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Fibermesh not rendering properly

ZBrush Usage Questions ZBrush 2019.1 Usage Questions
#1

When I do BPR Render some fibers render like cards, and some other don’t have the proper spect.
If anyone know how to fix it I would appreciate it a lot!

Render
Render.jpg1482×818 95.4 KB

#2

Hello @Mateo_Badillo

If you are referring to the angular strands on the left side of the picture, it appears the fibermesh strand geometry has become stretched and distorted. View the strands with polyframe mode on to see what the topology is doing.

When creating a subtool with Fibermesh it starts as special live Fibermesh geometry. While it is in this state the strands can be styled with the special Groom brushes designed to work with it, or any brush with the proper settings. Zbrush will respect the strand length without distortion.

However, there are a number of things you can do to break this live state. Changing the topology, subdividing it, merging with another subtool, exporting as regular polymesh geoemtry, etc., are all things that will break this state.

Once the mesh has been converted into a regular polymesh, it will behave like any other mesh and there will no longer be any limitation on how far you can pull out the strands. Like any other geometry, if you pull the points drastically out of position, the geometry will distort. So you want to be sure to get any substantial styling done before the strands leave their live state.

#3

Hello @Spyndel,

Thanks for your reply, this is the polyframe of the fibermesh. I get what you are saying, I’m not entirely sure if I merged it with another piece of fibermesh.
Is there a way to revert it? Or somehow fix it?

Thanks!

Render
Render.jpg1482×818 95.4 KB

#4

Not easily, as far as I know. :frowning: Unless you have an earlier version of the file with the live fibermesh hair, then what you have now is a polymesh that will respond to sculpting–you could try smoothing the distorted strands out gradually with a very low intensity smooth brush–but won’t respond as fibermesh fibers do.

You probably won’t find this helpful right now, but Zbrush offers a lot of options for working non-destructively.

  • Try to use features like duplicate tools and subtools to work on the mesh at different stages

  • Periodically save out important tools out of a project file with the tool> save as function (saves a copy of the active tool only) as a quick way to snapshot tools at various stages regardless of what is happening in your project file

  • above all, make regular, iterative saves of your project file (work on multiple saves at various stages–dont save a single file over and over).