ZBrush 2023 version is a 3D digital sculpting software that is often used in the sculpting industry. It not only has a variety of custom brush tools to help you complete 3D sculpted paintings, but you can also use virtual clay to complete modeling work . So that you can complete the production of 3D sculpture models on the computer.
ZBrush 2023 continues on the path of creativity and productivity, with major new features enabling artists to work faster and with more freedom. This release takes the ability to experiment and work in a natural way to a whole new level, giving artists greater freedom to express their ideas and discover ways of working that were previously unimaginable. You can also get SolidWorks SP3 2023 by LicensedSoft
Zbrush 2023 New Features:
1. Rendering
The new version integrates Redshift, players can render models directly in ZBrush, and also supports Standard, MatCap and Redshift materials.
2. Carving tools
- Slime Bridge: Now artists can leverage the power of the ZBrush masking system to create complex geometric connections and designs from one mask island to another. Control over tension, bridges, calipers and branches makes it easy to instantly create sinuous, sticky connections between any two surfaces.
- Sculptris Pro: More detail where it matters! The latest addition to this already powerful tool allows artists to use a slider to increase the mesh density in desired areas while also reducing the size of the triangles, now supporting more pens brush.
- Dynamic symmetry: Local symmetry uses the Gizmo inside ZBrush, regardless of the rotation and scaling of the model, it can moved to any position, and it can sculpted symmetrically based on the coordinate axis of the model.
- Masking Areas: Complex shapes can easily masked thanks to Auto Areas. Simply draw indicators in simple or complex shapes to determine the area that should filled, and mask multiple areas with the push of a button.
- Apply Last Action: The Apply Last Action to All Subtools feature allows applying material properties, color information and any other “undoable” operations to multiple subtools within the ZBrush Tool Palette with the click of a button.
- ZRemesher adds Retry and PolyPaint: the best automatic retopology technology in the industry, made even better by storing and comparing the resulting options for different settings. Existing colors can seamlessly projected onto newly constructed meshes.
Zbrush 2023 New Functions:
1. Basic mesh creation
1. Gizmo 3D
- Gizmo 3D provides artists with a new, simple UI element that will allow manipulation and transformation of sculptures with precise control. Gizmo 3D can be easily placed in any position or orientation to perform accurate transformations. You can instantly change the pivot point for Move, Scale or Rotate. There are options to rotate relative to surface normals or world axes, and even more.
- The new Gizmo 3D transformation tool will allow multiple selections and manipulations of SubTools. Select as many subtools as you want, then move, scale and/or rotate them as a unit. This makes drawing hard surface models much easier!
- ZBrush4R8 makes it easy to make large, wide-ranging adjustments to any sculpt with the new Morph modifier. Bend text on curved surfaces using the classic Bend On Curve modifier. Twist the shape along any axis. Use the Freeform Frame (FFD) to fully adjust the profile of any model. Also includes unique, powerful deformers such as Extender and Multi-Slice.
- Design quickly using simple geometric shapes. Even when a shape is applied to a surface, the artist is free to adjust the geometry that defines the shape. Convert a smooth cylinder to an octagon, adjust a sphere to have flattened poles, or change a cone to a pyramid – all in real time. Using this system, a few primitives can be converted into an entire library of sculptable shapes.
2. ZModeler
- The ZModeler brush was introduced in ZBrush 4R7. This intelligent polygonal modeling system is designed to simplify your creation process. Create new shapes quickly and dynamically, easier than ever: blend polygons, delete complete blocks of geometry, connect parts using advanced paths, and repeat operations with a single click! With ZModeler brushes.
- ZBrush takes a leap forward beyond the organics it already relies on. You can refine the shape of your models in real time, revolutionizing the way you create hard surface models, architectural structures, or highly detailed environments. The possibilities are endless.
3. Real-time Boolean
- Boolean systems, within reach, have historically required trial and error to ultimately yield satisfactory results. Using Live Booleans, artists can combine multiple sculptures together and see how the resulting mesh will look in real time. Any model can be subtracted from another model regardless of its polygon count.
- You can even use Live Boolean with existing instancing systems in ZBrush, such as NanoMesh and ArrayMesh. When Live Boolean is active, you can even sculpt your model while previewing the Boolean results.
- All of these options can be combined to provide a new sculpting workflow unique to ZBrush.
4. DynaMesh
- Allows you to create without technical limitations. Creating a character’s head starting from a sphere is a simple process, but DynaMesh will allow you to create an entire character from the same sphere without uneven geometry!
- Think about what it’s like to work with clay. When you stretch or increase the volume of clay, the clay itself maintains the same basic consistency and the same detailing capabilities on the surface. DynaMesh brings this experience into the digital world.
- The magic behind DynaMesh is its ability to regenerate geometry in the blink of an eye, eliminating all stretched polygons by creating surfaces optimized for sculpting and evenly distributing polygons across the surface. Don’t be afraid to extrude the model to create legs, arms, columns or whatever else comes to mind during the creative process. Your starting point will now be infinite.
5. ZRemesher 3.0
- Retopologization has never been more artist-friendly than ZRemesher 3.0. With just one click, you can automatically generate organic or rigid surface topologies without spirals. If one-click topology isn’t the right answer for every situation, you can intuitively control the retopology process with curves to help determine polygon flow. ZRemesher 3.0’s enhanced system preserves crease edges and automatically detects sharp surface angles, perfect for mechanical models. The result also improves the final polygon count, which increases speed!
6. Obscura
- ShadowBox enables you to generate 3D meshes by simply drawing shapes:
- Use the advanced masking brush to draw the outline of your idea on any of the three sides of the ShadowBox, and a mesh matching that outline will be appear in the center.
- Open holes in the mesh surface by simply erasing any part of the mask; the surface at the center of the ShadowBox updates immediately.
- Combine radial symmetry, your own custom alpha textures, reference images and mask curves to build complex shapes in seconds.
- Whether you’re sculpting a specific model or just exploring shapes, ShadowBox offers a unique way to quickly build an editable base mesh for sculpting.
7. Spotlight v2.0 with Snapshot3D
- Spotlight v1.0 enables artists to project color information from any texture onto sculpted surfaces like PolyPoint. It also allows the very same textures to be applied to the surface of any model as sculpted details.
- Spotlight v2.0 includes all original features and can also convert any grayscale image (alpha) into a 3D model. Source images can be modified or combined by Boolean-type addition or subtraction to create even more complex 3D shapes. Models generated by this system can be used as the basis for sculpting, and can even be used with our Live Boolean system to create complex artwork.
8. ZSpheres
- ZSpheres allow you to quickly create a base mesh with a clean topology, which can then be sculpted into any form. The power of ZSphere lies in its simplicity. From a single ZSphere, you can easily grow new ZSpheres, which can then be scaled, moved and rotated into any form. Now you can enjoy creating geometry for your characters while posing them in real time.
- When using ZSpheres in ZSketch mode, you can draw ZSpheres directly onto the base skeleton, or freely draw anything you can imagine in 3D space. Sketching with ZSpheres gives you the flexibility to explore your imagination, or quickly convert ZSketches into sculptable meshes for further details using all of ZBrush’s sculpting brushes.
9. Model
- A good pose is the essence of a great composition. Rhythm, gesture, weight and balance are all key to any artwork. Use the Mannequin sample project included with ZBrush to find the ideal pose for a single or multi-character model. You can easily edit ZSphere mannequins to fit any character or creature you need. Create entire scenes in just a few clicks! You’ll quickly establish perfect visual harmony and start sculpting masterpieces.
- Mannequins are essentially ZSphere skeletons. The way you interact with them makes it easy to pose, so you can explore your ideas quickly – faster than sketching a concept, in fact, and have the flexibility to make changes as you go. The advantage of using a mannequin is that you don’t have to model it. The model is already set up and ready to use. Later, if desired, the mannequin can be skinned to make a mesh that can be sculpted.
- ZBrush contains several mannequin scenes. It’s also simple to create your own infinitely expanding library.
10. Primitives
- One aspect of the ZBrush workflow is the ability to create extremely complex scenes by combining many smaller objects. Ultimately, a scene may consist of millions or even billions of polygons and still be rendered in real time! ZBrush provides many complex 3D primitives to produce a very powerful masking and deformation system, which is unique for parametric objects.
2. Sculpting
1. 3D brushes
With over 30 starter brushes for sculpting and the ability to create endless custom brushes, it’s easy to see why sculpting in ZBrush is not only powerful, but easy. A wide variety of brushes are created based on real-world sculpting techniques, and when sculpting millions of polygons, you get a natural feel as if you’re working with a real photo of clay, wood, or stone.
2. Subtools
- SubTools allow to treat a single model as many independent objects. Subtools allow you to have as many polygons per subtool as the system can handle, increasing the number of polygons you can work with. For example, if your system can handle 8 million polygons for one SubTool, you can have a model equal to 32 million polygons by having 4 SubTools of 8 million polygons each.
- ZBrush 2019 introduces the SubTool folder. Far more than just an organizational tool, this feature lets you instantly apply actions to all contained meshes, such as Move, Scale, Rotate, Copy, Delete, Hide /Show PolyPaint”, “Live Boolean”, etc.
3. 3D Layers
- Layers allow for non-linear workflows. Artists can work with models in several different stages of development at the same time. Artists can add details like scales of reptile skin, then close those details and refine the main form of their base. If the director calls for greater damage to a piece of armor, simply increase the strength of that layer. If you want to see the same mesh without any damage, just turn off the layer.
4. Surface noise and NoiseMaker
- Surface noise allows you to control the appearance of 3D surfaces. You can apply multiple noise types directly to any surface, regardless of multicount, while maintaining the intensity, size, and color of the noise you want to use.
- Surface noise enables you to create looks that would be impossible or too time consuming to model. You can apply noise to the entire model or only to selected areas. Create rusted metal, stucco, peeling paint, battle damage, and more with just one click of surface noise.
- The Noise Generator plugin adds more power to surface noise creation with various parameters of the generator. In this powerful enhancement, you can further enrich the surface detail of your models with camouflage, scale bars, hex tiles, and more. Also using NoiseMaker can affect sculpting changes as well. When combining NoiseMaker with features like masking and alpha, the possibilities are endless.
5. Transpose
- Creating realistic poses to abstract deformations has never been easier. With Transpose, you can quickly isolate parts of your model, then deform, position, scale, and rotate them with astonishing precision. No complicated rigging or tedious painting of counterweights, just choose and pose! Achieve realistic muscle deformation as you bend a limb into a flexed position, then quickly return geometry to its original position. Transpose gives you the freedom to explore 3D sculpture in new and natural ways.
6. Vector Displacement Mesh
- Expand your Alpha arsenal with the new Vector Displacement Mesh (VDM) library. These are 3D shapes that are used as the building blocks of the brush and will allow undercuts when painting on the surface of the model. For example, you can draw a nose with nostrils in a single stroke. Or have full front and back ears. or curled fingers, zooms at an increased angle or even an open mouth. All without loss of depth or detail.
- Vector displacement meshes produce realistic drape when sculpted. Precisely place the details of your model, placing it on sculpts with millions of polygons.
7. Alpha 3D
- Convert any sculpture or shape into a 2D alpha with the click of a button. After capturing a shape or sculpture, you can reposition, adjust and even rotate Alpha to any axis. This is a quick and interactive way to create uniquely different alphas for surface sculpting.
- Similar to the Insert Multi-Mesh (IMM) brushes, the new Multi-Vector Displacement Mesh system lets you build custom brushes with various vector displacement meshes and switch between them on the fly.
- Not only can the chisel of your brush be chiseled into surfaces to create overhangs, but you can also paint complex objects (including backsides) in a single brush stroke. Imagine being able to texture a dragon with overlapping scales, or paint a full ear without having to re-sculpt each model.
8. Lazy Mouse 2.0
- Our lazy mouse system is designed to draw smooth, precisely controlled strokes. Artists can now direct the angle and length of any stroke before applying the result to a surface. You can even keep strokes at a consistent elevation level without building up as the stroke path traverses itself.
- Ever wanted to apply a pattern continuously around an engraving without interruption? Lazy Mouse’s new LazySnap addition allows you to start a brushstroke, stop rotating your model, and resume your brushstroke from where you left off without disrupting any patterns associated with your brush.
9. Morphing
- The morphing functionality inside ZBrush allows you to easily apply twists, stretches, bends, and a variety of other unique changes to any 3D mesh. With over 20 powerful deformation types that can be applied on any axis, you can create advanced shapes with just a few clicks. By using the power of ZBrush to easily deform millions of polygons, you don’t have to worry about the complexity of the desired shape. Transform as you like!
10. HD Geometry
- HD Geometry is the next evolution in digital sculpting. With the ability to divide models into billions of polygons, now your limits are based only on what you can imagine. You can focus on specific areas of your 3D creation while ZBrush handles the rest of your model in a very system-friendly way. That’s why you can achieve a billion polygons without worrying about buying expensive graphics hardware. ZBrush’s powerful memory handling allows you to sculpt without limits!
11. FiberMesh™
- With ZBrush 4R3 your models will benefit from realistic sculpted geometry as well as exportable hair and fur! With this amazing new feature, you can even grow plants, weeds, shrubs and other amazing environment details. Simply mask an area to define where fibers will grow. Quickly define looks using various FiberMesh features. Best of all, you can even use Polypaint information to generate various colored fibers.
12. MicroMesh
- Will allow ZBrush’s rendering system to replace the generated FiberMesh, or use any other 3d mesh to model a single polygon. With that said, you can already start to imagine the creative potential at hand. Undoubtedly, this new feature will open the door to previously inoperable and designed elements. Now you can “grow” complex plants with the help of FiberMesh, or place realistic scales on your creatures.
13. Instances and Details
- With the NanoMesh and Array Mesh features, you as an artist can bring more complexity and detail to your work while still keeping the polygon count low. Both NanoMesh and ArrayMmesh will allow multiple instances of any object to be created and then adjusted in seconds.
14. Projection Master
Projection Master is a unique feature that allows you to sculpt and texture 3D models in imaginative and innovative ways using ZBrush’s powerful 2D and 2.5D painting tools.
3. Texturing
1. painting
- Polypainting allows painting on the surface of the model without first assigning a texture map. Texture maps can be created later, and painted surfaces can be transferred onto the map. Polypainting has distinct advantages over standard workflows.
- The resolution of the texture map does not need to be predetermined. This is especially valuable if you find that an area needs more detail than you thought. Instead of repainting a new larger texture map, simply transfer existing surface painting to the new larger map without any modification.
- Similarly, UV unwrapping does not need to be pre-fixed. If one unwrap is not satisfactory, just create another unwrap and transfer the surface painting to that map. Removing UVs from your model frees up system resources and allows you to use more polygons!
- To understand how polypainting works, first consider a 2048 x 2048 texture map, which provides a reasonable resolution. It has a total of just over 4 million pixels.
- With a 4 million polygon model, simply assigning each polygon a uniform color provides the same amount of information as a 4 million pixel texture map in terms of surface rendering. (A bit more, actually, since important parts of the texture map are often left blank.
- So with Polypainting, you can place all the paint detail directly onto the model’s polygons, then transfer that detail to the texture map when painting is complete.
2. Spotlight
- The innovative SpotLight painting system enables image editing in ZBrush, then allows you to project images onto the surface of your model using intuitive sculpting and painting brushes.
- SpotLight is more than just a texturing tool. Imported images can be altered, layered and precisely positioned. Adjust hue and intensity, match colors to other images, clone, tile and color key to create brand new images.
- Use these images to project color on any part of your model. Use Symmetry to apply skin tones, tattoos, and more to both sides of a face or character at once!
- SpotLight is almost deceptively simple to use. The interface puts everything you need at your fingertips and provides real-time feedback for precise control. You’ll learn about its various features and really unleash your drawing power.
3. Ultraviolet Master
- 3D models require UVs when creating or using texture maps. These are 2D coordinates that tell any 3D application how to apply textures to the model. Until now, the process of creating these UVs has been a time-consuming challenge requiring a high level of technical expertise and leaving little room for creativity.
The UV Master plugin creates very efficient UVs for your models with just one click. If you like doing it, you can quickly and easily create great UV maps suitable for painting in 2D painting programs. With UV Master’s cutting-edge technology, you can leave all the technical work to the computer.
4. Rendering Figure
1. Business Process Reengineering
Best Preview Rendering (BPR) will render the model with high quality anti-aliasing and options including subsurface scattering and fiber effects. Additional control is available using an extensive set of filters.
Individual render passes, including shadows and ambient occlusion, can be exported for compositing in image editing or compositing programs.
2. Non-Photorealistic Rendering (NPR)
View your 3D artwork in a whole new way with the new NPR system. Give final 3D sculpts a hand-drawn 2D look, and even bring your sculptural work into the pages of a comic book. With the ability to add overlay textures, apply paper styles for halftone printing, draw dark outlines around 3D models or apply many built-in presets, the new NPR system opens up endless possibilities for the entire art world.
3. Materials and MatCap™
In ZBrush, the appearance of any surface is affected by several things: its base color, its texture image (if any), the lights falling on that surface, and its material. Materials change how lighting reacts to surfaces, making them appear (for example) shiny, undulating, reflective, metallic, or transparent. There are many preset materials in ZBrush that allow you to control the scene. Additionally, each material can be modified to create new materials.
4. MatCap™
What if you could create surface materials and lighting environments by simply painting objects to look the way you want them to look? What if you could create surface materials by sampling points from an existing image that already had the desired material and lighting environment? For many (probably most) materials and lighting environments, this is exactly what MatCap (Material Capture) allows.
5. Surface noise
Starting with ZBrush 4R7, the BPR rendering system now renders all surface noise as displacement, deforming the mesh to match the properties of any procedurally created noise. It’s like having a displacement map without actually creating the map. See highly detailed results when rendering, regardless of polygon count.
6. ZBrush to KeyShot
- With the ZBrush to KeyShot Bridge, you can seamlessly connect ZBrush with KeyShot 5 to produce ultra-realistic high-quality images. If you don’t have KeyShot 5 yet, or the price is too expensive, there is also a “special edition” KeyShot* for ZBrush. ZBrush to KeyShot Bridge changes your Best Preview Render (BPR) button and instead sends your model to KeyShot with just one click.
- All associated data is transferred automatically, including materials, displaced geometry, procedural noise, PolyPaint or textures, and of course the new NanoMesh and Array Mesh. If ZBrush can display it, KeyShot can render it! *The ZSrush version of KeyShot is based on the KeyShot HD function, but there are two points: it can only communicate with ZBrush (cannot import from other packages), and there is no limit to the rendering size.
- Luxion normally sells KeyShot HD for $995, but the introductory price for the bundled ZBrush to KeyShot Bridge and Keyshot for ZBrush is just $249. After the trial period, the regular price is still a great value at $349.
5. Movies
1. Movies
ZBrush offers several options for presenting your work in cinematic form, such as turntables and time-lapse. ZBrush movies can be exported to MPG format (*.mpg).
2. Timeline
ZBrush includes an animation timeline that allows you to create moving turntables for demo reels. In ZBrush, you can animate poses, store camera positions, sync animations to music, import audio to test blend shapes and lip sync.
Not only can the timeline be used as an animation tool, but it can also be used to store and switch between model states for quick and easy control while working. For example, you can use points on the timeline to swap the visibility of entire subgroups of tools, making project management easier than ever.
3. Undo history
Undo history can also be used to create movies.
6. Import and export
1. GoZ
- GoZ is a one-stop solution for use with other programs.
- With GoZ™, there is no need to spend time setting up shading networks for normal maps, displacement maps and texture maps. With a single click of a button, Goze™ transfers your mesh to the Goze™ enabled application of your choice and instantly sets up all the appropriate shading meshes for you. After sending the mesh back to ZBrush.
- GoZ™ will automatically remap the existing high-resolution details to the incoming mesh even if you have drastically changed the topology in other applications! GoZ™ will handle simple operations such as correcting point and polygon order, as well as more advanced operations requiring complete remapping. The updated mesh can be immediately used for further detailing, map creation and transferred to any other GoZ™ enabled application.
2. Normal, Displacement and Vector Displacement
You can create normal, displacement and vector displacement maps in ZBrush to render models in other programs. Maps can exported in a variety of formats and bit depths.
3. Draw Master
With Decimation Master, you can drastically reduce the polygon count of your models while preserving high-resolution details. By decimating a model, its polygon count can reduced to a level that other 3D programs can handle without sacrificing detail.
4. 3D file format
ZBrush supports the import and export of 3D models in various formats.
Import formats:
- Wavefront OBJ (*.obj)
- Maya (*.ma)
- Mesh Ascii (*.mesh)
- Mesh Binary (*.meshb)
- GoZ (ZBrush format for GoZ-enabled programs)
- Using 3D Printing Center Plugin’s STL (*.stl)
- Export using FBX Import Plugin’s FBX
Export formats:
- Wavefront OBJ (*.obj)
- Maya (*.ma)
- Web3D Standard (*.x3d)
- GoZ (ZBrush for GoZ enabled programs Format)
- STL (*.stl) using the 3D Printing Center plug-
- in VRML (*.wrl) using the 3D Printing Center plug-
- in Use FBX to export and import FBX from the plug-
5. Image file format
ZBrush supports image import and export in various formats. Note that when importing images into the Alpha palette, they should ideally 16-bit grayscale.
Import format:
- BMP (*.bmp)
- Photoshop PSD (*.psd)
- JPEG (*.jpg)
- TIF (*.tif)
- PNG (*.png) [Windows only]
- GIF (*.gif)
- HDR (*.hdr)
- Open EXR (*.exr)
Export formats:
- BMP (*.bmp)
- Photoshop PSD (*.psd)
- JPEG (*.jpg )
- PNG (*.png)
- TIF (*.tif)
- open EXR (*.exr) [32-bit displacement only]
7. Illustration
1. The Power of Pixol
- Even though ZBrush has revolutionized the 3D industry, it is a powerful illustration package ! Based on the power of Pixol, ZBrush takes digital painting to a new level. Unlike ordinary pixels in other 2D applications that only contain color and position information. ZBrush’s Pixol contains color, position, depth, lighting and material information.
- So maybe you decide to paint a 2D illustration of a tree in ZBrush. But then decide to change the lighting to more like sunset than midday. Just change the lighting controls and all shadows will update in real time! There is also no limit to the number of polygons that can used in an illustration.
- Maybe you want to add ~20 million polygons of 3D buildings to your image. When working in 2.5D mode. You can add and duplicate that 3D model as many times as you want. Creating entire cities with an unlimited number of buildings without slowing down the system. Then use atmospheric effects and a host of brushes and filters to finish off your city.
2. PaintStop
- The PaintStop plugin configures your user interface and settings to bring your use of real-world art tools to life. In addition to the many brushes, pencils and paints available in PaintStop. You can also choose from a variety of different canvas types to change the look of your final work.