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Polypaint Problem in Zbrush 4

Twister3
polycounter lvl 12
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Twister3 polycounter lvl 12
Hi guys

i've started to polypaint a sculpt of mine and I did it in layers.

Currently it looks like this:

vu4za.jpg

After turning off the current recording layer like this:

UGNph.jpg

So it looks like everything is shifted aroud. There is no texture involved, just polypaint.

When I hit "bake all" it looks even worse:

P2C6A.jpg


I can't figure out what the problem is. I've had problems with the materials with this model. What I did was export the whole model as .obj and import again that fixed the material issue.

Can anybody help me out here?

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  • AnimeAngel
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    What do your UVs look like?
  • Ace-Angel
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    Ace-Angel polycounter lvl 12
    Nothing to do with UV's, you don't need UV's for polypaint. Bake all in ZB = collapse the vertex color infromation to the polies.

    It's simple actually, just create another layer (empty one) and either delete it or stop the Recording of it and collapse it.

    You have to remember that ZBrush is actively working with the layers when you have them on, even when you stop them, ZB keeps them in an 'active' state, so changing them in less then standard way of doing stuff is equal to corruption.

    I think it's a bug that was introduced in the 3.5 or 4 version, but very easy to get around it with above method.
  • Twister3
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    Twister3 polycounter lvl 12
    Ace-Angel wrote: »
    It's simple actually, just create another layer (empty one) and either delete it or stop the Recording of it and collapse it.

    When I create another layer it shifts everything (like in picture 2). I guess it would have worked if there wasn't a layer currently set in rec-mode.

    So I guess I'll start over (since the polypaint was only about 1-2 hours work it doesn't hurt as bad as if I had done the whole character.

    So what do you recommend when working with polypaint and layers? Collapsing them all the time (after being done with one)?
  • Ace-Angel
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    Ace-Angel polycounter lvl 12
    Hmm, strange, did you try creating a copy of the layer which is shifting and see if that helps? Also, is anything masked both from that layer or any previous layer?

    ZB will occasionally lock in nasty masks here and there, which can destroy hours of work if they're not cleaned properly after polypainting.
  • Twister3
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    Twister3 polycounter lvl 12
    Yes, that didn't work either. But I've found out that there was something wrong with my base layer (the one that contains all the "skintone"-data). What it was I have no idea.

    I just did a quick test: I created a new "skin"-layer and painted on that and it seems fine. Thanks anyway! If I come across any more trouble while polypainting I'll probably post in this thread.

    Edit: I think I know what the problem was. I recall that I polypainted on a subdiv level above the one I'm using now, stepped down and deleted the higher subdiv levels. It seems logical that working that way is only asking for trouble! :D
  • Ace-Angel
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    Ace-Angel polycounter lvl 12
    Ah yes, that would do it too. Totally slipped my mind.

    I usually prefer to polypaint on the highest level to avoid any problems in that area, and if I plan to move another division for painting (EI: 4M isn't enough for me, so I need to 8-16M), I collapse that one before continuing.

    If you system can take it, try pushing in the upper 2 digits for the millions.

    Another tip I can give is to hide parts of your mesh which you aren't painting on. This allows much more responsive times on dense models, especially if one is in the 10 million above. Don't worry, as long as you only hide and unhide stuff, your layer shouldn't be corrupted and it will record changed fine, just don't delete anything from there.

    Hope some of these tips helped.
  • Twister3
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    Twister3 polycounter lvl 12
    Cool, thank you for the helpful tips! I will keep them in mind when I continue working on the model.
  • Murnau
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    Same problem here! When I try to change something in the layers, hours of work with polypaint disappear! Help me please!!!!
  • JR
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    JR polycounter lvl 15
    Ace-Angel wrote: »
    I think it's a bug that was introduced in the 3.5 or 4 version, but very easy to get around it with above method.

    Like a lot of others. The way layers worked before was tons better. But they modified to introduce the animation features, that are useless for almost everybody. Damn you, Pixologic.
  • Drimakus
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    Drimakus polycounter lvl 5
    I had the same issue but somehow I fixed up. I had 2 layers with a lot polypaint and sculpt which was needed to bake to an original model. I just moved them one above the other couple times - back and forth and pressed BAKE. And it worked! Kinda random but still an option ;D
  • undeadcoyote
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    undeadcoyote polycounter lvl 9
    Thanks Ace-Angel your solution just saved me a couple hours of polypainting I was doing on a layer when this problem happened. Cheers mate :)
  • Twister3
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    Twister3 polycounter lvl 12
    Thanks Ace-Angel your solution just saved me a couple hours of polypainting I was doing on a layer when this problem happened. Cheers mate :)
    Wow, necropost if I ever saw one!
  • BitGem
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    BitGem polycounter lvl 9
    @Ace-Angel Awesome, thanks! This saved me today as well. This post just doesn't stop giving it seems :)
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