ZBrush: Tips & Tricks

Learn tips on how to optimize using ZBrush. Ryan Kittleson explains how to use 3D form modes, hot keys, custom layouts, grids, stamp brushes, and more.

Introduction

• Welcome
• Using the exercise files

May (2016)

• The 3 different modes of making 3D forms in ZBrush
• Setting up a default project

June (2016)

• Making a custom grid
• Customizing the interface
• Making a stamp brush
• Amplifying detail with morph targets

July (2016)

• Setting preferences for recording movies
• Automating thickness extrusion with a macro
• Adding thickness to a model with subdivision levels
• Decimating the inside of a model for 3D printing

August (2016)

• Growing or shrinking a selection with hotkeys
• Making a macro to expand or contract masks
• Making Macros to toggle Anti-aliasing
• Making a custom “ledge” brush
• Giving the move brush a sharp point

September (2016)

• Making a Whittled Wood look
• Selecting more precisely with Magnifying Glass
• Making a custom Paint Brush
• Saving masks for later use

October (2016)

• Saving masks with layers
• Scaling models without ruining details
• Editing UVs in Zbrush
• Turning a model into a bas-relief sculpture

November (2016)

• Projecting texture without projecting shape
• Making a wireframe model
• Deleting masked and hidden polygons with a hotkey
• Splitting up a model that is too big for a 3D printer
• Deleting Polygons from a model with subdivision levels
• Making a filigree pattern

December (2016)

• Making a model subdivide like other software
• Subdividing a model without losing volume
• Smoothing a model's open edges
• Masking a model's open edges

January (2017)

• Creating a custom alpha within ZBrush
• Making a tiling track brush
• Making subtool names unique
• Smoothing an entire model at once
• Inflating and deflating an entire model at once

February (2017)

• Storing camera views with a timeline
• Deleting tools from the tool palette
• Simulating a pottery wheel
• Making folds on low-poly clothing

March (2017)

• Scaling tips
• Engraving text around the inside of a ring
• Working with dynamic brush scale
• Adjusting viewport brightness and contrast

April (2017)

• Creating new objects with morph targets
• Keeping polygroups when decimating
• Locking an object to the surface of another object
• Making cracked and peeling paint

May (2017)

• Making a shirt with a collar
• Modular character design in ZBrush
• Using the bump viewer material
• Examine silhouette with a flat material

June (2017)

• Setting the camera to a more natural view angle
• Using some hidden secret settings
• Switching between clay, polypaint, and textured views
• Making an insert mesh brush for primitives

July (2017)

• Closing complex holes
• Saving custom colors with the system palette
• Fixing scale problems in zbrush

August (2017)

• Keeping texture maps from flipping
• Customizing viewport navigation controls
• Using the adjust plugin
• ZSceneManager plugin
• Sculpting a tree branch

September (2017)

• Making mountain ranges with a custom brush
• Making parts of a model transparent
• Making a macro run automatically on startup
• Editing macros

October (2017)

• Adding a background image
• Using sensitive slider mode
• Adding noise to a brush
• Simplifying the Transpose Line and Gizmo modes
• Turning 2D clip art into 3D
• Making cartoony eyes for 3D printing

November (2017)

• Cutting up a model for printing in parts
• Cutting a model with keying
• Making a model hollow for 3D printing

December (2017)

• Importing UV maps
• Automatically generating polygroups
• Organizing subtools

January (2018)

• When ZBrush stamps out copies of your model
• Advanced scale management

February (2018)

• Sending render layers to Photoshop
• 2D painting with QuickSketch
• Creating ring sizes

March (2018)

• Painting materials
• Recording a history time-lapse video
• Quickly moving objects around
• Appending custom primitives

April (2018)

• Using live Booleans with solo and transparent modes
• Restoring pressure sensitivity
• Decimating flat surfaces
• Picking colors
• Repeating a stroke

May (2018)

• Making a fillet
• Making precise hard-surface corners
• Advanced polygrouping tips
• Opening reference images in the viewport

June (2018)

• Subdividing only part of a model
• Making a toon outline
• Constraining the proportions of masks and selections to perfect squares and circles
• Using PolyGroupIt

July (2018)

• Smoothing and adjusting curve length
• Using Merge Undo
• Using Project Primitive
• Subdividing without losing masks

August (2018)

• Controlling dynamic brush size
• Toggling see-through mode
• Smoothing the entire model evenly
• Duplicating with the Gizmo

September (2018)

• Toggling subtool solo and transparency modes
• Simplifying color and material fill
• Remove warning pop-ups
• Masking with Smart Transpose

October (2018)

• Painting shadows on teeth
• Changing the QuickSave location
• Removing a material from an object
• Scaling in two axes
• Using the new Snake Hook brushes

November (2018)

• Polygrouping by normal
• Making view presets
• Avoiding DynaMesh glitches
• Styling hair

December (2018)

• Fixing curve snap issues
• Making a wireframe turntable
• Continuing towards ZBrush mastery