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Answered: Adding thickness to a tool with multiple subdivisions

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

Hi,

How can I add thickness to a tool which has multiple subdivision levels? I cannot delete the subdivision levels and reconstruct them. And if I export the lowest level and add thickness in an external program, the mesh gets messed up when trying to project the high-level detail in ZBrush.

So what can I do instead?

Patrick

#2

You can mask the entire model (Ctrl+Click on the canvas) and do Tool>SubTool>Extract with a negative thickness. Once this has been done, select the new SubTool and clear its mask. Ctrl+Shift+Click on the front surface of the model to hide everything else. Now use ProjectAll to copy the details from the original. Ctrl+Shift+Click on the canvas to show the entire model again.

All that should now be left is to delete your original SubTool.

#3

Thanks aurick. But I am not sure if I follow you.

After I’ve hidden the newly added thickness part of the mesh, I do what? I have to divide it to the same amound of subdivisionas as the original? I then select which object to Project? Because right now, the Project All button is disabled all the time.

Patrick

#4

When you extract, the new model is automatically appended to the original. This new model will have the exact polygon count that was active on the source model at time of extraction, plus additional polygons for the inner surface and walls. So if your model is at the highest level when you extract, the new model will have one level that is equal to the highest. Alternatively you can be at the lowest level when you extract. In this case, after you have selected and unmasked the extracted model you can then divide it to have the original number of levels before you proceed to projection. You’ll now have a multi-res model.

The only reason why ProjectAll would be disabled is if you don’t have more than one SubTool. In that case, you didn’t follow the instructions as I laid them out. ProjectAll will project all details from the visible SubTools onto any visible (or unmasked) portions of the currently selected SubTool.

#5

Ok, I see now. Thanks for the explanations.

Patrick

#6

thanks aurick!