ZBrush 2021.6 continues on the path of creativity and productivity with major new features allowing artists to work with even greater freedom. Explore ideas in a natural and direct manner. Sketch out concepts and develop shapes almost at the speed of thought.
Mesh from Mask
Mesh From Mask is an amazingly fast and simple set of brushes (MeshExtrude, MeshBalloon, MeshSplat, and MeshExtrudePropDepth) for creating base meshes that you can then sculpt using the rest of the ZBrush feature set. Simply outline your desired shape with the masking lasso, ZBrush will instantly turn that outlined shape into an editable mesh. Artists can then either jump directly to sculpting, or can continue to refine the outline – adding to it, subtracting, or cutting holes. Model updates in real-time as you modify your shape so that you never have to guess what the results will be.
Mesh from Mask offers two distinct modes. One creates soft, organic shapes in a balloon-type of effect that is thicker where the enclosed shape is wide and thins near corners. The other mode creates precise flat shapes with a uniform thickness and controlled bevels.
Lasso, circle, rectangle, and curve stroke types are supported, as are alphas. The Selection brush now also supports the smooth control and precision of Lazy Mouse.
Curve Alpha
The new Curve Alpha brushes take any 2D alpha and extrude it along a curve as real geometry. This is ideal for quickly creating stylish strands of hair or horns, twisting and tapering along any curve you create. That curve can then be edited if you wish to refine the shape.
The new ExtrudeProfile brushes work in a similar fashion, except that they use the “Flat” option in the Alpha palette to convert any 3D mesh into a silhouette to be swept along the curve.
Snake Curve Brushes
The new Snake Curve brushes work with Sculptris Pro mode, allowing you to draw a curve on the model and then pull it out from the surface to create strange and beautiful organic extrusions. Depending on where you click on the curve to move it and how quickly it is pulled, the curve will twist organically to cause variations in the extruded geometry. This feature is perfect for creating the sort of happy accidents that inspire artists.
Improved Ambient Occlusion
With Improved AO ZBrush is now doing true raytracing for a result that is much more true to life, making the details on your model truly pop with no need for technical know-how. This new, improved version of Ambient Occlusion masking is simple to use with just basic controls for intensity and smoothing. It even respects other SubTools, which means that you have total freedom to break your model up into parts that best suit your sculpting needs while enjoying the confidence that you’ll get a great-looking render when you’re done.
As with the legacy version of Ambient Occlusion you are able to use these shadows to generate masking, which you can then use with deformations or brushes to further sculpt your model.
USD format
The USD format has been added for import and export. The USD format was developed by Pixar to provide a way to handle scenes made up of many different elements as well as allow multiple artists to collaborate on the different assets.
Other Additions and Improvements
- Sticky Hotkeys: Any hotkey that triggers a slider can now be held down. Moving the cursor then adjusts the slider until the hotkey is released. This means fewer clicks to get the same result. To use the legacy behaviour, simply tap the hotkey and click+drag to adjust the slider.
- Two new Male and Female demo meshes are included, courtesy of Tsvetomir Georgiev.
- Updates to Curve Stroke options allow more advanced behavior.
- The last saved project will now be opened when ZBrush starts.
- A selection of hard surface alphas has been added to the Alpha tab of Lightbox for using with the new features.
Watch ZBrush 2021.6 Official Launch
Missed the official launch and want to know more about all the lastert updates on this release? Fear not, we've got your back.
Index of contents
0:00 Start
4:37 Overview
6:35 Improved Ambient Occlusion (Ray Tracing)
16:06 Curve Alpha
33:15 How to Create a Curve Alpha
40:36 Mesh from Mask: Mesh Balloon
47:14 Using Mesh Balloon to Quickly Block Out a Lion
50:20 Using MeshBalloon to Create Paper Cut Out Art
52:22 Create a Mech Suit or Super Hero Armor with the New Features
1:01:20 Behold! Mesh from Alpha
1:16:20 Pixolator introduces Snake Curve Brushes
1:20:07 How to Create a Killer Whale in 5 minutes
1:27:20 Snake Curve for Creature Concepts
1:35:05 Quick Recap for New Features
1:38:20 ZBrush 2021.6 Available March 2nd