ZBrush 2 has been greatly optimized to make the best possible use of your system resources – things such as multi-processing capabilities, CPU speed, and RAM. By default, the preferences settings are optimized to provide most users with the best possible performance, but you are able to modify them if you need to. Before doing so, hold down the Ctrl/Cmd key and place your cursor over each one to read about it. Make sure that you understand what each setting does before you change it!
Optimal Settings
Multi-Processing. For systems that are capable of multi-processing or hyperthreading, this feature can significantly enhance performance. It is a good idea to run the “Test Multithreading” button located in the Preferences>Performance menu. ZBrush will then tell you whether or not multithreading is recommended for your system-configuration. If it is, then both the Draw and Render options should be activated. Note: As of this writing, these settings are not saved with the preferences. Instructions for what to do are given below.
Undo/Redo Settings. Setting these values incorrectly is the most common cause of frequent “Compacting Mem” Messages. This message is displayed whenever ZBrush has to write to disk rather than being able to use RAM. The way that the Undo settings work is that they tell ZBrush the minimum number of undo’s to keep available for you. Wherever possible, ZBrush will make more than that available. However, as your mesh reaches higher numbers of polygons, ZBrush will be forced to make a decision to either reduce the number of available undo’s or start writing to disk (which is much slower than RAM). The higher this value is set to, the more often ZBrush will be forced to use your RAM for storing undo information rather than mesh information, which degrades performance. It is highly recommended to leave this value at the default and only change it slightly upward if you know that you absolutely want to have more undos available at all times.
MaxPolyPerMesh. ZBrush checks to see how much RAM your system has and determines a recommended mesh density. Exceeding this density (which is shown in millions of polygons) can be done by increasing the slider setting. It is not recommended to increase this setting to more than double the recommended value.
Threshold Settings. There are three sliders in the Performance menu that affect how ZBrush handles models with multiple subdivision levels while you’re working with them. These settings are optimized to provide most users with the best possible performance, but you are able to modify them if you need to. As a general rule, these values should be set to lower values for better performance.
QuickAndDirtyEdit. This preference in the Performance menu is turned on by default and makes the renderer perform as fast as possible while editing 3D objects. It is recommended that you leave it active unless you are noticing artifacts that would affect your work.
Optimal Workflow
Quick 3D Mode. Whenever you are editing a model (especially one with high resolution) the “Quick 3D Mode” button should be pressed. It’s located on the top shelf by default, next to the Polyframe button, and is pressed by default. This mode allows ZBrush to use faster rendering routines. Only turn this feature off when you wish render-time smoothing to be applied to the mesh (such as when you’re going to snapshot it to the canvas).
Partial Mesh Visibility. When working on high resolution meshes, it is very beneficial to hide a portion of the mesh and only keep visible that part that you are currently working on. This not only accelerates ZBrush’s interactivity, but also reduces the amount of RAM that is required while editing the mesh.
Fast Render Mode. The Render palette makes four rendering options available to you. Preview is selected by default, which renders materials in real time. Of course, that extra information also means that some system resources are not being devoted to modeling, and can slow performance down when working with a really dense mesh. For modeling purposes, you are usually more interested in shape and so don’t need the material rendering routines. Changing to Fast render mode will speed up interaction with your mesh. It is recommended to use this setting for long modeling sessions; especially when working with a large document size.
Fast Shader. This material is partway between the Fast and Preview renderers. Like any material, it instructs ZBrush’s rendering engine for how to deal with light on the surface of your model. However, it has fewer modifiers than most other materials and so will render faster in Preview mode. Note that using this material in Fast Render mode will not make a difference, since that render mode ignores any material selection, including the Fast Shader. It is recommended to use this material for long modeling sessions; especially when working with a large document size.
Sharing System Resources. If other applications are active while you are actually working with ZBrush, you may experience slower performance because a portion of your system resources are being reserved for those other applications. Exiting other applications (including unnecessary items in the system tray) will free the CPU time and memory to be used by ZBrush.
Saving the multiprocessing settings. As mentioned above, the multiprocessing systems are not currently saved with the preferences. This will be handled by an updated Test Multithreading script, which will be released in the future. Until then, there are two simple options for you, if the test shows that multithreading is recommended.
First would be to simply hold down the Ctrl/Cmd key and drag the MultiDraw and MultiRender buttons onto your shelf. Save the preferences, and you will now be able to immediately activate them at any time that you want the extra performance that they provide.
The second option is to modify your default ZScript so that the settings are automatically enabled every time you start ZBrush. To do this, simply open the DefaultZScript.txt file in any text editor and replace it with the following:
/===========start===========/
// Activates MultiThreading at startup
[VarDef,MultiThreadingInited,0]
[If,!MultiThreadingInited,
[VarInc,MultiThreadingInited]
[IPress,Preferences:MultiDraw]
[IPress,Preferences:MultiRender]
][pd]
/===========end===========/
Note: The default ZScript was deliberately left empty (except for the single [pd], which must remain) in order to allow for user customization on startup.
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