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Can't create polygroup

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

If someone could please respond I would appreciate it. This is driving me crazy.

Two subtools in the file.

If I mask part of the first subtool and select Polygroups > Group Mask, I get a polygroup. Done this many times while learning ZBrush over the past few weeks.

If I mask part of the second subtool and select Polygroups > Group Mask, it . . . inverts the mask. If I click it again it . . . inverts the mask again. It does not make a polygroup. Mesh remains white, no color to indicate a group.

Tried everything I can think of but no joy here . . . ZB will not let me make a polygroup on the second subtool.

What am I doing wrong?

#2

Hello @sboerner

If what you describe is what is really happening, I can’t reproduce the issue from your description.

However, inverting the mask is a normal part of the operation of this function. I think you’ll find it happens with your first subtool as well.

What may be happening in the case of the second subtool is that it is assigning a polygroup with a color similar to the other polygroup, and it is difficult to visually tell the difference. Be sure to use a white material for clearest display of polygrouping color, and not a material that strongly contributes its own color like red wax. Clear the masking on the tool and see if you can spot the difference in polygroups.

Try to use the visibility shortcuts by shift-ctrl clicking on one part of the mesh to hide the other polygroup. If you are able to, then the polygrouping was successful. If you hide the other polygroup, you can keep assigning a new polygroup to the visible polygons until you get a better contrast.

If this does not describe your situation, I can only guess at some sort of issue with the second subtool that does not polygroup correctly.

:slightly_smiling_face:

#3

Hi there !
@Spyndel I don’t think it that, i had a weird but nice bug to other day when i appended a primitive in a polymesh, so i had two subtools and the second one was a primitive ( cube3d1)
and all primitive option was available.

…
one minute later…

Ok I had been able to reproduce but not sure how i did it ;o

so here you have two sphere one is a polymesh 3d and the second one is a standard primitive , all option are still editable. but you can to assign a polygroup to that primitive, has it must to be a polymesh 3D. So the issue is probably that, @sboerner.

image

Hope it Helps
Nicolas

#4

@facelessmindz

It should not be possible to append a non PM3d primitive to another PM3d mesh without converting it to a PM3d object.

You can append a PM3d mesh to a non-PM3D mesh, but the Polygrouping menu should not be visible for a non PM3d primitive, and so the “Group Masked” function would not be available.

If you can repeat a scenario where either of the things above are not true, please report this to Pixologic Support.

As I said though, If the scenario in my original reply is not the case, there could be some issue with the geometry preventing the function from working properly.

Thank you!

#5

yes I can’t but I still can change the subtools order afterward, then I can also append more primitives, but those turn out in polymesh3D with no effort.
image
if @sboerner can access to tool : polygroups menu then it probably not the issue I had expected but it give the exact same context as i can’t to setup polygroups on that guys (sphere3D_1) :smiley:

Best Regards,
Nicolas

#6

Thanks to all for the replies. Beginning to think I might get this puzzled out.

Try to use the visibility shortcuts by shift-ctrl clicking on one part of the mesh to hide the other polygroup. If you are able to, then the polygrouping was successful. If you hide the other polygroup, you can keep assigning a new polygroup to the visible polygons until you get a better contrast.

Yes, this was a good way to test to see if any polygroups are created. After first selecting the entire subtool and grouping it (to clear previous groups), I selected half and clicked Group Masked. There was no change in the color, but by shift-ctrl clicking on either half I can show or hide the two groups.

So, the groups are getting created, but no matter how many times I then select and group them (as you suggest) the color of all of the groups does not change. It stays white or gray depending on the material. (I’ve been using (MatCap Gray or BasicMaterial).

Meanwhile, the color of the other subtool changes each time I clear its groups or create new ones. (In other words, it’s behaving as it should.)

Very strange.

Is there a toggle somewhere that enables/disables group colors when Draw Polyframe is enabled?

#7

Found the answer here.

For some reason, “Texture On” was enabled in the subtool’s Texture Map rollout. I don’t recall ever opening this, but I have been using Displacement Map, which is the next one down. At some point I must have inadvertently clicked it.

What a noob.

#8

hehe, good find @sboerner!
yes when you apply a displacement map you need to have texture map enable or it throw you a warning message.

Best regards,
Nicolas

#9

I did read that in the documentation at one point, but (obviously) failed to put 2 and 2 together. Thanks again to everyone here for their help and suggestions.