In fact, we even received an Oscar for the technology behind ZBrush
Introducing Pixologic ZBrush ZBrush sets the industry standard for digital sculpting and painting. Its features let you use customizable brushes to sculpt, texture, and paint virtual clay in a real-time environment that provides instant feedback. When you use ZBrush, you get the same tools used by movie studios, game developers, toy/collectibles makers, jewelry designers, car/aircraft designers, illustrators, advertisers, scientists, and other artists around the world. Simply put, ZBrush is an art tool created by artists, for artists. It lets you create drawings and illustrations where the only limit is your imagination, at a speed that lets you stand out in today’s fast-paced industry. Key Features of Pixologic ZBrush Basic Mesh Generation As with everything in life, where you can go is usually determined by where you start.
A good-looking finished model requires a quality base mesh
ZBrush provides an arsenal of tools to help you with this task, ensuring that whatever you have in mind, there is a way to get the perfect base and then take it to the next level. The most popular of these systems are explained here. Sculptris Pro Ignore the constraints of polygon distribution and simply sculpt! Sculptris Pro will dynamically add (tesselate) and remove (decimate) polygons where and when needed. It does this during the brush stroke in a real-time process called Testimation. This allows you to focus entirely on the look you are trying to achieve.
ZBrush offers a robust suite of tools to achieve this
Dynamesh DynaMesh is a perfect solution for freeform sculpting because it removes any need to focus on topological constraints. Alter the overall shape of your model by pushing or pulling, adding multiple geometric elements to combine into one, or even removing geometry in a similar way to what you can do with Boolean operations. While Sculptris Pro dynamically adjusts the triangles of your mesh as you sculpt, DynaMesh redistributes your model’s polygons as quads on command. Whether you created them in ZBrush or imported from elsewhere, once you have your base mesh, it’s time to start detailing it. The ones listed below are just the tip of the iceberg. Sculpting Brushes The main workflow for creating with ZBrush is based on a brush system that can also be modulated using pen pressure from a graphics tablet.
The Noise system is ideal for hard surface work and organic details
ZBrush will replicate the natural feel of a real paintbrush or sculpting tool, using the pressure applied to the pen tip to transform your digital stroke in a variety of ways. There are brushes for pinching, nudging, building the surface, stamping, cutting out the model, and more. You can also use other 3D models as brushes, inserting their geometry into your surface. In addition to being able to add detail manually, ZBrush provides a system for procedurally generating surface detail through noise patterns. Choose a type of detail, adjust a few simple settings, then apply that pattern to your model as a whole or to a specific region. You can also combine different types of noise to create very complex effects.
This offers significant advantages over a standard workflow
PolyPaint Since ZBrush works with tens of millions of polygons in real time, you can paint directly on the surface of your model without first assigning it a texture map or UVs. You don’t have to decide on the resolution of the texture map in advance. This is especially useful if you find that you need more detail in an area than you thought. Instead of painting over a new, larger texture map, you can simply transfer the existing surface details to this larger map without any retouching. You don’t even have to discard any UVs before starting this painting.