Brush Palettes (Menus) and the Controls Within Them

Palette Reference From ZBrushInfo The subjects below give descriptions of the ZBrush palettes (menus) and the controls within them. Many of these descriptions include conceptual overviews and examples. Particularly large palettes have been split into sections. Alpha Palette Manages alphas, which are ZBrush intensity maps. This is an important palette because alphas can be used for many more operations than in other programs. Brush Palette Contains all of the 3D sculpting brushes. Color Palette Allows setting or selecting of colors, and also filling the canvas or an object with a selected color. Document Palette Provides document operations; opening, saving, resizing, etc. Draw Palette Controls and gives information on aspects of the currently selected tool. For example, Draw sets brush size. This is not an extremely complex palette, but it is important, and many of its controls are made available as shortcuts in the area surrounding the ZBrush canvas. Edit Palette Controls Undo and Redo operations. Layer Palette Layers allow you to organize a complex ZBrush scene into different layers; each layer contains part of the scene. Since ZBrush brush strokes contain depth information, layers provide a powerful scene management tool without the need to consider if elements of one layer might block elements of another. Layers can be made invisible to more easily work with other parts of a scene. Light Palette Controls scene lighting; this in turn affects rendering, both in interactive and batch- rendered views. Macro Palette Allows easy recording of sequences of actions. This is particularly useful for recording actions that make a number of settings that define, for example, a favorite brush combination. The macro menu may come with useful or example predefined macros. Marker Palette Markers allow you to remember various aspects of onscreen models or paint strokes, such as colors, position, orientation, etc. You can then later redraw that model or another, using any of these same properties. Markers are also used for combining multiple models into a single mesh. Material Palette Materials allow you to apply complex and powerful effects to your drawings or models, giving them the appearance of fire, glass, metal, rust, skin, or many other things. Movie Palette Used to make mini-movies about ZBrush, for illustration and distribution to other users. As of ZBrush 3, can export to Quicktime .mov format. Picker Palette Controls how properties (material, color, depth, orientation) of the pixols underneath the mouse cursor affect the current brush stroke. For example, if you want to draw across part of a scene in such a manner that the pixols in that stroke are 'flattened' to the same Z-depth, but retain their original materials, you'd adjust the settings in this palette. Preferences Palette Allows setting of many, many user preferences. This includes UI configuration, tablet preferences, and configuration options having to do with several of the other palettes. Render Palette Controls ZBrush renders, both in the normal interactive mode, and in batch rendering mode. Stencil Palette Allows masking using 'stencils'. These can be not only stencils in the standard meaning of the word (the standard stencil is the 'french curve' drafting/drawing tool), but stencils that include gray scale intensity. Stroke Palette Controls how mouse strokes are applied. This is a powerful but sometimes overlooked feature of ZBrush, and well worth learning. Texture Palette Provides for texture management. Tool Palette Provides the tools (paintbrushes, models, filters, etc.) that can be used to draw in ZBrush, and many operations relating to those tools. This is one of the most important palettes in ZBrush, and its many submenus are described below. Transform Palette Contains operations for transforming 3D objects into different forms; sculpting, repositioning, snapshoting to canvas, and others. Zoom Palette Allows viewing the canvas at different zoom factors. ZPlugin Palette The default location for commands added by ZScripts. However, many ZScripts will put their commands in a more appropriate location in the ZBrush palette structure. ZScript Palette Allows you to load, run, and otherwise work with scripts written using ZScript, ZBrush's built-in scripting language. This is likely to be used mostly by users who write their own scripts; if you commonly use a predefined script, it's usually better to install it so that it loads into ZBrush automatically. Tool Submenus The Tool menu is a core part of ZBrush's functionality; its various submenus can be accessed below. Tool:SubTool Subpalette Allows a mesh to be considered as made up of many different parts. For example, a monster could have a weapon, clothing, etc. This also allows easy construction of full scenes. Tool:Layers Subpalette Allows multiple different sculpts of one model, and combining those sculpt in different ways. Tool:Geometry Subpalette A very important submenu, concerned with creating and working with multiple levels of subdivision. Tool:HD Geometry Subpalette Analogous to the Geometry submenu, but functions with the new very-high res (hundreds of millions of polygons) features of ZBrush. Tool:Preview Subpalette Allows one to redefine the model's default orientation and center point. Tool:Deformation Subpalette Can apply a wide range of deformations to a model; noise, skews, etc. Primarily used when first creating models. Tool:Masking Subpalette Controls Masking, the ability to choose or paint parts of your model to define if and how much they will be affected by subsequent operations. Tool:Polygroups Subpalette Operations relating to standard mesh groups, as are understood by most 3D programs. Create, hide, and show particular groups in your mesh. Tool:Texture Subpalette Operations relating specifically to 3D texture application; see the Texture Palette for more general operations on images. Tool:Morph Target Subpalette Operations related to setting, removing, and restoring a sculpt to a previously defined form. Tool:Displacement Subpalette Operations related to generating or using displacement maps. ZMapper is a plugin that can provide much more sophisticated functionality. Tool:NormalMap Subpalette Operations related to generating or using normal maps. ZMapper is a plugin that can provide much more sophisticated functionality. Tool:Unified Skin Subpalette Operations to generate a polymesh skin over top of a ZSphere model. Tool:Display Properties Subpalette A simple submenu affecting certain display properties, such as if and when normals should be flipped. Tool:Import Subpalette Used to bring in 3D models from other file formats; .OBJ and so forth. Tool:Export Subpalette Used to save 3D models in other file formats; .OBJ and so forth. The next two sub-palettes are specific to ZSpheres. Tool:Rigging Subpalette Controls rigging, which can be used both for modifying models, and as part of model retopoligization. Tool:Topology Subpalette Operations to do with mesh topology manipulation, primarily used when building a new topology atop an existing one. Retrieved from "http://www.zbrush.info/docs/index.php/Palette_Reference" ● This page was last modified 23:31, 3 June 2007. ● This page has been accessed 20,020 times. ● Privacy policy ● About ZBrushInfo ● Disclaimers Alpha Palette From ZBrushInfo In ZBrush, grayscale images used for masking are referred to as alphas. You'll probably be used to alphas from the notion of an "alpha transparency" in other painting or imaging programs, but in ZBrush, they can be used for far more than that Contents ● 1 Selecting Alphas ● 2 Alpha Palette Controls ❍ 2.1 Main Controls ❍ 2.2 Creating Polymeshes From Alphas ❍ 2.3 Converting Between Alphas and Other Objects (Stencils, Textures, the Document, Other Alphas) ● 3 Related Controls in Other Palettes ● 4 Further Links Selecting Alphas The inventory of all alphas, which can be brought up by clicking on the large thumbnail in the Alpha Palette, or the large Alpha thumbnail to the left of the canvas. Alphas can be selected from either the Alpha palette, or the large Alpha thumbnail on the left of the ZBrush canvas. In either case, click on the large thumbnail to bring up the full selection of alphas. Within the palette, you can also click one of the small thumbnails that show recently used alphas, to select it. The inventory of alphas works the same as others in ZBrush, such as those in the Tool and Material palettes. The active alpha is grayed out to indicate that it is already selected. Note: In the Alpha Palette, click one of the small thumbnails and then select an alpha from the resulting popup of the alpha inventory, to have the selected alpha replace the clicked thumbnail, rather than be added to the list of recently used alphas. To see the name, size, and bit depth of an alpha, hover the mouse over its thumbnail. Alpha Palette Controls Main Controls Import: Imports .bmp (Windows Bitmap), .psd (Photoshop), .jpg (JPEG), or PICT (Mac). You can select multiple alpha images and load them all at one time. If you import color images, they will automatically be converted to grayscale. Export: Exports 8- bit .bmp (Windows Bitmap), .psd (Photoshop), or PICT (Mac). Ep: If pressed, then any alpha that is exported will include the modifications made to it by the AlphaAdjust curve. (This is the same as the alpha that appears in the large thumbnail preview.) If not pressed, then any exported alpha will have its 'original' appearance, without modification by AlphaAdjust. DE Options: Brings up options having to do with how the Alpha Displacement Exporter exports alphas. This includes options concerning TIFF file format, and some modification options. DExporter: Exports an alpha using the currently selected options in DE Options. This differs from Export in that Export does not apply any of the options that can be set using DE Options. Brush: Slider that gives an alternative way of selecting alphas. R: As alphas are selected, they will be added to the "recently used" set of thumbnails that appears in the Alpha palette.

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