5 ZBrush TIPS I learned last year. ZBrush Materials Pack update. Organic HARD SURFACE modeling technique. ZBrush FORM materials pack. Tweaking the modular head. Intro to Booleans in ZBrush 4R8. Comic illustration with ZBrush. Advanced rock brushes update. ZBrush 4R8 is out. In order to meet a wide variety of user needs, Pixologic offers several licensing options for ZBrush. For Individuals SINGLE USER MONTHLY SUBSCRIPTION $39.95 / Month Automatically rebills every month on the same calendar day. Non-refundable, cancel any time. Free Upgrades Subscribe Now » SINGLE USER6 MONTH SUBSCRIPTION $179.95 / 6 Months Automatically rebills on the same calendar day, every. For instance, ZBrush can create a new model with a higher, uniform polygon distribution to counter the effects of polygon stretching. Overall, this makes the software easier for everyone with an artistic approach. New Features in Zbrush 2021. Zbrush 2021 ramps up the game by adding Dynamics, which lets you animate meshes. ZBrush is an incredible advanced 3D sculpting and painting tool for Windows PC. It includes a vast amount of advanced tools to create incredible digital art in both 2D and 3D. ZBrush allows you to express your creativity in a natural way, giving you powerful tools to create stunning works of digital art.
ZBrush is the most advanced 3D sculpting program out there. What separates it from other 3D tools is that ZBrush mimics traditional sculpting techniques all done digitally on a computer.
Sculpting in ZBrush is akin to working with a digital ball of clay, shaping it as if you were working by hand.
The sculpting tools from ZBrush allow a wide degree of creative freedom. Not only can artists create more organic and detailed models using ZBrush, they can often arrive at the finished product much faster than with other programs like Maya or 3ds Max.
Developed by Pixologic, Inc., ZBrush was first presented in 1999 and officially released for PC and Mac in 2009.
Today it is recognized as the most advanced 3D sculpting software on the market. With a large toolset and a wide variety of applications, it’s easy to see why ZBrush has become such a success.
Intro To ZBrush
ZBrush is primarily a tool for sculpting high-resolution 3D models.
Before tools like ZBrush came along, artists had to painstakingly create detailed objects using complex software and methods that made the task cumbersome, maybe even impossible.
With ZBrush artists were introduced to sculpting using a paradigm borrowed from traditional sculpting: a ball of clay.
Inside ZBrush artists can pull, push, squash, scrape, or otherwise manipulate the digital clay just like they were working with the real thing.
The earliest versions of ZBrush came with 30 brush tools that allowed for a variety of different processes and more control. Using these brushes an artist can sculpt a digital version of almost anything they desire.
By manipulating a virtual surface in this way, the 3D artist can create detailed features like the scales on a dragon or the wrinkles in a person’s face.
Zbrush Free
Such fine details are very difficult to emulate without tools like ZBrush.
Thankfully this tool makes it easy to create highly detailed models for any kind of digital media.
Talented designers can even mock up their characters directly in ZBrush, saving precious development time.
The software allows artists to build all kinds of models ready for rigging or final production. While known primarily for the creation of organic figures with lots of surface detail, ZBrush is well suited for creating other objects such as vehicles or weapons too.
Unlike traditional modelling software, there’s no need to manipulate individual polygons with ZBrush since it takes a whole different approach.
ZBrush has revolutionized the 3D animation pipeline too.
In the past, 3D animators would often need to create a low-resolution version of their characters in another 3D package. This low-resolution model is known as the ‘base mesh.’ This basic model would be used for animation due to restraints in hardware.
But ZBrush changed all that by allowing artists to create their character designs with the full power of 3D sculpting start-to-finish.
Now the artists can sculpt their ideal character in one program and work from there.
Back years ago sculpting was once mostly used for fine-tuning a low-resolution model. ZBrush has reversed the trend and now artists are free to experiment with a high level of detail right from the start.
Then later on artists can create another version of their sculpted model for animating.
ZBrush prides itself on having a non-linear workflow. This means artists have more flexibility when it comes to how they approach their work.
Other 3D software can be very restricting, requiring the artist to follow exact procedures to complete an end result.
For instance, with some 3D packages artists must finish their models before creating a texture(the “paint” or surface coloring of the model). Changing the model would often mean losing a paint job.
ZBrush allows artists to move freely between work modes without losing any information.
What Is ZBrush Used For?
Zbrush Cost
Because ZBrush is used to create high-resolution 3D models for movies, video games, and special effects, the chances are very high that you’ve seen something that features art made in the program.
ZBrush is a common tool for professional film and video game studios all over the world.
ZBrush artists are also employed in higher education, marketing, and wherever there is a demand for high-level 3D animation and effects.
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Most AAA games on PC and next-gen consoles are using ZBrush in their animation pipeline. By using ZBrush today’s game studios can put more detail into secondary characters and create elaborate worlds without adding to the development time.
Games like “God of War” and “Assassins Creed” have benefited from these feature of ZBrush.
One of the best concept art schools in the world, FZD School of Design, only has 2 required programs for studying concept art: Photoshop and ZBrush. You can see this in their enrollment section under the “equipment fees”.
Those who study concept art and graduate from FZD with an entertainment art degree use only those two programs. That really says a lot about this software’s influence in the gaming world.
But ZBrush is also popular among film studios and it even received an academy award for revolutionizing special effects.
The ease-of-use allows artists to bring a director’s vision to life in days or even hours, reducing development time and improving results.
Because it contains a state-of-the-art blend of 2D painting and 3D sculpting tools, ZBrush is a perfect match for concept artists.
With built-in brushes that mimic real world media and dynamic modeling tools that let you shape objects in real time, it’s not hard to understand why ZBrush is so popular.
Artists can achieve insane levels of surface detail on their models making this a great program for the finishing touches on a game or movie. Details like skin pores or crow’s feet can be brushed into the surface of the 3D object with relative ease.
Movies like Star Trek, The Lord of The Rings, Rango, and the Pirates of the Caribbean have all made use of ZBrush to meld live action with virtual effects into a seamless experience.
Despite its massive popularity ZBrush is affordable enough for small studios and independent artists too.
Since arriving on the scene over a decade ago, ZBrush has firmly cemented itself as a major piece of software in the 3D animation universe.
Easily the most advanced sculpting software on the market and really the industry standard.
Artists pursing a career in animation, game design, 3D modeling, or special effects would be wise to develop their sculpting skills early.
A great way to start on the cheap is by downloading Sculptris, a free alternative developed by the makers of ZBrush.
Or if you really wanna dive into ZBrush have a look at our collection of tutorials tailored for all skill levels.
With a low learning curve and a powerful set of 2D and 3D tools it’s easy to see why ZBrush has become the digital sculpting program of choice for everyone from art enthusiasts to major film & video game studios.
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| Developer(s) | Pixologic |
|---|---|
| Initial release | 1999 |
| Stable release | ZBrush 2021.5.1 / December 21, 2020; 3 months ago |
| Operating system | Windows, OS X |
| Type | 3D computer graphics |
| License | |
| Website | pixologic.com/zbrush/features/overview/ |
ZBrush is a digital sculpting tool that combines 3D/2.5Dmodeling, texturing and painting. It uses a proprietary 'pixol' technology which stores lighting, color, material, orientation, and depth information for the points making up all objects on the screen. The main difference between ZBrush and more traditional modeling packages is that it is more akin to traditional sculpting.
ZBrush is used for creating 'high-resolution' models (able to reach 40+ million polygons) for use in movies, games, and animations, by companies ranging from ILM and Weta Digital, to Epic Games and Electronic Arts. ZBrush uses dynamic levels of resolution to allow sculptors to make global or local changes to their models. ZBrush is most known for being able to sculpt medium- to high-frequency details that were traditionally painted in bump maps. The resulting mesh details can then be exported as normal maps to be used on a low poly version of that same model. They can also be exported as a displacement map, although, in that case, the lower poly version generally requires more resolution. Or, once completed, the 3D model can be projected onto the background, becoming a 2.5D image (upon which further effects can be applied). Work can then begin on another 3D model which can be used in the same scene. This feature lets users work within complicated scenes without a heavy processor overhead.
ZBrush was developed by the company Pixologic Inc, founded by Ofer Alon (also known by the alias 'Pixolator') and Jack Rimokh. The software was presented in 1999 at SIGGRAPH. The demo version, 1.55, was released in 2003, and version 3.1 was released in 2007. ZBrush 4 for Windows and Mac systems was announced on April 21, 2009 for an August release, but was later postponed. Version 3.5 was made available in September the same year, and includes some of the newer features initially intended for ZBrush 4.[1]
Through GoZ ('Go ZBrush'), available starting in Version 4, ZBrush offers integration with other 3D graphics programs such as Autodesk Maya, Autodesk 3ds Max, Cinema 4D, LightWave 3D, Poser Pro, Daz Studio, EIAS, Modo[2] and Blender.
Because of its ease of creation of organic forms, Zbrush is used in films for creature creation as well as in medical animation.
Pixol[edit]
Like a pixel, each 'pixol' contains information on X and Y position and color values. Additionally, it contains information on depth (or Z position), orientation and material. ZBrush-related files store pixol information, but when these maps are exported (e.g., to JPEG or PNG formats) they are flattened and the pixol data is lost.[3] This technique is similar in concept to a voxel, another kind of 3D pixel.
Features[edit]
ZBrush comes with many features[4] to aid in the sculpting of models and meshes.
3D Brushes[edit]
The initial ZBrush download comes with thirty 3D sculpting brushes with more available for download. Each brush offers unique attributes as well as allowing general control over hardness, intensity, and size. Alphas, used to create a specific pattern or shape, and textures are also editable brush features.
Polypaint[edit]
Polypainting allows users to paint on an object's surface without the need to first assign a texture map by adding color directly to the polygons.
Illustration[edit]
ZBrush also gives the ability to sculpt in 2.5D, and comes with several brushes for that purpose. A pixol put down when sculpting or illustrating in 2.5D contains information on its own color, depth, material, position, and lighting information.
Transpose[edit]
ZBrush also has a feature that is similar to skeletal animation in other 3D programs. The transpose feature allows a user to isolate a part of the model and pose it without the need of skeletal rigging.
ZSpheres[edit]
A user can create a base mesh with uniform topology and then convert it into a sculptable model by starting out with a simple sphere and extracting more 'ZSpheres', until the basic shape of the desired model is created.
GoZ[edit]
Introduced in ZBrush 3.2 OS X, GoZ automates setting up shading networks for normal, displacement, and texture maps of the 3D models in GoZ-enabled applications. Upon sending the mesh back to ZBrush, GoZ will automatically remap the existing high-resolution details to the incoming mesh.[2] GoZ will take care of operations such as correcting points & polygons order. The updated mesh is immediately ready for further detailing, map extractions, and transferring to any other GoZ-enabled application.[5]
Best Preview Render[edit]
Also included is a full render suite known as Best Preview Render, which allows use of full 360° environment maps to light scenes using HDRI images. BPR includes a new light manipulation system called LightCaps. With it, one can not only adjust how the lights in the scene are placed around the model, but also generate environments based on it for HDRI rendering later on. It also allows for material adjustments in real-time. Material properties such as subsurface scattering are supported as are environmental and scan-line reflections. BPR also includes a set of built-in filters that can be used in realtime to create dramatic effects and corrections without even touching another photo-manipulation program.[6]
DynaMesh[edit]
This allows ZBrush to quickly generate a new model with uniform polygon distribution, to improve the topology of models and eliminate polygon stretching.[7]
Fibermesh[edit]
Fibermesh is a feature that allows users to grow polygon fibers out of their models or to make various botanical items. It is also a way to edit and manipulate large amounts of polygons at once with Groom brushes.[8]
ZRemesher[edit]
It is an automatic retopology system previously called QRemesher that creates new topology based on the original mesh. The new topology is generally more clean and uniform. This process can also be guided by the user to make the new topology follow curves in the model and retain more detail to specified areas.[9]
Shadowbox[edit]
Shadowbox allows the user to draw a rough silhouette of what they want to model, onto the inside of a virtual box. In real-time, any changes to the drawings are applied to a 3D model, upon which further details can be applied. The feature can best be utilized for hard surface modeling.[10]
See also[edit]
Footnotes[edit]
- ^Announcing ZBrush 3.5 and GoZ for Windows and MacOSX, ZBrushcentral.com, July 30, 2009
- ^ abGoZ, Pixologic.com
- ^Yetter, Matthew. 'Basic Concepts: The Concept of the Pixol'. ZBrush 2 Practical Guide. pp. 11–12.
- ^ZBrush Features, Pixologic.com
- ^ZBrush Features - GoZ, Pixologic.com
- ^BPR Enhancements, Pixologic.com
- ^DynaMesh, Pixologic.com
- ^Fibermesh, Pixologic.com
- ^ZRemesher, Pixologic.com
- ^Shadowbox, Pixologic.com
References[edit]
- Skaven252. 'ZBrushCentral - About the Nature of Pixols'. Retrieved 2008-10-20.
- Pixolator. 'ZBrushCentral - Announcing ZBrush'. Retrieved 2009-04-21.
- Yetter, Matthew; Bushnell, Dave (2004). ZBrush 2 Practical Guide(electronic book).
- Lanier, Lee (2007). 'Chapter 6. Texturing. Industry Tips: Rendering ZBrush Displacement Maps in Maya'. Maya Professional Tips and Techniques. pp. 126–129. ISBN978-0-470-10740-9.
External links[edit]