ZBrushCentral

ZB3.1 Smooth Brush Behaves Differently

ZBrush Usage Questions
#61

hey guys I just thought to try this out myself.

I am firstly amazed by the speed with which zbrush 3.1 works, zbrush 2 sucks infront of it.

I am sorry but I like the new smooth brush.

How many of you actually use it at very low levels ? I used it on this model subdivided to lvl 5 with only 900k polygons and its working fine.

Only at lower levels than this its having the flattening effect.

actually the mesh is working like real wet clay, thats why it appears to have a bit of dent effect, if you notice, it actually the edges of the brush which makes it appear flattening, just like when you water paint or sculpt a wet surface.

yes the smaller the brush the more prominent the flattening effect is.

so either use a big brush or increase the size of the mesh (alt + mouse drag)

and use a different material, this red one makes the flattening effect look more prominent.

[smoothrushtest.jpg]

#62

heres another test

[smoothrushtest2.jpg]

#63

Hi,
Plakkie are you loading Rastaman’s curve into Smoothbrush curve and not into the edit curve panel ?

Anyway that’s what I did first…and that does’nt work :lol: .

Thanks Rastaman
Lucky

#64

Lucky (and others): thanks for the tips. I did paste Rasta’s curve in the good place though; had to look two times myself. :lol:

I’ve tried to make a movie file of how smooth works for me. They are very bad quality after uploading, so it’s hard to see. I try but I don’t get a smooth surface without using a very big brush size.
Video 1

Video 2

It does feel a bit like wet clay, but that’s not the effect I’m looking for here. I takes me so much more time to get something evenly smoothed then it did before, and that can’t be a good thing. Perhaps some like this new brush. Currently I hate it a bit, but I’ll keep trying though.

#65

Aurick, Ryan, Support-guy: this smooth brush is so imporant to modeling in Zbrush. Can anyone of you give us your thoughts on this subject? I’m really willing to get used to changes, and I’m nót trying to flame or rant or something.

Here’s the short question:
Why is my smoothbrush flattening the geometry so much, and can I do anything about it myself?

Thanks for your time and for answering our anxious questions! :+1:
Plakkie

#66

But… im loading in Smoothbrush curve… the Edit curve is already “skate-ramp” by default and doesnt need to load… ¿?

#67

Try this:

Go to Macro/Reload All Macros/SmoothAll.

After changing your brush size (and smooth) a coupple of times, the smooth brush will come like in 3.0 version.

#68

I meant intensity, not size. Sorry about that.

#69

wkedsunny and others,

Sorry for the delay; I haven’t been checking this thread.

I’m running ZB3.1 on a Windows XP Professional v.2002 Service Pack 2, with GeForce 6800 GS, on a flat screen Philips monitor. Pentium ® 4CPU 3.40GHz, 3.41GHz, 2.00GB of RAM.

Still no problems.

Cheers,

R

#70

hi Plakkie and all central peoples, i read this thread, with a full concentration, and in the 2 hours befour i try to get the same smooth brush like zb3 or 2,(a realy like this smooth in this version) and this is my best configuration and i feel have better relaxation than i have in the defoult.

a- the brushmod in 0 (you can finde this at side of meshinsert)

b- first i made a reset on the curve.

  • in the curvesmooth
    c- first point v= .54 H= 0
    d- midel point v .83 H= .91
    e- end point v =1 H .1
    f- offset = -.52

or if realy dont like to push back the polygons select the smooth brush and set the brushmod in 85, like read in other thread.

now with this im feel more happy in the relaxation face of the models
i hope can help with that, will talks

Jalo

Attachments

smooth_setting.jpg

#71

Gotta throw my tuppence in the pot! I, like what seems to be a small few, quite like the new smooth! and i’ll tell you for why… It seems far more like working with an actual clay or wax medium! So perhaps that is what they tried to get? If so, then good call! However I would certainly comfirm that it has changed quite considerably from 3.0! Perhaps the answer would be to create two new brushes rather than just altering one so that those who like the new brush get to have they’re way also! cos i’m sure that given the right cercumstances they is a good use for both types of smooth brushes!

Anyhow there it is, in the pot, my two pence!! :wink:

#72

definitely agree with last post.

have multiple smooth brushes… or at least a toggle on a single smooth brush that lets it work in a more “predictable” manner for people who are used to former versions.

for me, the smooth brush just acts strangely in general. sometimes, i have to switch back and forth between levels to get it to start working (at all) again.

other times, it seems to be “running out of ink” while i work with it. and yah, i am indeed encountering the rather undesirable flattening effect too.

really wondering now whether this is a feature, a modification or a genuine bug. hope the pix guys chime in on this in some official capacity.

wouldn’t mind hearing from zb tutorial makers and featured artists too… do you guys think this is a bug? do you like it?

jin

#73

Just a quick thought but default the smooth brush has alpha off. previously it was round. Have you tried using a round alpha with smooth?

#74

PLAKKIE I think thats your answer choose alpha1. its a round circle and poof the flattening effect goes away. I think its the same “weirdness” everyone is getting with their brushes. One thing I do see a problem with is when holding shift I cant seem to adjust intensit like before.

#75

Thanks for your contribution, squeige.
I tried the alpha before; for me the flattening effect is still there: the alpha is another way to soften up the steep falloff, but the effect of the brush will not change that way. I’m currently learning to deal with it, but this new smooth brush isn’t my big friend anymore. (would be great if Pixologic gave us the choice between the old and new, as others have asked)

#76

I seem to have some success with the smooth brush, select the 01 alpha, and then increase the rf to 15 or so. This seems to get better results. Not perfect, but a little better.

#77

In the same boat here. Hating the new smooth brush. Can we please get the default smooth brush back from 3.0/2.0?? Or at least have it as an option. Nothing I’ve done in this entire thread has given me the same results as before. Perhaps the devs could just tell us how to get the same results from smooth brush as earlier versions of zb rather than us all saying the same thing?

#78

I completely agree. Can we get someone from pixologic to respond to this issue? Let us know how to get the smooth brush to work exactly as it used to, or say “hey, we accidentally f’ed up the smooth brush. It will be fixed in 3.2.”

#79

I’m not sure if you guys missed it, but Nyanta’s post on page 4 actually fixed this issue for me completely. Setting the brushmod for the smooth brush to 80 makes it behave like the old smooth brush on my machine.

#80

nothing worked for me so far…but after weeks of working i am used to the new smooth…i was one of the guys screaming for the old one in the beginning, but now i dont wanna miss it anymore :slight_smile: