Moving, Scaling & Rotating 3D Models

To move, scale or rotate a 3D mesh - click the Move, Scale or Rotate icon to activate the Gizmo. By clicking off the Gizmo, you will switch to the
Transpose Line, allowing for more advanced transformations.

Sculpting
To select the Smooth Brush - hold down [Shift] while sculpting. Release [Shift] to return to the previously-selected sculpting brush.
To invert the effect of the current Brush – hold down [Alt].

To mask part of a mesh - hold down [Ctrl] and drag over the relevant part of the mesh. The masked area cannot be sculpted or painted, etc.

To hide part of a mesh - hold down [Ctrl + Shift] and drag over the relevant part of the mesh.

PolyGroups
To create a PolyGroup from a masked area - draw a mask and then press [Ctrl + W]. A PolyGroup allows you to organize a mesh into different
coloured areas which can then be selected and shown or hidden, making work easier.

To display PolyGroups - press [Shift + F].

To isolate a PolyGroup - hold down [Ctrl + Shift] and click it. All other PolyGroups will be hidden.

Modelling Methods
DynaMesh - allows you to create a whole character from a sphere with no uneven geometry, rather like working with clay. You can also add new
meshes to the original mesh, or use a new mesh to cut away a portion of the original mesh. When working with DynaMesh, hold down [Ctrl] and
click and drag the background every so often to update and optimise the mesh.

Subdivision Modelling - allows you to increase the number of a mesh’s polygons to create fine detail. Each time you divide a polymesh, the previous
levels are retained, allowing you to make changes at the lowest subdivision level without losing the fine detail at the higher levels.

ZSpheres - allow you to ‘sketch out’ a 3D mesh, like building a skeleton.

To create a preview of the 3D mesh - press [A].

To create an editable, 3D mesh, based on the ZSpheres - click the Make-Adaptive-Skin button.

SubTools - allow you to split a model into separate parts.

Mesh Extraction - allows you to create new parts for a model, using its existing geometry, by duplicating part of the mesh (defined by masking or by
hiding other parts), cleaning the edges to create a smooth, even boundary and adding thickness (if required).

Finishing
To bake a Surface-Noise effect into a mesh’s geometry - choose Tool > Surface > Apply to Mesh. Surface Noise is an effect that can be added to a
mesh to make it look like stone, wood, or some other material. Masking can be used to limit the Surface Noise to specific parts of the mesh.

To paint a mesh - select the relevant Paint Brush from the Brush Palette, select the relevant colour from the Colour Palette and start painting.
To erase a colour - select white from the Colour Palette.
To paint a whole mesh with a single colour - select the relevant colour from the Colour Palette and click the Colour > Fill Object button.

Materials - make a mesh look like it’s made of something, such as metal, stone or clay. There are two types of materials: Standard Materials which
react to the lights that you set via the Light Palette, and MatCap Materials which have their lighting baked in.

Rendering an Image
To render a high-quality image of a mesh - press the BPR button at the top-right corner of the interface.
To save a high-quality image of a mesh - press the Document > Export button.

To display floor shadows - enable the Floor button.

To adjust render settings - use the Render Palette.
Alpha Palette
The Alpha Palette allows you to select alphas (greyscale images) which modify the shape of brushes.

Import - allows you to import an alpha (a greyscale bmp, psd or jpg file).

Alpha-Selection Slider - allows you to select alphas, by number. The currently-selected alpha is displayed as a
large thumbnail and all recently used alphas as smaller thumbnails. You can also select alphas by clicking the
currently-selected alpha’s thumbnail and selecting the relevant alpha from the pop-up menu.

R - restores the number of displayed thumbnails to a default configuration.

Flip H - flips the currently-selected alpha, horizontally.

Flip V - flips the currently-selected alpha, vertically.
Rotate - rotates the currently-selected alpha, 90° clockwise.
Inverse - inverses the currently-selected alpha, so that light areas become dark, and vice-versa.

Brush Palette
The Brush Palette allows you to select brushes.

Load Brush - allows you to load a preset (zbp file).

Save As - allows you to save the currently-selected brush as a preset (zbp file). Preset files contain all Brush-
Palette, Stroke-Palette and Alpha-Palette settings, as well as certain Preference-Palette settings.

Lightbox > Brushes - opens the Brush section of Lightbox.

Brush-Selection Slider - allows you to select brushes, by number

R - restores the number of displayed thumbnails to a default configuration.

Modifiers: Mesh-Insert Preview - allows you to select a polymesh (not a primitive) for mesh insertions by
clicking the currently-selected polymesh’s thumbnail and selecting the relevant polymesh from the pop-up
menu.

MultiMesh-Select Slider – allows you to select an individual insert mesh.

Variations Slider - if enabled, ZBrush will vary the selection of insert meshes according to the slider’s value;
for example, if there are eight meshes (including the currently-selected mesh) and the slider’s value is 5,
ZBrush will select from the currently-selected mesh and the following, four meshes.

Variations-Selector Slider - determines how ZBrush will select insert meshes, as follows:

0 - static selection.
1 - cycle forward.
2 - cycle backwards.
3 - random.

Auto Masking: BackfaceMask - if enabled, areas of a mesh that face away from and are not visible to you will be masked, during sculpting – this is
useful when, for example, sculpting one surface of a thin model, since any brush radius greater than the thickness of the model would also have an
unwanted effect on the opposite side of the model.

Auto Masking: BackMaskInt - adjusts the degree of masking, when BackfaceMask is enabled.

Auto Masking: BackMaskCurve - allows you to control the extent to which masking will be applied to vertices, depending on the extent to which
their normals point away from you; for example, flattening sections of this curve will allow you to create steps in your sculpting, since ranges of
angles will be masked by the same amount.
Colour Palette

Main-Colour Swatch – displays the currently-selected, main colour.

Secondary-Colour Swatch - displays the currently-selected, secondary colour, which is used by some tools for
special effects.

To select a colour - click the relevant, main or secondary colour swatch to open the colour picker, select the
desired hue by clicking in the outer rim, select the lightness/darkness by clicking in the centre and press [Esc]
when finished. You can also click the main or secondary colour swatch and then drag to any point on the
interface, to pick its colour. By default, picked colours are pure, unaffected by lights and materials - to pick
shaded/material colours, hold down [Alt] after you start dragging.

SwitchColour - swaps the main and secondary colours.

Gradient - if enabled, you will be able to blend the main and secondary colours, for certain operations.
Alternate - if enabled, you will be able to toggle between the main and secondary colours, during PolyPainting,
by pressing [Alt].

Greyscale Swatch - displays the lightness/darkness of the currently-selected, main or secondary colour.

R - allows you to select the red component of the colour’s RGB value, numerically.
G - allows you to select the green component of the colour’s RGB value, numerically.
B - allows you to select the blue component of the colour’s RGB value, numerically.

FillObject - assigns the currently-selected, main colour and/or material to the current object, according to the following:

 If MRGB is enabled in the Draw Palette, both the main colour and material will be assigned to the current object.
 If RGB is enabled in the Draw Palette, only the main colour will be assigned to the current object.
 If M is enabled in the Draw Palette, only the material will be assigned to the current object.

Modifiers - opens additional colour pickers.

Document Palette

Export - exports the current view of the model as an image file in a variety of formats. For best results, do a
BPR render first, using the settings in the Render Palette.

Back - displays the current colour of the Document Window’s background. You can change this colour to the currently-selected, main colour in the
Colour Palette by clicking this button. You can also click this button and then drag to any point on the interface, to pick its colour.

Border - displays the current colour of the Document Window’s border and the Lightbox’s background. You can change this colour to the currently-
selected, main colour in the Colour Palette by clicking this button. You can also click this button and then drag to any point on the interface, to pick
its colour.

Border 2 - displays a second colour for the Document Window’s border that is blended with the main, Border’s colour. You can change this colour to
the currently-selected, main colour in the Colour Palette by clicking this button. You can also click this button and then drag to any point on the
interface, to pick its colour.

Range - adjusts the transparency of the Document Window’s background gradient. A value of 0 removes the background gradient.
Centre – adjusts the point at which the Range will be halfway between white and black.
Rate - adjusts the softness of the Document Window’s background gradient.
Draw Palette

Draw Size - adjusts the size of brush strokes and editing actions. Keyboard shortcut [S].
Dynamic - if enabled, the Draw Size will automatically adjust to the size of the current model. Hold
down [Shift] and click to enable/disable

Focal Shift - adjusts the current painting or editing action. It shifts the effective curve so the intensity is
drawn closer to the centre (positive value) or away from the centre (negative value). This slider simply
mirrors the value of certain other sliders: if the current tool is a painting tool, it mirrors the value of the
Focal Shift slider in the Alpha Adjustment Curve (Alpha Palette). If the current tool is a 3D object in Edit
mode, it mirrors the value of the Focal Shift slider in the Edit Curve (Transform palette).
The value of this slider is reflected by the size of the inner ring around the draw cursor: larger/positive
values result in a smaller (more focused) ring, and smaller/negative values result in a larger (less focused)
ring.

Z Intensity - adjusts the amount of depth information applied by the current tool or object. Z Intensity is
tied closely with Rgb Intensity, which has the same effect for color information. For certain tools, the
RGB Intensity and Z Intensity sliders are locked together.

Rgb Intensity - if this value is less than 100%, tools apply colors more faintly, blending them with colors
painted upon. RGB Intensity is tied closely with Z Intensity, which has the same effect for depth
information. For non-3D tools, the RGB Intensity and Z Intensity sliders are locked together.

Mrgb/Rgb/M - determine whether a tool adds color and/or material to the canvas. These buttons are only
pressed one at a time.
Mrgb specifies that the tool paints with color and material; Rgb specifies color only; M specifies material
only.
If all three buttons are turned off, the tool adds neither color nor material. Depending on the settings of
the Zadd, Zsub and Zcut buttons, it will only add depth information to the canvas.
Each tool remembers these buttons’ settings, and recalls them when the tool is selected.
Rgb - when the Rgb button is pressed only color will be painted – materials will not be affected.
M - when the M button is pressed only material will be painted – color will not be affected.

Zadd - if enabled, a brush will add volume, outwards, to a model.

Zsub - if enabled, a brush will remove volume, inwards, from a model.

Perspective - enables/disables perspective foreshortening. Keyboard shortcut [P].

Angle of View - adjusts the effective focal length of the perspective foreshortening.
Align to Object – if enabled, the model will always face the camera; if disabled, the tool will have a
slight rotation to its alignment as the model is moved to either corner of the canvas.

Open and Save with LightBox

The Open and Save buttons allow you to save your current reference images and grids setup for other projects. Opening a previous grid arrangement
is often the quickest way to set up a new one.

LightBox has a section which can accept your saved grid presets so that they can be quickly loaded into ZBrushCore. To make sure your grids display
in LightBox, save them to the ZBrushCore/ZGrids folder.

Floor
Floor Grid (Y Axis )
Floor Grid (Y Axis)

Press Floor to activate the floor grid. The grid can be turned on for different axes by clicking the axis letters at the top of the icon. Turning all three
axes on in the icon will activate a floor grid on every axis.

Elv (Elevation)
The Elevation slider sets the position of the grids relative to the model. Normally the Elevation slider would be set to -1. To position the grids so that
they intersect at the center of the model set the value to zero.

Snap
When enabled, Snap moves the active grids from bisecting the object to being outside its bounding box. This positions them so that they are
positioned behind the object, in the appropriate place to serve as supports for background images.

Disabling this option keeps the grids at their origin position, centered on the current SubTool’s geometric center.

Fill Mode
The Fill mode slider, located near the top of the Draw palette defines how the grid will be displayed.

0: The grid is displayed with no transparency.

1: The grid is displayed with slight transparency.
2: The grid is displayed with strong transparency.
3: The grid is displayed with slight transparency and the model with smart transparency. In this mode, the polygons facing forward will be more
transparent while those near the edges will be more opaque. The visual effect is closest to a Fresnel effect, producing the best visibility when working
with references. You can modify this display mode with the Edge Enhanced and the Edge Opacity sliders, located in the Visibility section.

Grid fill modes

The four fill modes, from left to right and top to bottom. Notice that mode 3 (the 4th image) is the most useful, but having dark colors can make the
overall visibility more complex.

Front
This mode, located to the right of the Fill Mode slider, is enabled only for Fill Modes 0, 1 and 2. It displays the model with flat transparency to see the
background through it.

Front mode
Front mode, on and off

Front mode does not have transparency modifiers.

Grid Size
The Grid Size slider changes the size of the grid.

Tiles
The Tiles slider will adjust the number of tiles the grid has.

E (Edge) Enhance Factor and Opacity

These sliders are enabled only when the Fill Mode slider is set to 3. (See above for a description of this mode.)

The Edge Enhance Factor slider affects the detection of the angle used to determine transparency.

The Edge Enhance Opacity slider modifies the opacity of the background image. As a result, it alters the overall strength of the model’s opacity.

blobFront-Back
The Up-Down and Left-Right sections have exactly the same options.

Image Selectors
Two selectors are available, letting you select different images for the inside of the grid (first selector) and back/outside of the grid (second selector).

If the corresponding grid was previously disabled, assigning an image using these selectors will enable the grid.

These selectors are also used to disable to replace the current image.

One
This mode uses the left image slot for both sides of the grid. If an image is loaded into the second slot, it won’t be displayed on the grid.

PLine (Projection Lines from Cursor to Axes)

Projection Lines go from the cursor to the corresponding working plane.

This mode projects a line from the cursor to the visible Floor grids with the corresponding axis color. The position is displayed in the ZBrush title bar.
These lines make it easy to ensure that your sculpting work remains true to the reference image.

Switch
This function swaps the textures loaded into the associated grid’s slots. The inside texture will be moved to the outside position and vice versa.

Adjust
This option opens a dedicated image editor, similar to ZBrush’s JPG exporter with which you can manipulate your original image directly within
ZBrush.

The most common use of the Adjust window will be to crop the image. It is also useful for changes such as improving the contrast of your reference
images.

Rotate, Flip and Inverse

These functions provide basic manipulation to rotate the loaded reference image by 90°, flip it horizontally or invert its colors.

If you wish to flip your image vertically, simply rotate it 90° twice and then flip it.

Scale, Angle, Vertical and Horizontal Offset

These four sliders manipulate your image within their respective grid so that you can fine tune the image’s rotation, scale and position.

If your image moves partially outside of the grid, it won’t be cropped.

Note: It is not possible to directly scale an image larger than 100%. Instead, increase the Grid Size value, after which you can use Scale to reduce the
image’s size as necessary.