ZBrushCentral

Trouble with enlarging objects

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

Hi everybody. I started working with Zbrush a few days ago, but I am having trouble with a certain issue…

Now I usually started working with a sphere and realized later on that I need to make it a bit larger here, a bit larger there. Well I ended up with a lot bigger polygons (hope that name is right) than on those parts where I didn’t enlarge my sphere.
I used the standard brush for this. Now I know this must happen somehow, because the brushes don’t add polys to the object but is there a simple way to distribute them more evenly?

First off: Is there a way to avoid this issue without subdividing the troubled areas?

Seconds problem is that somehow local subdivision works very strangely for me. Now when I leave only the small troubled area unmasked and subdivide somehow only the borders of the unmasked area get subdivided while the rest seems to be the same (working on level 1 without higher levels).
Afterwards I tested the same with inverted masks and a big unmasked area gets divided just fine…
But I am pretty sure that it did work for me the first time I tried it out on a basic sphere.
Are there known issues with objects with subdivision history? I did save my object in the work process and made it a 3d polymesh at some point…

thanks in advance :slight_smile:

#2

The best way to avoid the problem is to start with a base mesh that has the approximate shape you’re going for. ZSpheres are a great, quick way to generate such a base mesh.

There is a way to help fix the problem, but it will only go so far. Go to level 1 and then use the Tool>Geometry>Reproject Higher button. This will redistribute the high res polygons to better fit the structure of the low res, while still trying to retain the shape of the high res mesh.

As for partial subdivision, I’m not familiar with the problem you describe. Could you show illustrations? Keep in mind that any time you partially divide a mesh you’ll get triangles at the point where the two densities come together. These will not smooth the same as quads, and will often result in artifacts in the high resolution mesh. Of course, when you’re completely done with your sculpt you can always use retopology to build a new mesh with the desired polygon structure while projecting onto it the details from the messy mesh.

#3

The second problem actually was my own stupidity. It did subdivide just fine, I just could not see it right away, because the area was flat… using any kind of brush revealed the addiontinal polys :wink:

Actually i found a decent solution for the generall problem with the “make unified skin” option. worked great.