This has been going on for a few years now, and it’s happened on a few different systems of mine and also happens to my coworker as well. Whenever I use the transpose tool or in recent times, the Gizmo to move something or rotate it, or whatever, there’s a small percent chance (I’d guess in the neighborhood of 3-5%) that it reverts to a previous rotation or position. Or as in the instance that prompted this inquiry, sometimes even to a previous state before a deform function was applied such as “Bend Curve”. Sometimes it happens when we use the Gizmo to transpose several subtools, then maybe a few of them revert to a previous orientation as I start to move them all together. It’s like when the transpose is initiated, ZBrush reaches back into the subtools histories and randomly reverts them to a previous state. I’m just wondering if this is something that we can prevent in some way, as it seems to be more frequent in recent years. Or is there plans to fix this issue if others are having it? Having to reorient multiple parts that have become misaligned due to this is difficult because ZBrush lacks the alignment/snapping tools that could help in this instance. I almost always have to eyeball it. And working in the toy industry, sometimes precision alignment is necessary.
Hello @KrakenCMT
Unfortunately, I don’t experience what you’re describing. Without documenting this behavior in some way, there’s not much to do but speculate, and it would be difficult to report to Support if there is indeed something that needs to be fixed.
Most of the things you describe sound like something that might happen as a result of a lack of accuracy when working in the program (hitting the wrong button or accidentally hitting another element in the UI). The most likely scenario seems to me that there is something about your hardware setup or program configuration that is impacting your precision when working in ZBrush, possibly a tablet sensitivity issue (or even a worn stylus). An overly small interface on a high resolution monitor can also result in a loss of precision when interacting with UI elements. However, I take you at your word that this occurs on different systems. I have no explanation for this from the information provided.
If you are using any fancy interface devices you may want to check that it is officially supported by Pixologic. Unsupported devices can result in inadvertent button presses and loss of precision. I would do any testing of these issues with just a standard mouse and keyboard. If the behavior is as expected when working this way, then I would look to whatever devices you may be using with ZBrush as a potential culprit.
This could be the result of hitting the “Reset Mesh Orientation” icon on the Gizmo manipulator. If a tool has been rotated and the manipulator is in the locked state, then hitting this icon will cause the mesh to restore its original orientation.
A note on the gizmo deformers. The operations aren’t permanent until you “accept” them in Gizmo deformer menu. Until that time they can be reset.
Otherwise, this sounds like an inadvertent undo. Are you using any custom hotkeys or a device with programmable buttons that could be triggering this?
To make sense of your issue I think you’re first going to have to document it happening. This probably means video of a procedure that results in the behavior you describe. The next time it happens, see if you can undo and make it happen again. If you can document this, then you could send it to Support (technical issues must be reported to Pixologic Support if you actually want them fixed). Or you could at least show it to other users to verify it isn’t a usage issue.
Good luck!
Well, I won’t be running my screen capture software hoping to catch the bug cuz it’s never predictable when it will occur. I’m sure it’s not tablet related as often I use the mouse for positioning/transposing objects with the gizmo as it’s a bit more precise. Otherwise I’m using my Intuos Pro medium. I’m also sure it’s not any hotkey or undo thing as when I’m using the Gizmo, no hotkeys are involved.
Oddly enough, I have yet to experience the bug on my computer at work since upgrading to 2021. Of course, it’s only been a few days… But before that I’ve encountered the bug on every ZBrush version that had the gizmo tool.
ZB2021 has it’s own issues and I’ll be asking about that as well in a separate post.
Thanks for trying though!