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sub tool error - occasional SUPER slow brushstrokes - what am I doing wrong?

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

I keep encountering an issue where I’ll be working on a sub tool and suddenly, for no apparent reason, my brush strokes will be SUPER slow and laggy, like I’m working on a really old computer on too much geometry. And the problem will never leave this sub tool no matter how many times I Dynamesh/Zremesh/dowhatevertoit. BUT, I’m able to resolve the issue by exporting the sub tool as an .OBJ and re-appending it back to my tool - magically the brush strokes are fast again! :rolleyes:

So I’m thinking I must be hitting a hotkey on accident that is enabling some sort of super slow lazy mouse feature on a per sub tool basis. Does anyone have any idea what I might be encountering? It’s pretty annoying.

I’m running Zbrush 4R7 P1 on OSX.

Thanks in advance.

#2

Hi there

Make sure you don´t have dynamic subdivision active (Pressing D will activate if you don´t have subdivisions) if it is set to higher that 3 subdivisions and you are working on dense dynamesh it would lagg all your strokes for sure
Also, i would recomend to install the last Patch released. Not sure if that issue is related to Mac version

#3

Oh man I think you are right. I have been working on some fairly high resolution dynameshes and probably have been hitting the D key on accident. It just happened again and I pressed shift+D and the problem went away. Could not even tell it was enabled due to how dense these meshes are. Thanks a ton!

#4

So I finally caught onto this strange thing. If I hit D on a low resolution mesh and then add divisions using like CTRL D or whatever. after that it is slow sculpting and I don’t actually know how to fix it. Shift D doesn’t fix it as it just goes through the newly set subdivision! So far the only way I know how to fix it is to go to the lowest level, delete higher, then hit Shift D to get rid of that visual smoothing mode.

I don’t understand that mode just yet. Why does it use the same shortcuts? And where does it exist outside of the shortcuts (as a toggle button? Is there a button I can press to toggle it on and off?)

Thanks

#5

http://docs.pixologic.com/user-guide/3d-modeling/modeling-basics/dynamic-subdivision/hotkeys/

If an object has traditional subdivision levels, the D/ Shift D shortcuts will move up/down those subdivision levels. If the subtool has no subdivision levels, then those shortcuts will toggle dynamic subd on/off, which subdivides the object virtually. This can occasionally be problematic if the subtool in question happens to be fairly high poly at its base level already, and the user has twitchy fingers.

Since this seems to bother some users with certain ways of working, hopefully Pixologic can look into divorcing the two functions from each other in a future release. In the meantime, as far as I know that behavior is tied to the D/Shift-D shortcuts whereever you move them. However, there is a dedicated Dynamic Subdivision on/off toggle.

What I have done is move the dynamic subdivision button to a place on my interface near my working area, so I can always see if the button is lit up or not, and assigned it a hotkey so I can always toggle it on off irrespective of the actual classic subdivision level. I don’t have that twitchy finger issue with my workflow, but this may help you to more easily detect and eliminate the Dynamic SubD mode if you inadvertently trigger it.