zbrush dynamesh boolean subtraction

[@Machinepriest]

Oh my sweet glob thank you! I've been chipping away with ZbrushCore for a year now and finally learned how to subtract with any subtool no matter the shape thanks to this. It will be extremely helpful for making multi-part models fit for 3D Printing!

[@pixelpump22]

Zbrush is so convoluted at times. Never a non frustrating moment.

[@raol635]

Wow. Thank you. I have been watching tons of videos. The way you explained Boolean is brilliant. Bravo.

[@MarkusRomulusMaximus]

Much better than doing all of this in a 3d application and performing re-topology operations manually! Thanks for the effort mate!

[@MotionDesignersCommunityTV]

Quand on oubli certaines petites choses ça fait plaisir de voir un p'tit tuto comme ça :3

[@Master_KayOz]

Don't know about earlier versions but in 4r7 you can just set one SubTool to negative, merge down, then dynamesh and it's all done :)

[@anhslaught7950]

This works! Tried it just now. Thanks man. :)

[@TwistedDRIFT1]

You are a lifesaver thanks bro!!

[@samcribbie4442]

thank you!!!!

[@spencersine4359]

Thank you!!

[@TheHylden]

I also forgot what I was doing wrong, even though I've done this before thanks to this. You're tutorial helped me yet again, until the next time I forget... I had my subtools reversed in order. Thank you again.

[@HannesGrebin]

Thanks for your good energy! Your last Sub-tip solved my issue!

[@cfworks1307]

Thanks for this video. I had a friend explain it. But always had some issue somewhere where I didn't activate an option or what ever. This video makes it very easy. thanks

[@BillBNT]

I LOVE IT finally a way to do clean boolean work in ZB. Thanks for the VID!

[@kitebabe05]

Very helpful Video!! Thank you!

[@ashkanaliyar6247]

Dude Thanks ! Solved both Dynamesh Shell and Subtraction issues .

[@animal9633]

This method still works, but rather look into using Live Boolean in the newer versions which makes the whole process a lot easier.

[@edersouza1881]

Thanks for sharing your knowledge. It's simple stuff but sometimes we forget the steps. :)

[@glennslingsby2630]

Thanks for that. I actually watched a Pixologic video that showed this technique but without the "Group as Dynamesh Sub" part. I even duplicated that. Now, when I try it again it doesn't work. No matter how I arranged them (exactly the same as your final example here) the sphere always cut the tube leaving two tube parts! Just watched your video and will now give this a try once I get home.

[@glennslingsby2630]

Just replying to my own comment. Ran this using your instructions and had the same result as my own before. Hitting the "Group as Dynamesh Sub" did not turn the subtool white and the boolean created was the sphere cutting the tube. After numerous frustrating tries I had a eureka moment: I noticed that the sphere's polygon count was almost 44k and the tube 72k. So I hit Divide on the sphere tool once making it 175k. THEN I hit the Merge Down button WITHOUT using the "Group as..." option. And THEN it worked! .... So it would seem from this that the tool being cut FROM has to have a higher polygon count than the CUTTING tool.

[@3Rton]

Glenn Slingsby You have no clue how grateful I am for this comment. Also note that anyone who is trying to replicate this exact process: this is still applicable. You won't be able to subtract denser mesh from lighter one.

[@vinotinto8547]

I'm using version 4r7, and for every IMM brushes (like insert sphere and such), one can simply alt+brush, re dynamesh and that's all. Brush to add a primitive, alt+brush to substract a primitive. It's that simple.

[@joelwalden5504]

A great, effective tutorial. Thank you for taking the time to post it!

[@MorganDesigns182]

Beyond helpful. thank you so much. I have referred to this video a dozen times.

[@alphonseu2]

Por fin encontré una manera fácil de hacerlo, gracias totales

[@VoidloniXaarii]

very cool. thanks! for me it works without group as dynames just mark as substraction and merge. however what i can't figure out is that you can also mark it as intersect but that also substracts for me

[@pursesandhats]

Brilliant!! Thank you!!

[@cresshead]

Glad it helped!

[@noumaankhan9884]

Thanks Mate!

[@erikm9768]

this is pretty cool, but i guess there a limits enough for pixologic wanting a dedicated boolean operation in the new 4r8 ?

[@Mystic-realm]

Thanks for taking the time to post this very helpful video! Be blessed in all you put your hand to - fj

[@Jorgemejiaca]

Thanks for sharing. Can you please show how you can use live boolean for addition instead of substraction?

[@jimstruth6093]

Thanks mate! That solved my problem :) I could never get dynamesh subtractions to work, hehe

[@MartinVlkMrnous]

Helped me wonderfully with my project, thank you very much!

[@doomersnek3878]

Thanks for posting this video! It really helped me a lot on my sculpt!

[@soady58]

Thank you! Quick and to the point. :)

[@jasminelevasseur4446]

[@raphael10596]

THANK YOU, I WAS FUCKIGN DYING, i just wanted a simple boolean, fucking ui

[@cresshead]

yeh has a unique user interface that's challenging!

[@raphael10596]

@@cresshead ohh didnt expect you to reply to this old tut. thanks alot dude! this is my first day of trying zbrush Y_Y ive only been using c4d.

[@MS3DChannel]

thx u man ... i was searching for this technique for along time

[@CGPacifica]

Thanks for the video. I can't tell you how many times I have had to reference it. ;)

[@darrengreen4515]

Thanks, excellent tutorial!

[@jeallnet]

Muito obrigado, tirou todas as minhas dúvidas!!!

[@ElGhoulSoufedj]

Thank you mate

[@webeburnin333]

cheers cresshead

[@mojtabaaryan4028]

cool tip man...this is what i want...thank you .

[@vestina6177]

It works! Thank you so much :)

[@carolcheny]

thanks!

[@LoidHDGaming]

wow. it... it... worked. 1st time too. Hm Thanks!

[@shohrehshayestehfar5695]

perfect tutorial thanks a lot

[@nicolashernanhoyosrodrigue4696]

Thanks a lot!

[@TomSilvaDesigner]

Cool Man, my savior

[@michaelmilano1]

Video was a huge help, thank you!

[@sayard]

So helpful... thanks!

[@vitu_fpv]

Thx men!

[@MattSkalski]

Very helpful thank you.

[@konraddobson]

Nice. Thanks!

[@AndreyBelly]

Thanx)

[@cnnhean]

wow great technic!

[@Teiwari]

PS: it will only work if the Dynamesh is turned on ;-)

[@cresshead]

hence me saying dynamrsh booleans

[@TheFlyingVyse]

Thanks!

[@TheRossCam]

This was very helpful, thanks!

[@hugo3655]

Thank you soo much 😭😭

[@cresshead]

No problem 😊

[@ariush_music]

tq so much man , u r doing great job, u know how many students do u have around the world ? :D

[@ronaldlee5324]

hi!, how to reduce the polygon after dynamesh boolean subtraction or there are other ways to boolean to keep lower polygon??

[@runsbuns3675]

how come in ur view port ur objects are grey and a different mat , but in ur subtool palette there all mat cap red or w/e

[@cresshead]

that's just a zbrush thing i think

[@zblender6946]

thanks for trick friend

[@KirklandShunk]

How do you get the subtools back you used to make negative cuts once its all merged together like that? Lets say I took a sphere and used a cylinder insert mesh, and made the negative cut with the cylinder. Since I had to merge down, Its all merged together and that cylinder dissapears. But what if I wanted to 3D print them two pieces out(the sphere with the negative cutout and the exact sized cylinder I used? How would I bring that same sized cylinder back without inserting another one and trying to resize it to match the one I used before? Thanks man!

[@mardrom1]

+Kirkland Shunk Duplicate the cutter tool before you use it. :)

[@KirklandShunk]

+mardrom1 True! Thanks a lot, didn't think of that :)

[@sinemorales2612]

gracias amigo

[@DarksiderDarmoset]

My sphere's holes fill in when I dynamesh subtract them! Why would this be?

[@gnightrow4020]

it is weird how there are so many steps for something so simple ??

[@Victorh300]

:))

[@netrarajpun]

Lovely

[@PetersAnimation]

I'm from 2021

[@belislemathieu2061]

I have to high ply models that I want to substract. It dosen't seem to work with this technique :(

[@cresshead]

turn off sublevels or if its real polys try a different method

[@itailu]

T H A N K Y O U!!

[@Azzazel_]

There´s must be a faster way, thats a load of clicking for just an extraction!!

[@izvarzone]

Zbrush in nutshell

[@vinotinto8547]

Yes, take a primitive brush (like insert sphere, or cylinder), then Alt+brush and re dynamesh. Done.

[@kitebabe05]

@@vinotinto8547 Could be, but its not hard surface sculpting with sharp edges.

[@artbyjs]

SO I am doing this, and nomatter what I do, the shape that is supposed to be subtracted FROM is actually being used as a negative mesh and subtracting instead. Can someone explain this garbage to me? Please? thanks!

[@mrkjeld]

+Jonathan Silva Thanks for this video, to clarify some doubts someone people were having including me. The order of the subtool must be your issue, also as another issue for it to be negative, I wen't quick by the video, make sure to click on the second icon next to your subtool. I was forgetting to do that and it was adding it.

[@artbyjs]

Hey! thanks dude. I still have issues sometimes though. There are times when no matter what I try, the boolean happens backwards. the cutting shape ends up being what is booleaned by the shape that is supposed to be cut. Any Idea why this happens? Sometimes I sculpt a little more where the cutting is taking place and it fixes it, other times I have to export all the stls to Rhino and use their mesh tools to get the desired effect.

[@richardmissin3498]

What a truly awful over convoluted workflow for doing something so simple as subtracting a mesh! Has any thought gone into this UI whatsoever ?

[@GWinterbornYT]

ZBrush started out as 2D software. The 3D features were added as extras, but people enjoyed the sculpting tools so much that they became the primary feature. The UI was never completely overhauled, to avoid alienating existing users, but it's why a lot of the wording, naming, and workflow is so bizarre to first-time users. You quickly get used to it, and learn to use shortcut keys for most operations, including this one.

[@doomersnek3878]

it's meant for beginners that don't know the hotkeys and make custom UI.

[@Nekotico]

this is the most confusing way to do a tool....why zbrush.....i have to swich to blender all the time to do booleans cuz i cant run the last version, and sometimes this method doesnt work at all

[@cresshead]

Fair enough!

[@Nekotico]

@@cresshead nvm i upgraded my zbrush to a new version with live bolean, and its pure fun now

[@ritad7986]

This does not work. It merges them together and that is all. I've retraced all the steps for about 6 times and I get the same resut each time.

[@dottormoggi]

it doesn't work !! why??????

[@dottormoggi]

+dottormoggi no it works instead!!!!

[@AbyssalSoda]

Does not work =) nice