ZBrushCentral

Major masking issues - ZBrush becoming increasingly unstable

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

I have a trouble-ticket with Zbrush Support who initially showed interest in fixing this but they haven’t responded for days.
Note that I have already completely uninstalled all Pixological software and reinstalled 4R7 with no change. I have also ran numerous hardware diagnostics on my system components.

These three videos show part of the problems I’m having with ZBrush:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgtW5KkVhTk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVrDTE0bBaE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v57DC2-pUv0

In these, you can see that masking seems to work normally until I use the select brush to isolate an area. After unhiding the rest of the model, the previously selected area becomes a mask that can not be cleared and only sometimes can be painted over. You may think this is just a small nuisance, but it has caused me a lot of problems. The only workaround I have found is to select the entire model, clear mask, then show all to apply to unclearable mask to entire model - but that doesn’t prevent the issue from happening and sometimes requires multiple attempts. I use masking a lot and this unpredictable behavior is very frustrating.

I am also unable to isolate a Polygroup. CTRL+Shift clicking on a polygroup does nothing. I have to wonder how many other things aren’t working that I just haven’t found yet. I use ZBrush everyday but know I don’t ever want to open it up.

These problems came and went for a few months at the tail-end of using 4R6. Once upgrading to 4R7, they have become much more prevalent and I am unable to get rid of them. Again, I am using a brand new install and there are no problems I am aware of with my system (I built this machine and nothing else is giving me any issues).

Specs:
Windows 7 64 bit
Intel i7 4770K CPU
Nvidia Geforce GTX 680 GPU
Corsair XMS3 8gb RAM
Kingston HyperX 128gb SSD

#2

How old is your Windows installation?

#3

About a year and half old.
Minimal install and uninstall. No other problems being had.

#4

Had an install about 3 years old. Everything worked except ZBrush. I had to reinstall Windows.

#5

I was afraid of that. I’d like to make reinstalling a last resort, though.
Thank you for the insight.

#6

Believe me when I tell you I feel the same way :wink: . I did not want to restore the machine, been massaging it a long time. Stuff should just work forever, unless it’s a pile of ashes on the floor…

#7

I tried to reproduce the issues that you are showing on your three videos (and then with the Earthquake model as well) and everything is working fine on my end with ZBrush 4R7 P2 64-bit.

Masking is use everyday by a huge number of ZBrush artists and as far as I know, I don’t know other issues similar to what you have. I’m not denying your issues since it is clearly visible in your videos. Then it make me think more of an issue on your computer/OS/hardware.

If you could answer these questions:

  1. Did you try with both a mouse and a pen tablet? If yes, does the problem appears with both hardware?
  2. Do you have the issue with symmetry on and off?
  3. Do you have non official plugins/scripts/macros?
  4. Can you close ZBrush then move your C:\Users\Public\Documents\ZBrushData to a temporary location (like your desktop) and restart ZBrush. Then try again?
  5. Do you have the latest update of your mouse / pentablet driver?
  6. What is your pen tablet brand/model if you use one?
  7. When you have this issue, if you move the camera, the problem is still visible?
  8. In Preferences >> Performance, disable multidraw and put the maxthreads slider to the minimum, store the config and restart ZBrush. Do you still have the issue?
  9. Do you have a system driver for your mouse or is it a mouse which have a dedicated driver for customization (I have a gaming mouse with an advanced driver, it can interact with ZBrush)
  10. Do you have some utilities running in background, if yes, can you close them (including what is in the system tray), I mean, closing as much software as possible and see if you still have the issue.

Any kind of extra information could help finding the cause :slight_smile:

#8

Totyo, you are awesome!
It hadn’t occurred to me until I read your suggestion to move the documents folder that when I reinstalled ZBrush most of my settings and my viewport layout were unchanged. Clearly that’s data that survives an uninstall - an oversight I never investigated.

Forcing ZBrush to recreate that folder appears to have fix the issue entirely. I will thoroughly test everything later, but for now I think this may okay.

But, just for future reference and to help focus on the initial cause I will answer your questions:

  1. Yes, one of my first tests was to turn off the drawing tablet’s services and unplug it. No change with just a mouse.
  2. Symmetry settings don’t seem to be a factor.
  3. No plugins or anything. Just the built-in ones.
  4. Recreating the documents folder appears to have fixed the issue. I will update once full testing has been conducted.
  5. all my hardware has current drivers as part of my attempts to fix it.
  6. Wacom Intuos 5 touch Medium (PTH650)
  7. Moving the camera is not a factor.
  8. I haven’t changed the multi-draw setting yet, but I did have my core usage to the max.
  9. I went back and forth between the Logitech driver software and system default drivers with no change.
  10. These issues still occur even in safe-mode, so it doesn’t appear to be caused by any software or drivers on my system.

Thanks again, and I will update soon.

#9

OK, I’m glad that it seems to be fix. Can you give me your ticket number, I’ll assigned it to me and then, please let everybody know here and udpate the ticket as well :slight_smile:

#10

the ticket is #TEH-123-32733

If you would like to investigate a cause for this, I’d be happy to provide any system information you may need.

#11

Damn thing is still happening, but now it’s not quite as bad. I can now isolate a polygroup with CTRL+shift+click like normal (couldn’t before), and using the select brush to isolate a part of the model no longer creates an unclearable mask. However, if I also mask a part of that isolated area, when I show the rest of the model the masking SOMETIMES screws up like it has been. It’s completely unpredictable but so far not nearly as bad as it was.
I apologize for jumping the gun there, but my first tests seemed to be undeniable that all this was fixed.

I have deleted the Documents folder twice, fully initialized ZBrush, messed with every performance setting, ran multi-core optimization, everything I can think of. I have ruled out issues with other software, hardware, drivers, and now corruption in the ZBrush install itself. The only thing I can think of now is a Windows reinstall but I can’t deal with everything that entails right now (I have work I need to protect), especially when I have no other reasons to do it and no guarantee it’ll work.

Still, as of right now, ZBrush is at least usable. So, that’s something.

Totyo: Am I speaking to you now in the support emails or should I send an update to my current handler?

#12

Continue through the ticket please :slight_smile:

But like I told you, the problem seems to affecting only you. That’s why I mentioned a problem on your computer which interact with ZBrush. It seems that you are the only one with this issue so far, then it is not easy for us to investigate in something that we can’t reproduce on our end…

#13

hi,everyone… i have also that kind of problem,when i try to draw a mask a write with free hand on a plane 3d ,the mask vanish after a few of second… there is only a ghost of the drawing almost imperceptible,so if i use hide pt it non work… i have the 4r7 ,32 and 64 bit toghter on the same pc ,win10 home,4 gbyte ram,sony vaio