Zbrush Mesh Partial Subdivision?

ChickenNoodleSoup

Mods, Sorry if this occurs as a double post. i got a blank page when i originally posted:

Hello everyone,

I am currently working on a tutorial that requires I partially subdivide a mesh.
The original tutorial was written for MudBox but i am applying everything or as much as i can to Zbrush.

This is my problem - currently in the tutorial, the instructor masks or selects certain faces on the model, in mudbox then subdivides only the faces in the selection!
He says this keeps poly count manageable and keeps the extra details in only the areas you want it.
I am attempting this same thing in Zbrush, i ctrl+Click to mask off areas on the model that i want subdivided, which gets painted a dark colour, then i ctrl+click in my viewport to invert that selection. Now everything on the model is painted a dark colour except for my selected areas. When i press "DIVIDE" or ctrl+D, i get a message saying "model must be at lowest subdivision level or delete subdivision history". I hit shift D to drop down to the lowest division level, then ctrl+d, to divide the model and my selection disapepars and the entire model get's subdivided. can anyone help?
Deleting the subdivison history is not an option becuase i am still working on the model and would like to jump up and down sub-d leves for for exports, and normals maps etc.

Thanks in Advance,
-c

divi

http://www.pixologic.com/zclassroom/homeroom/tutorial.php?lesson=HD

ChickenNoodleSoup

Thanks, but that doesnt really answer my question. I am not working in HD subdivison mode, and i need to export the model back into 3dsmax with the partial subdvided areas for normal map generation.
Does this mean that in Zbrush one cannot partially subdivide a model?

divi

you can add more edge loops which kinda does it, but you cant tell it to subdivide a part which would leave you with ngons or triangles.

MoP

ChickenNoodleSoup: You can partially subdivide, if you mask + hide parts of the mesh and then subdivide.
But I would not recommend this workflow. Personally I'd just subdivide the whole thing and then work on the specific areas.

divi

oh, you actually can good to know! will leave you with triangles though, doesnt it?

MoP

Yep, it will do evil things to the border between the lower sub-d level and the masked sub-d level. That's why I'd recommend avoiding it unless you absolutely have to (or if you just really don't care about having nasty geometry that might get in the way of sculpting around that transition area).