[ZBrush] ~ Polygroup gone missing; why and how to fix it?
triangle
Hi again.
Here's my problem: one of the polygroups on my model keeps disappearing, somehow absorbed by the surrounding one. Already happened twice! >.<
What I'm trying to achieve: I'm sculpting a model of a treasure chest, which obviously involves nail heads. They're of the simplest kind, roundish and kinda semi-spherical, but I give them a touch of roughness with an alpha resembling hammerhead marks (from the blacksmith who made them).
To make it easier I marked the areas reserved for the nails with a mask and then made a polygroup out of them. This way, every time I need to go back to modify the nail heads, all I have to do is use the auto-masking function to quickly re-mask them.
Everything was fine, at first, but after some steps into modifying the chest, the polygroup representing the hail heads disappeared and the same spots are now part of the surrounding polygroup.
Alas, I can't tell when/why this happens, because I activate the polyframe view only when needed, which can happen at any time during the sculpting session.
Furthermore, the model is composed of several subtools, and I keep moving between them depending on what I wanna do/tweak/change.
The first time this happened I simply moved through the undo history and eventually got the polygroup back, but the second time I had no history to go back through and this means I'll have to delete all the layers with the modifications up to the point before I sculpted the nail heads and just redo them.
Apparently, polygroups are not influenced by layers, they can be made both when the recording is on and when it is off. Thus I doubt it has to do with a layer getting deleted (not that I deleted any layer, anyway!).
I did some polypainting too, but I don't think this is the cause.....right?
The oddest thing is that it's always the same polygroup.
So why is this happening? Is there some kind of quirk I'm not aware of that causes this behavior?
Any way to easily retrieve/retain the polygroups informations so that, even if something goes south, I can still get them back?
Thank you.
Here's my problem: one of the polygroups on my model keeps disappearing, somehow absorbed by the surrounding one. Already happened twice! >.<
What I'm trying to achieve: I'm sculpting a model of a treasure chest, which obviously involves nail heads. They're of the simplest kind, roundish and kinda semi-spherical, but I give them a touch of roughness with an alpha resembling hammerhead marks (from the blacksmith who made them).
To make it easier I marked the areas reserved for the nails with a mask and then made a polygroup out of them. This way, every time I need to go back to modify the nail heads, all I have to do is use the auto-masking function to quickly re-mask them.
Everything was fine, at first, but after some steps into modifying the chest, the polygroup representing the hail heads disappeared and the same spots are now part of the surrounding polygroup.
Alas, I can't tell when/why this happens, because I activate the polyframe view only when needed, which can happen at any time during the sculpting session.
Furthermore, the model is composed of several subtools, and I keep moving between them depending on what I wanna do/tweak/change.
The first time this happened I simply moved through the undo history and eventually got the polygroup back, but the second time I had no history to go back through and this means I'll have to delete all the layers with the modifications up to the point before I sculpted the nail heads and just redo them.
Apparently, polygroups are not influenced by layers, they can be made both when the recording is on and when it is off. Thus I doubt it has to do with a layer getting deleted (not that I deleted any layer, anyway!).
I did some polypainting too, but I don't think this is the cause.....right?
The oddest thing is that it's always the same polygroup.
So why is this happening? Is there some kind of quirk I'm not aware of that causes this behavior?
Any way to easily retrieve/retain the polygroups informations so that, even if something goes south, I can still get them back?
Thank you.
Replies
Then I traced a series of masked dots with the DragRect while following the polyframe lines, so that they would be all at the same distance and of the same size. Polygrouped, huzzah!
Then I sculpted some hammer marks on the metal bands, and after that I made the nail heads.
Then I tested some base colors for the various parts of the lid, and thought of possible polypaint effects and glossiness/reflectivity maps.
Then I moved onto the chest base to paint its wood too, then back to the lid to....damn!! Where the heck did the nails' polygroup go?!
More or less, this is what happened the first time. And the second time too....more or less.
What baffles me is that that is the only polygroup that disappeared. And I can't remember sliding down to lower subdivs. Doesn't make any sense, to me! >o<
Ok, I've finally managed to witness the exact moment when the polygroup disappears, here the conditions:
.: nails' heads polygrouped
:. nail's heads masked/inverted (all the rest is masked, not the nails)
.: automatic quick OR manual save runs
At this point the nails polygroup disappears, absorbed by the surrounding polygroup.
By Undo/Redo_ing I can retrieve the polygroup, but I guess it might disappear even when I'm working on other subtools.
Aaaaand...I've just changed the matcap and the polygroup disappeared again. Undo/Redo and it's back, but I can't go on like this!! >.<
Help!! =(
Tsk...now even just rotating the camera made the polygroup disappear....I didnt even have any masking active and had just deleted Undo history.
This is a curse!!!! >O<
.: I trace a series of masked areas over a previously existing polygroup
:. I open the Polygroups menu and click on "Group Masked"
.: I Ctrl+click&drag on the canvas to clear masks
:. I save the project
.: I rotate the camera...
...and voilà!
No more new polygroup.
I swear, this is madness... -.-'
Maybe someone will chime in with the perfect solution for you, but until then I would model the nail heads or texture them and detail them while the model has no lower levels that the geometry wont support the groups.
EDIT
Here ya go. Check out ZB 2018.
http://pixologic.com/features/#intro
The low poly base model was made in Maya just to be low poly.
There's no way a hit on ZRemesher could preserve the needed structure.
Even projecting details could be potentially disastrous, as every vertex has been placed with a precise design in mind.
This is an assignment for a game design course, I'm supposed to produce a low poly, "hand polypainted" model, made in Maya and sculpted in ZBrush.
Making new subtools just for the nail heads would bring in new polygons and would require a further rework of the UV maps. It's meant for a game, thus this is not a good idea.
I have already read about ZBrush 2018, but a more "intelligent" way to build polygroups might be not the solution, since my problem doesn't reside in the making, but in their preservation.
Might be a problem.
Right now, with the polypaint on, the whole thing weighs over 600MB. And with my connection it would take about 2 hours for the upload.
See those brass colored nail heads (all the lot of them)? They're supposed to be a separate polygroup in each subtool.
Anyway, I'll try to find a place where to upload it and then eventually post the link.