ZBrushCentral

Delete Hidden smoothing...

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

As part of our Zbrush Pipeline at my work we are “parting” out our character models. This approach is predicated on the ability to seperate out the parts and then rez them up individually.

The problem is that the Delete Hiddenfunction seems to be applying some sort of global smooth to the object. The whole character has been worked up whole, up to this point, so having all of the detail smoothed away is not desirable.

I have posted two sample images. The first one, DeleteHidden_detail.jpg, shows my test sphere with lots of detail. The second one, DeleteHidden_smooth.jpg, shows the results of the Delete Hidden command.

I would really appreciate any insights into this situation, I can’t find anything in the documentation about it…Thanks.

Attachments

DeleteHidden_detail.jpg

DeleteHidden_smooth.jpg

#2

Store a morph target (Tool>Morph Target>StoreMT) at your highest level before you delete the hidden points.

#3

Aurick, thank you for your response!

As a test, I saved a Morph Target for my character before I began parting him out. When I attempted to use the Morph Brush to re-establish the detial in areas where it was smoothed resulted in something that looked like DeleteHidden_Morph03.jpg.

I performed a simple test on a sphere and didn’t have a problem with the smoothing when I used the Delete Hidden action (see DeleteHidden_Morph01.jpg and DeleteHidden_Morph02.jpg). I did get the weird results however when I used the Morph Brush on the sphere i.

I am not sure what is happening, but I agree with some others in the forums that the Morph Brush is really cool and powerful!

Attachments

DeleteHidden_Morph01.jpg

DeleteHidden_Morph02.jpg

DeleteHidden_Morph03.jpg

#4

You shouldn’t have to use the Morph brush. When you return to your highest subdivision level, the morph target will be gone. But your mesh should look as good as it did before you deleted.

I tested this myself just now, and got great results.

  1. Sculpt
  2. Store the morph target
  3. Go to level 1
  4. Hide and delete points
  5. Return to your highest level

Things should look good. They certainly did for me.

#5

I have not tried Aurick’s method but…

Applying a mask to the visible geometry (Ctrl + a) before pressing Delete Hidden will ensure the polygons are not smoothed. However, the mask is applied to the current subdivision level’s geometry ,so to keep all your details apply the mask at the highest subdivision level.

So for your purposes you would:

  1. Hide unwanted geometry at subdivision level 1
  2. When satisfied go to the highest subdivision level and mask everything (Ctrl + a). This registers the mask on all polygons.
  3. Go back to subdivision level 1 and press Delete Hidden

I believe it was Bingo_Jackson who first posted this solution.

#6

I tried out the masking and it worked!

Thanks to aurick, TVeyes and Bingo_Jackson, you guys have saved my bacon!!!

:slight_smile: