ZBrushCentral

Insufficient memory???

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

I just wanted to split a mesh with about 17000 polys in subdivision level 1 and in Level 6 (my maximum level) about 17. Mio Polys.

I get an error, which tells me, I have to increase my memory. But when I look at the task-manager, I only use about 40% of the memory. I nearly wanted to by new memory to upgrade to 32 GB, but I saw, that I only use no more than 40% of my 16 GB memory.
Is this a problem of 32 bit version of zbrush? I work on windows 8 with 64 bit. Or what can I do to increase the amount of memory used by zbrush?

mawag01

Attachments

Insufficient Memory.jpg

#2

Remember, no matter how much memory your system has, Zbrush can only use 4Gig.

However, I have been getting this message A LOT more since updating to R6. Especially when doing boolean operations in Dynamesh. part of only 3-4 million failing with this error. Anyone else getting this?

#3

Waaaaay, way too many polys. Unnecessary in most cases. :wink: (Been there, done that, and been told) Be a bit more realistic. :idea: Split it up into subtools, works better. ZBrush can use 4 Gb of your RAM.

#4

As result of this problem, I wanted to split into more subtools. But exactly this is not possible. Why are only 4 GB possible? It’s mucht oo less today. A good system has 16 or 32 GB. I don’t understand this.

I want to show detail of the material (leather). So I need a high polycount and subdivided by factor 6. The more polys, the more realistic the result I think. I don’t get enough detail whis factor 5. Much of the polys are in the lace. I had to put it into one subtool to use the move-brush together with the base-mesh and the laces.
Now I have the trouble with memory and I don’T know any other possibility than deleting level 6 and then splitting. After splitting again produce level 6 and then make the details. But the details I already have made (not seen at this pic) get lost and have to be rebuilt again. :frowning:

But: When I look at the gallery here in this forum, it seems, that some of you work with much more of 17. Mio polygons. The pics are so detailed ???

So I will have to wait for the 64bit-Version of ZBrush.

mawag01

#5

Many subtools is how many of the finer models and renders are done. Enable Smooth normals in the render panel, might help. In general keep the divisions as low as possible. Local HD geometry can also be used.

#6

To split a mesh that dense you want to cheat a bit.
duplicate the mesh and delete the the extra parts on both meshes.

Splitting is way more ram intensive than a simple delete. Hope this helps.

#7

Thanks for your answers.
The duplicate + delete adice helped.
But I still think it’S a problem, not to get more than 4GB memory work with zbrush.

mawag01

#8

All of us want it to use more, it has been so since the beginning of time ;). You get more, then want twice that or more again. Learn to work within the limits of your tools or get bigger ones.

#9

@Doug Jones

You are really right. I like all the functions of zbrush, it’s the first tool I - as a hobbyist with learning by doing - am able to get realistic 3d-models. It’s still a hard work and often trial and error throws me back. So today after splitting my too big subtools, saw that one of my subtools has some flipped normals. After correcting this, my uv-map of the corrected subtool has problems. So I have to recreate my uv-maps (again a boring job because I have one uv-map for several subtools, created before splitting the subtools.

But all in all, zbrush in my opinion is a fantastic program. It’s not easy, but it’s also usable for mpeople like me, who have not the money and the time to visit profeswsional courses.

mawag

#10

Mawag - It sounds like your workflow might be a bit out dated actually. All of my high-poly work, soft and hard surface modeling is done inside of Zbrush. Nothing has a proper cage until the end. Nothing has proper UVs until the end. If I need something that will have a tiling texture (tubes, etc) then I still hand the actual high-poly tube in place, but then I generate a straight version that I use for baking. Basically, when you’re needing to keep UVs, geometry, normals, scale, etc, you’re losing the ability to use a ton of features inside of Zbrush. If you rearrange your pipeline you can speed up your process a ton. Even in a complex pipeline where you need to keep UVs, geo, etc to reduce rigging, skinning, unwrapping, etc you can save time by working high and adjusting your geo and UVs to match the new high-poly. Some pipelines don’t accommodate the unhindered high to low pipeline, but most do.

#11

@beta-channel

Thanks very much for your good advice. Yes, I again and again see, that I do some process too early and the have to do it again and again. But ZBrush is so complex, has so many features, and often, I see at a certain point: oops, i should have done this or that earlier, now it’s too late and I have to go back many steps and redo. :frowning:
So your advice is very very welcome. Thanksso much.
You write, that you do all in ZBrush. But for example my pic above, the laces I did in modo, I was not able to get them in zbrush. it’S too difficult to adjust the correct position and form of the line in zbrush. I tried it a lot of times with zbrush (with the curve-function), but I didn’t get a usable result, because I can’t fix the curve a already corrected parts of the curve. So when altering a part of the curve, another, already corrected part, is also moved. This problem doesn’t exist in modo, there you ca. work with splines, whee you can move every point seperately without chainging the others points of a curve.
Note, the laces go around little hooks, which are just hidden to be split.

mawag01

#12

When you are moving parts of the laces, don’t use the Move brush, try the Move Topological brush.

#13

@Gordon Robb,

Thank’S Gordon for your rply. But I ment, it’S difficult to place the curve e.g. with the curve tube brush so exactly around the hooks that after creating the tube only little corrections have to be done with the move or move topological brush. For this purpose, IMHO modo or other spline-able programs are better.
But hooks still are possible with curve-tube-brush. But trying to put laces through holes like in normal shoes (from frontside to backside, and then to the other side and from there through a hole again to the front-side, like the laces on norma l shoes are bound), I completely failed with this problem in zBrush

mawag01

#14

Sometimes you have to fake it. You’ll never see the backside of the lace where it goes through the hole. What will the model be used for? There’s a slider for curve points, maybe you have too many?

#15

@Doug Jones

You are right, I should fake mor. But when I begin a project, I always have the claim to myself, to make it as realistic and perfect as possible for my abilities. Although it’s nonsense. It’s my personal problem :slight_smile: and I must change my mind in this matter.
I only create an orthopedic shoe and orthosis for using in poser. It’s my second project at all.
But: I’m not good enough to post my results here. In this forum, there are so perfect and good sculpts, I’m always surprised what’S possible in the virtual world.

mawag01

#16

I get these all the time when redynameshing, sometimes it crashes and sometimes it continues with error and operation finishes, it seems to be a crapshoot with high poly models, I do a lot of quick saves now!

#17

So is this a bug with R6? Definitely happens more since update.