Pixologic has announced the release of ZBrush 2022. New features include:
- The ability to create embossed surfaces using a new Bas Relief feature that can create an alpha from a 3D view.
- A new Bevel Pro plugin that allows the user to create complex bevels based on masking and polygroups to determine which edges to bevel.
- The ability to use dual alphas and textures with brushes and blend between them based on pen pressure.
- The ability to apply any image, graphical noise or noise presets to a brush for local sculptural surface noise details.
- The ability to redistribute multiple SubTools, or the geometry within a single SubTool with a single button press.
- Rectangle and circle knife brushes.
- The ability to use ZIntensity, Brush Size, RGB Intensity, or Front and Back Colors to transition between strokes when using the interpolation feature.
- Quick access to the XMD toolbox from with ZBrush.
As always, ZBrush updates are free for existing license owners. Find out more on the Pixologic website.
Some nice small new features, although nothing groundbreaking. Still free, so I am super happy to get this update, and it’s been almost 12 years since I bought my license. Never seen something like this.
The Bas Relief feature is a pretty big deal in certain industries. This will be a huge timesaver compared to the current workarounds or crappy conversions that current software does converting depth maps to Bas Reliefs for CNC routers for instance. I hacked together nodes in Designer to do what I want, now I don’t have to bake out depth and detail normals to get the same results. To me, this is groundbreaking.
And agreed, love the licensing models. I think the ~$250-300 I’ve spent has paid for itself over and over. Makes me look back at what I bought back then, it was mostly just a 2.5D toy.