ZBrushCentral

Running low on RAM?

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

Hey guys i’m learning here…I may have ran into a brick wall.

I’ve subdivided my character up to level 6 (hes one piece, arms, legs, head) and I can get skin fold details etc but I really want to add wrinkles and pores! I suppose i’d need to divide him once or twice more… but I got the error: “not recommended to divide again”

I have 4GB of ram on Windows7 X64
a core 2 duo, processor OC’d to 3.2 GHZ…

can anyone tell me what my mem preferences should be set to?

Or maybe give me some advice how to move forward? What is the workflow for working with masks? can I mask and then subdivide further? Or do I have to subdivide and then mask?

any advice appreciated! thanks…

#2

Howdy try using 5 sub-divisions then use high definition sub-diviisions, either 2-3 to get the really high end detail in. You just use the “A” key and hold your mouse over the area you wish to highly define it becomes a high definition area when your done there hit “A” again move over a bit and repeat. It allows for more sub-divisions than using the normal types and allows that extra detail. If you click on Transp prior to using the “A” key the rest of the none high def model will be displayed as a ghost image you can see through.

High definition sub-divisions is located right under Geometry in the side menu its called Geometry HD.

#3

interesting… so is this a good process to use on an entire character? it sounds by what you say that it might just be good for certain parts…

I looked and found the GeometryHD section and it is greyed out?

#4

Pretty sure when using HD sculpting your suppose to start of using that from around 3rd subd level, not level 6.
Could be wrong tho.

I’m usually able to take all of my models to level 7, I find HD tool in zbrush anoying to use, rather have my zbrush slow down little then using it.

You can subd your mesh to level 7, just be aware that you should expect some crashes every now and again, Just switching brushes in 3.5 will crash it sometimes.

I find 3.1 more stable with hight polycounts its just anoyingly slow with undos where 3.5 is about 2-9 secs faster.
If you want to get around having slow undos just store morph target and use that for your undos, so you just usse morph tool to undo what you just did.

#5

I believe you need at least subdivision 5 for the HD sculpting to become active and yes you just keep using it by pressing “A” over the area you wish to work on moving around your model as needed.

#6

I don’t believe so. The SubD level is meaningless when talking about number of polys. You can have 1 million polys at SubD 1 or 5 depending on your starting mesh. There is a HD sculpting video in the ZClassroom and it suggests only using standard subdivisions up to 1-1.5 million polys if you want to use HD subdivisions.

Richard

#7

Thanks guys I think HD sculpting is just what I needed…

can i ask a few questions though that don’t seem clear?

  • [1]When I create a normal or cavity map. Do I have to put both my Subd level to 0 AND my HD level to 0 first?
    [2]Will creating this map actually take the highest level of both HD and Subd into account?
    [3]What is the difference when creating maps and rendering with HD?

thanks!

#8

I’ve subdivided my character up to level 6 (hes one piece, arms, legs, head) and I can get skin fold details etc but I really want to add wrinkles and pores! I suppose i’d need to divide him once or twice more… but I got the error: “not recommended to divide again”

#9

thats what i said…! did you mean to respond?

#10

I recommend looking at the HD sculpting tutorials at http://www.pixologic.com/zclassroom/homeroom/

That will explain the process to you of how HD sculpting works. :smiley: