Zbrush cutting and other questions

[Kracov]

Hi all. I had posted at polycount and CGtalk but no one knew how to help. I’m a moderate user of Zbrush, although I was on a long break so I’ve forgotten a few things. Youtube helped with some of it but since I’m deaf, some of the captions/subs were weird or not helpful.

1- How do I enable local symmetry for newly created subtools like the premade sphere? When I press Unify or Mirror, then try L Sym and work on it, it doesn’t work symmetrically.
2- What is the difference between document saving, subtool saving, and file saving?
3- How do I cut/slice/trim debris that’s separated from the main subtool? Ctrl Shift and drag doesn’t do anything to remove it

[Jack_Niederer]

x is the enable/is enable disable symmetry button. if you’re using one of the default projects the sphere should be centered fine, so mirror etc should be working okay. If your subtool is off center, hit the L.Sym button (transform menu). That should center symmetry on that object. Hit the button again to go back to normal. You can use the S.Pivot then C.Pivot buttons to do something similar, this should work fine with mirroring.

• Save tool, saves the active tool and it’s subtools. It’s sometimes unstable working between zbursh versions, but otherwise it’s a clean and lower file size way of saving your work. You then load this into a project when you want to work on it.
• Save file (file>save as, or ctrl+s) saves the project as is. It saves all the tools that are loaded into the project (stuff you’ve imported or worked on and appended to your main tool and didn’t delete etc.), and it saves your lighting, material assigns and so on. It’s the most complete way to save things if you want to reopen and have everything the same. This is a project file, so you open it you don’t load it in like you would with a tool. It holds more info so has a larger file size, but seems to be more stable.
• It just depends how you work, which you like, or what you need the file to do, as to which you choose.
• Save document might be for 2d? I’ve never used it. I don’t think it makes editable files.

If you have a subtool that is made of many pieces and you want to get rid of some, like a messy scan with outliers for instance, you could auto group the subtool (polygroup>autogroup). This will group every individual piece that isn’t connected as a different polygroup. Then isolate the part you want to keep (ctril+shift+click model). And delete hidden (Geometry>Modify Topology>Del Hidden). That will get rid of any geo in the subtool that isn’t currently visible.

[Kracov]

Thanks. Do you also have tips for removing parts from “inside”? This is one half of a head, and i was trying to hollow it out so that i can keep the hair.

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