ZBrushCentral

Polygons shift after layer record toggle

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

I have an intermittent issue I hope someone can help with. I have baked all layers, deleted any UV’s and materials/polypaint. Polygroups. Cleared all morph targets. Cleared any history of any kind I could think of.

Now, when I make a new layer. Rotate the arms down. Turn off layer record. The hands skew off into space.

If I make a test layer and nudge the hands down with the move brush, Turn off layer record. Everything is fine.

If I make a test layer, go to lowest subdivision. Import morph target with arms down. Highest sub. Turn off layer record. Hands skew off into space.

Sometimes the hands skew off differently. Sometimes its just the fingers area. Sometimes the lower half of the arm. I don’t get it.

Thanks.

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#2

I have seen this happen if your model is too large for zbrush.

Under “Tool > Preview” does your entire model show up in that small window? For most models to work properly in zbrush your model should mostly fit inside of that small preview window. If it doesn’t you can try hitting, “Tool > Deformation > Unify” while your model is at it’s highest sub d level with no lower sub d levels. This will force your model to be at a size that zbrush prefers. After you resize, you can reconstruct the lower levels via “Tool > Geometry > Reconstruct Subdiv”.

#3

That does seem to fix my issue. But it raises another. If Zbrush is scaling my tool. I loose the 1:1 scale between maya and zbrush, correct? Messing with displacement settings and any morph targets I export from Zbrush.

I will keep fiddling with the steps you provided to see if I can fix this. Any other advice greatly appreciated!

Thanks.

#4

You should be able to fix that via the export scale slider under “Tool > Export > Scale”.

These videos goes over this workflow a bit more.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2xPrwI9o1U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeqX7b5S5AE

#5

There is also a script that Hazard wrote called “Restore Unify” that will save off your models scale before you run unify and then can also restore the scale at any point later on (when you are done and want to export).

You can find it at the bottom of the page here >

https://cubebrush.co/hazardbrush

#6

I thought I had scale figured out back in 2008. Here it come back to bite me again. I appreciate the help. I need it when it comes to Zbrush scale. I will try that script. It sounds like what I need. I will come back with results as soon as I can.

#7

Interestingly enough, Pixologic just today released a new plugin called “Scale Master” that has a one button click solution that would solve this issue for you.

You can read more about it here
http://www.zbrushcentral.com/showthread.php?204277-New-Plugins-for-Your-Holiday&p=1196336&viewfull=1#post1196336

The button can be found here after you install the script. “Zplugin > Scale Master > Zbrush Scale Unify”

This script will auto unify ALL of your subtools and auto set the Export Scale slider so that your tools export scale remains the same as it was in Maya. Pretty damn handy!

I kinda just wish there was an option to have tools auto do that upon importing into zbrush so users would never have to worry about their models zbrush and export scale.

#8

It will, provided you select a “fresh” PolyMesh3D Star before importing the first subtool. This should have a Tool>Export>Scale value of 0. Provided this is the case, ZBrush will unify the mesh on import and correctly set the Tool>Export>Scale. You can test it with the DemoSoldier. Export all the subtools to a suitable location using the SubTool Master>Export option. Then switch to the PolyMesh3D Star and import the first subtool. Then import all the others using SubTool master>Multi Append. You’ll see that the imported version is smaller with the Export>Scale set to around 4.

#9

Ah, right you are Marcus. Thank you! I had used that trick in the past but had sort of forgotten about it.

Still though, an option under Preferences to auto Unify Scale on all imported models would be a nice option to have so that people don’t have to ever even think about it or use workarounds, regardless of how easy they are ;).

#10

There are times when you don’t want it to happen - such as when you are importing into an existing model. But I acknowledge that a lot of people have problems with scale in ZBrush! :slight_smile:

#11

That is what I ended up doing Marcus. I imported my base mesh into a new scene. Zbrush set up the scale, and I then appended my subtools.

The script and recently released scale tool did not help. The script would not restore Unify to the same size I started with. And Scale Master could not scale the tool uniformly. The dimensions of my tool are read incorrectly (100, 100, 32.46) so it will not scale properly.

So I think I’m back up and running. Thanks all.