zbrush sub levels are gone

Talbot

Hey guys... so I'm trying to add another subdivision level to this model but zbrush won't let me. It says that I need to clear the previous ones or change the limit. I changed the limit.. and then looked and I had no sub levels to even delete.



Can anyone help?

Thanks

cryrid

Subdividing a mesh that is already at 12million points, I think you're running into a memory limitation more than anything. You could either try switching to HD Geometry at that point, or cutting the mesh up into subtools.

Talbot

cryrid wrote: »

Subdividing a mesh that is already at 12million points, I think you're running into a memory limitation more than anything. You could either try switching to HD Geometry at that point, or cutting the mesh up into subtools.

Okay so would you recommend breaking it into subtools? Also could you explain subtools? hahaha

So at the same time as making this organic tree, I'm also following that eat3d hard surface modeling tutorial. And he literally just got into using subtools and polygroups. So maybe you can help me understand what those are... and maybe if you have seen that tutorial... why/how he is using them?

Zipfinator

Why do you need to add another level to it? Looks high enough as it is and I doubt anything higher would even show up on your normal bake.

Talbot

I'm not making a normal map out of it. I'm in a 3d modeling class... so I can basically go as high as I want. I wouldn't go higher but I have areas that are pushed in or out that are becoming very faceted.

cryrid

Okay so would you recommend breaking it into subtools? Also could you explain subtools? hahaha

Well, they basically let you split a mesh into several independent objects. One benefit is that zbrush allows each SubTool to have as many polygons as your system can handle. For example, if your system can handle 8 million polygons for one SubTool you can have a model equal to 32 million polygons by having 4 SubTools of 8 million polygons each.
The tutorial you're watching should give you a pretty clear indication of how they work. To be honest though, I've never broken a single continuous object into several subtools (usually I have subtools for seperate elements like eyes, clothes, etc), so I'm not sure if it would result in any seams across the surface when you try and bake a map from it. If it does, I'm sure the bark would be a pretty natural place to hide the splits.

I wouldn't go higher but I have areas that are pushed in or out that are becoming very faceted.

If you're running into an issue like that at 12 million polygons, I think there is a density issue somewhere costing you a lot of wasted polygons. Now might be the time to retopologize the mesh. There are many ways to go about it, although since you no longer have any lower subdivision levels you may want to start by running the decimation master plugin on it so that you can get something lighter and easier to work with (I know on my computer, trying to run any kind of operation on a mesh that size would be inviting crashes).

The decimated version should preserve the surface detail, but wont have toplogy suitable for sculpting. So from there you can either retopologize it in zbrush or another program, or try running tools:subtools:remesh on the result (or dynamesh if you have z4r2) in order to get a mesh that has a more uniform consistency. Whichever method you choose, subdivide the new retoplogized mesh a bit and then use the project all button to transfer the details from the 12million sculpt (or the decimated version) onto it. You may even be able to capture the present detail with < 4million points.

Talbot

Sweet thank you very much Cryrid for taking the time to write all that out. I think with the tutorial I just need to keep watching the same thing over and over again until I understand it. hahaha.

I'll try that retopologizing thing right now and let you know how it goes.