts per tool, but the ability to more comfortably manage huge files with many tools, subtools, and undo histories. Assuming enough ram, you can much more comfortably accommodate files with a cumulative hundreds of millions of polygons across multiple subtools.
I can’t speak as to what might be going on in the OP’s situation, sorry.
Yes. I am aware of the mathematical limitations of the polycounts. I actually build my ZModeling skills around lower polycounts as I usually do my final renders in mental ray for Maya and do some work for games. What I’m bummed about is getting to around 20-30 million polys and not being able to use Uvs or save a ZTool. Right now some things are seriously broken in the 64 exe. Ill post this image once again…
You’re still limited by system capability. Just because it’s technically possible to work with meshes with 80 million polys, doesn’t mean a system can do it well. Most systems will experience performance issues before that point.
I can work comfortably with significantly higher polycounts in the 64 bit version before I start experiencing instability or performance issues. The chief benefit, however, is the ability to manage larger files in terms of more high poly subtools, not super high individual subtool poly counts.
@ Spyndel, What you said makes sense for the divisions. I actually wrote a script long ago for maya to tell me what my divisions will be when I subdivide so i can hit high polycounts, but not too high. The thing with the 64bit zbrush, it seems that all the functions are not fully 64bit yet or still have arbitrary limits on them. I can import this particular mesh into 64 bit Maya without a problem and it was built in 64 bit Mudbox without any issue. The mesh itself is also well under 80 million. I can import and export 10GB+ models from Mudbox with ease with a only 32 GB /ram. The issue is ZBrush in this case not bringing in large OBJ files over a certain file size is not a system limitation but a artificial one.
I have confirmed ZBrush does have an artificial polycount cap built in, as while we are able to divide to 80 million on any given subtool, some functions may break or take way too long to run on a mesh at or over 80 million. Having control of the basemesh polycount is even more crucial now that we have to consider how to get the maximum amount of polys out of the sub tool.