ZBrush 2.

0 Tutorial
David Alder © 2005
3D Modeler/Game Developer/Engineer
www.davidalder.com
alder3d@hotmail.com

This tutorial is for private use only. Any commercial use, contact me
directly at alder3d@hotmail.com for approval.
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Please Read First!

• I have found many online tutorials and DVD’s covering separate concepts
but I wanted to write a tutorial that would guide anyone new to ZBrush from
start to finish. It will start from importing into ZBrush, adding detail, painting
color, creating Normal Maps and rendering your character in 3D Max. I have
learned many shortcuts and tricks along the way and if you follow this
tutorial you will learn them as well.
• This tutorial is 24 pages long but it is meant to be taken in steps. Also, I
include pictures for almost everything which consists of probably 70% of
this tutorial.
• I am not saying that my methods are the right way but it is what works for
me and if you follow them you will feel more confident with ZBrush.
• Most important of all study anatomy, get references and have fun!

The Basics about ZBrush

-- The 2.5D concept. ZBrush combines 2D and 3D. When you are doing basic sculpting
and movement you are in 3D but when you add detail and color with projection Master
you are in 2D. This is where 2.5D came from.

ZBrush and the use of the Pixol rather than the Pixel
• This is from the ZBrush Practical guide

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 Table of Contents

1. Important settings for working in ZBrush

2. Importing an object from Max and Maya and saving your ZBrush file

3. Morph targets, movement, subdivisions

4. Hiding or showing polygons

5. General sculpting, different brushes

6. Adding detail with projection master, or the stencil tool

7. Adding colors to your object.

8. Normal maps and applying them in Max or Maya

9. Applying your texture with the normal Map in Max

10. My most used hotkeys

11. Pixologic hotkey List

12. A list of my favorite anatomy books and references

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Important settings for working

When you first enter the program I would suggest making these setting changes
1. First go to the Document menu and click double, this will give you double the
workspace, figure 1.
2. Second, go to the Preferences tab and go down to the mem section, change
Compact Mem to your amount of ram, 2 gigs would be great. Change Tool Undo
to however many you want, I put it to 30. Change the MaxPolyPerMesh to 10.
This is very important because if you want an extreme amount of detail you
need to go to subdivision 6 and unless you put it to 10 it won’t let you, figure
2.

Figure 1: Go to documents, double size. Figure 2: Go to Preferences -> Mem and change
Compact Mem to your amount of ram, Tool Undo
to about 30 and MaxPolyPerMesh to 10

Importing a Model from Max or Maya and Saving your ZBrush File

• To import a model into ZBrush the format you want to use is obj.
o UV mapping coordinates that you have done in Max or Maya are
recognized by ZBrush. Although ZBrush can do UV mapping it is better to do it in
an outside package.

MAX

• For Max you have to make sure that you do several settings in the obj exporter or
your model will not look right in ZBrush.
• So once your model is done and UV mapped export it with the settings below,
figure 3.

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 Figure 3: Important Max settings in the obj exporter before bringing your model into ZBrush.

MAYA

Maya doesn’t need any special settings at all.

• First make sure that the obj export plugin is loaded
• Go to Windows -> Settings Preferences->Plug-in Manager and turn on the obj
exporter. Now select the model and export it as an obj as whatever name you
want, no special settings required.

Importing into ZBrush

• Now open up ZBrush and go to the Tool menu and click on import, figure 4, not
Load Tool. Load Tool is for ZBrush files with a .ztl extension.
• Your file should appear in the box in the upper left hand corner under the
projection master button, figure 5.

Figure 4: Importing your model. Figure 5: Your model will appear in the
upper left corner once it is imported.

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 • Make sure your model is in the upper left hand corner and now left click and
drag inside of the ZBrush workspace, figure 6. Only do this once or you will
have multiple copies of your character, figure 7. If multiple objects appear click
control n to clear the canvas or go to document new document to get a clear
workspace.

Figure 6: To make your object appear on the Figure 7: If you left click more than once you
work area left click on the screen and stop. will see multiple versions of your model.
Press control n to clear the canvas

• To save your ZBrush file make sure your model is in subd 3 or less, it will keep
the file size down, and go to Tool, save as, and save your Ztool file. To load a
different document go to Tool->Load and choose your Ztool, .ztl file.

• Now your object is on the canvas and don’t worry it will look very jagged
because ZBrush doesn’t recognize smooth normals from Max or Maya. Right
click and select edit mode or click edit in the upper left hand corner, figure 8.
Edit mode allows you to sculpt and move your object around.

Figure 8: Once your object is on the screen you have to go into edit mode before you can sculpt or
move the object around.

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 Morph Targets, Movement, Subdivisions

• Now that you are in edit mode you are ready to start moving your character
around and subdividing him
• MOVEMENT
Centering of Object- alt double click outside model
Rotate – left mouse click anywhere except on character
Snap- left mouse click and rotate and hold shift to snap in direction you
want
Pan- alt and left mouse click
Zoom- alt and left mouse click, then let go of alt and move mouse forward
or back
• SUBDIVISION
• In ZBrush you will be shifting between many subdivisions while sculpting
and adding detail
1. To add a subdivision go to the tool menu and go to geometry
• I find it better if you grab the little icon in the left corner, figure
9, and move the toolbar to the left side of ZBrush, figure 10.
This will help because you can watch your subdivision level
while you are working.

Figure 9: The tool menu. Click on the little Figure 10: The toolbar after it has been
partial circle icon and move it over to the left. moved to the left.

2. Now it is time to start subdividing

• Go to Tool - > Geometry - >Subdivisions go to level 6, figure 11. Your
model will be very smooth at several million polygons, figure 12.

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Figure 11: Doing subdivisions up to level 6. Figure 12: Your character at 6 subdivisions.

• If ZBrush will not allow you to go to Subdivision 6, then you

forgot to go to Preferences - > Mem and turn up the
Compact Memory and MaxPolyPerMesh as shown in
figure 2 earlier.

3. Now you need to go back down to Subdivision 1 and save a morph target. To do
this press shift d until you are back to subdivision 1.
• Changing Subd levels once you have gone up to Subd 6
• D-up subdivision, shift d down a subdivision

4. To create a Morph Target go to Tool - > Morph Target - > StoreMT.

5. What a morph target does is saves your object’s geometry at that moment. So if
you make a mistake you can click switch and it will go back to this stored Morph
Target fixing your geometry if you make a mistake, figures 13 and 14.

Figure 13: This is where you would use the Figure 14: Once you hit Switch it goes back
Switch command with a Morph Target. to the normal looking model.

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Hiding or Showing Polygons

- You are just about ready to start sculpting. But first you need to learn how to hide
certain parts of your geometry so you can work on one specific area at a time.

• To hide an object I would not suggest that you are in a subdivision level much
higher than 3. To hide parts of an object:
• Hiding outside green box– control and shift at same time
highlight part of character you want to work on, box turns
green, figure 15 and 16.
• Hiding what’s inside red box- control and shift at same time
then let go of shift box turns red, figure 17 and 18.
• Unhiding- control and shift click around character

Figure 15: Hiding part of the character that is Figure 16: The portion of your character that is
outside the green box using control and shift at left. To show the whole character again, press
the same time. control and shift and click outside the character.

Figure 17: Hiding part of the character that is Figure 18: The portion of your character that is
inside the red box using control and shift at the left. To show the whole character again, press
same time, then letting go of shift. control and shift and click outside the character.

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General Sculpting, Masking

- It seems that there have been many steps before you have gotten to sculpting but
they will soon become second nature and you will be able to go right to sculpting in no
time.

- With sculpting the most important commands you will use is the Brush Size or Draw
Size, Smoothing, Zadd and Zsub and the Z Intensity, which controls the amount of
push or pull the brush will have on your object, or how big your texture will be on the
object (later in projection master).

- Sculpting Commands
Draw Size- right click or use Draw Size at top of screen, this is essentially your
brush size
Z Intensity – intensity of brush
Zadd or Zsub- The push or pull on your object
To use Zadd or Zsub- select the buttons at the top or by default it is on
Zadd, and if you want to use Zsub hold alt and it will subtract
Smoothing of object- shift plus left mouse button on part you want to smooth.
X, Y, Z – mirrors sculpting onto X, Y, or Z axis, (not an option in projection master)

1. Let’s start sculpting

• The number 1 thing I would suggest before you start sculpting is to have
references: an anatomy book, drawings, body building pictures or
something that will help you create a character with accurate muscle
structure.

- My character already has a good general shape so I am going to start adding

muscle and veins to him.
- For starting your muscles I would suggest going into about subd 3.
ƒ So first go into about subd 3 (d to go up subdivisions or shift d to go
down subdivisions) and choose a good brush size
• I am going to start with a draw size of 45 to start and an Z intensity of
about 8.
• If you want to same sculpting on the other side press X, Y or Z to
mirror it over your particular axis, in my case the X axis. Now you
don’t always want symmetrical geometry so remember to press X
again to turn it off.
• After getting a general arm shape, start playing around with the draw
size and Z intensity and you will start seeing a good general shape
coming, figure 19.
• To add veins I would suggest going into subd 4 or 5 and using a
small draw scale with Z Intensity of about 10, at least to get you
started. Hide most of the body except for the arm (shift and control at
same time) that you will be sculpting,. You will probably need to use
shift to smooth the vein to make it look more natural. You should now
see a vein in the arm, figure 20.

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Figure 19: A good general arm shape forming. Figure 20: The vein in the arm appearing.

• After some time sculpting you should end up with a good looking
character, figure 21. Be patient it is going to take a little while.

Figure 21: Final sculpted character.

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2. Masking

Masking is picking a particular area that you want to sculpt and having the paintbrush
only affect that area. Masking turns the area black. What is black will not be effected and
what is white will.

• To Mask an object hold down the control key and left mouse button and highlight
what you want to mask, figure 22.
• To invert the mask, hold down the control key and left mouse click outside the
character, figure 23. When you do this make sure you don’t form a rectangular
marque/selection.
• To get rid of the mask hold down the control key and left mouse button and form a
rectangular box outside the character, figure 24. This will get rid of the mask.

Why would you use this you ask?

With a combination of the mask, move and inflate tools you can create spikes, bumps
and much more.
• To create spikes or bumps hold down the control key and have symmetry on or off
(X, Y, or Z keys) depending on if you want to mirror the geometry and create
several lines on your character, figure 25.

Figure 22: Using control and the left mouse Figure 23: Clicking control and the left mouse
button to mask out your character. The white button outside the character to Invert the mask.
area is what will be affected.

Figure 24: Using control and the left mouse Figure 25: Clicking control and the left mouse
button to mask out your character. The white button outside the character to Invert the mask.
area is what will be affected.
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 • Now invert the mask, figure 26 and go to Tool - > Deformation - > Inflate and
create some bumps, figure 27.

• Now go remove the mask (control, left mouse button, create box outside
character) and go into move mode. To go into move mode click move in the upper
toolbar or right click and select move.

• Once you are in Move mode click on one of your bumps and pull out. Now you
have a spike. Continue this until you have several spikes, figure 28. With this you
can easily create bumps, spikes or distortion in the geometry.

Figure 26: Using control and the left mouse Figure 27: Clicking control and the left mouse
button to mask out your character. The white button outside the character to Invert the mask.
area is what will be affected.

Figure 28: Using control and the left mouse button to mask out your character. The white area is what will
be affected.

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Adding detail with projection Master

• This is where a fast processor, hard drive space and a lot of ram come in handy!
• (I have a 3.2 ghz processor, 800 MHZ FSB, 2 gigs of pc3200 ram, and 420 gigs of
total hard drive space (1 120gb, 1 300 gb) )
• When you get up to subd 6 you will be in the millions of polygons.
1. Let’s Start Detail.
2. First make sure that your Mem-> Preferences-> MaxPolyPerMesh is set to the max
10. This will allow you to get to subd 6.
3. Once you are in subd 6 go back down to about subd 3 or 4 and select a particular
area to work on. I am going to start with the side of my character. So hide everything
except what you want to work on then go back up to subd 6, figure 29. You do not
want to work in Subd 6 with your whole character showing because it will be in the
millions of polygons, in my case 5 million polygons.
4. Once you have gone up to Subd 6 you need to go into projection Master. To do this
hit g or click on the Projection Master button in the upper left hand corner. Uncheck
Colors and click just Deformation and Normalized, figure 30. Colors will be used later.

Figure 29: Getting ready for Projection Master. Figure 30: Going into projection Master.
Hide everything except what you want to work on Uncheck Colors and click just Deformation and
and go to subd 6. Normalized.

5. Now your object is dropped to the canvas.

- - Now this is why ZBrush is known as a 2.5D program. You rotate and sculpt in
3D but you add detail and colors in 2D. This is now a 2D image until you pick the
object back up.

6. To start adding detail first you need to choose your brush type. Your brushes are in
the left corner right below the Projection Master button, figure 31.
7. The default brush when you first go into Projection Master is the single layer brush.
This is fine for color but will not add much depth to the detail you are going to add.
The most used brush you will use initially is the simple brush. It is a multilayered
brush and keeps the most detail. So select the simple brush from the brush menu,
figure 32.

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Figure 31: Selecting your brush in Projection Figure 32: The default brush in Projection Master
Master. is the Single Layer brush. This is good for color
but not detail. Use the Simple Brush.

8. Now it is time to use the Alpha Menu. Drag the menu over to the left, figure 33.
An Alpha in ZBrush is like a height map or displacement map in any other
package. White is the highest and black is the lowest. This is where you want to
create your own alphas. ZBrush gives you many standard Alphas but you will be
using mostly custom made alphas.

Figure 33: Choosing your alpha brush.

9. Creating your own alphas

• To create a custom alpha you can use anything from what you made in Photoshop
to pictures you scan in, digital photographs you’ve taken or images you have
gotten from the web.
• The most important thing to think about is how tileable you will need the image to
be. If you are only going to use it in a little area it doesn’t have to be very tileable
but if it is going to be the main skin texture for your entire model then it needs to
be.
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 1. So first create an image. In my case I will use my M16A2 from my website
as an example. Remember the part that you want to use as the texture
needs to be white so my picture needed to be inverted. Also make sure that
the file you are going to use as a texture is the same height and width or
your texture will get distorted, see figures 34 and 35 below.

Figure 34: My M16A2 without modifications. Figure 35: My M16A2 inverted and made a
square image for less or no distortion.

2. If you are going to use a color picture you can import it into ZBrush and it
will convert it to black and white for you or you can convert it in Photoshop
first which I suggest.
3. If you are going to convert your image to black and white do not make
it a greyscale 8 bit image, ZBrush will not recognize it. Go to Image->
Adjustments and use Desaturate making it look black and white but leave it
as a 24 bit RGB color image. If you save it as grey scale you will get no
preview, figure 36. If you get a preview of the image it recognizes it, figure
37.

Figure 36: If you have a color image make sure Figure 37: If your image is the right format then it
to desaturate it and not change it to greyscale. If will preview in the browser. ZBrush will recognize
your image doesn’t preview then it is not the right .PSD files.
format.

4. When you import your textures into ZBrush and you have not customized
them they will most likely be square, figure 38. This could be a problem but
you are going to be blending many different types of textures so it shouldn’t
be a problem.

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 5. To blur and/or round your edges in ZBrush use blur and radial fade (rf) to
round the object, figure 39. Blur and rf are located right below where your
texture was imported to in the Alpha menu.

Figure 38: If your texture is square you will have Figure 39: Blur and rf are located right under
to apply a radial fade (rf) to it and possible a blur. your texture image. Apply a little rf and blur, if you
need it, and now your texture is round.

6. Now it is time to add the texture you imported to your model.

7. To do this make sure you are in Projection Master and uncheck Colors and
check Deformation and Normalized. Now select the simple brush and adjust
your Z intensity and Draw Size, select your texture and stamp it onto your
character, figure 40. This is before it is picked up. I applied two different
textures to show the difference.
8. Now hit g or the Projection Master button and press pickup now. Now the
texture is applied to your character, figure 41. Now a texture is going to get
slightly blurred when you pick it up. Sometimes worse than others
depending on your texture, my gun for instance.

Figure 40: The textures applied to my model in Figure 41: The model after picked up. Some
Projection Master before it is picked up. textures might get slightly distorted, it just
depends on the texture. Look at my gun.
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9. Once you have picked up your model and are back in edit mode rotate the
model and you can see that the texture has been applied to the geometry of
the model.
10. Now depending on what angle you apply the texture you can see stretching.
This is where you will have to apply the texture from various angles to make
it look accurate, figure 42.

Figure 42: A rotated view showing the detail and depth of the texture.

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 Adding color to your object and exporting the texture.

1. To add color to your object go back into Projection Master and click Colors and
uncheck Deformation and Normalized, figure 43.
2. Now choose a color from the default color palette, figure 44. The color on the right
is what ZBrush uses.

Figure 43 The Projection Master menu. To paint Figure 44: The color palette.
in color just select Colors and make sure Zadd is
turned off.

3. To choose many different colors go to the color menu and you will see a bunch of
color many giving you a huge variety of colors to choose from, figure 45.
4. The best way I have found to store many different shades of colors is with a
ZScript called Zwatch by member marcus_civis from ZBrushCentral. To use
Zwatch when you are in Projection Master go to ZScript - > Load. It will look like
figure 46 below but blank. Add colors and save the palette and it will save your
colors.

Figure 45: The color menu with many more Figure 46: When painting colors use a ZScript
colors to choose from. called Zwatch by member marcus_civis on
ZBrushCentral to save a color palette.

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 5. When painting colors it is pressure sensitive so depending on how hard you push
with your Wacom it will get different shades of the color you chose. Even with a
mouse it will take two passes to get the color you originally chose, figure 47.
6. To export your colored texture go to Texture - > FlipV and Export the file as a
.bmp, .psd, or .tiff, figure 48. I would suggest saving it as a big image, I usually do
4096 x 4096. It is huge but you will get great detail with the texture or your normal
map.

Figure 47: When painting colors it is pressure Figure 48: To export the colored texture from
sensitive so you can get varying colors by how ZBrush go to Texture - > FlipV and Export your
hard you push. With a mouse it will take two image as a .bmp, .psd, or .tiff file.
passes to get the original color.

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Exporting the Normal Maps

Normal maps in ZBrush are easy to do.

1. First, make sure that you open up a model that has a memory of the highest
subdivision you will want, I recommend subd 6, and that your whole model is
showing. It doesn’t matter what subd you are in when exporting your normal
map.
2. Once your model is showing go to Tool - > NormalMap -> turn on Tangent,
create an image size, I will use 4096, and select Create NormalMap, figure 49.
Because the image is so large it will take about 5 minutes and your character
will then turn blue, figure 50.
3. Now go to Texture - > FlipV, and Export it as a .bmp, .psd, or .tiff, figure 51.
Your Normal Map is ready to be applied in another package.

Figure 49: The NormalMap creation tool in Figure 50: Creating a Normal Map usually takes
ZBrush. Select Tangent, choose an image size about five minutes. Once your character turns
and click Create NormalMap. blue it has been created.

Figure 51: Once your model is blue to go Texture - > FlipV and export your image as a .bmp, .psd, or .tiff
file.

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Normal Maps and ZBrush Textures applied in Max

1. First open your original low poly model file.

2. Now open up the Material Editor by hitting M or click on the Material Editor

Icon, , and go to Maps - > Bump - > Normal Bump, figure 52.
3. Now make sure Tangent is selected and click on Normal (where it says none) and
click Bitmap, and select your image, figure 53. Hit the preview button, to see
your model with the normal map on it.

Figure 52: Applying the Normal Bump to your Figure 53: Applying your Tangent, bump Normal
model. Map to your model.

4. Now go open the Modifier list and go to Projection, figure 54.

5. This projection gives you many options to choose from: Cage, Face and Element,
figure 55. 3D Max does a really good job of calculating the normal map onto your
model surface but I have had to manipulate a few of these options before.
6. Now it is time to render out your model with the normal map applied.

Figure 54: Applying the projection modifier to Figure 55: Painting your model. Your paintbrush
your model. is pressure sensitive so with a Wacom you can
get varying color intensities.

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 7. Set up some basic lights in your scene and render it out, the normal map should
be applied. You might need to manipulate the light intensities and angels slightly to
get a really good render, figure 56.

Figure 56: Painting your model. Your paintbrush is pressure sensitive so with a Wacom you can get
varying color intensities

8. To apply the texture you created in ZBrush go to Maps - > Diffuse - > Bitmap and
select your image, figure 57.
9. Apply it to your model, hit preview and render it. You are done.
10. Everywhere outside where you painted is going to be white for now because you
haven’t painted any other part of your character, figure 58. Once you paint the
whole character it will not be white anymore.
11. You are done!

Figure 57: 7 color menu with many more colors Figure 58: Painting your model. Your paintbrush
to choose from. is pressure sensitive so with a Wacom you can
get varying color intensities.

Hope it helped. Please let me know if you have any questions/comments or

additions you would like to have seen.

• For displacement maps there are many links on ZBrushCentral.com or go to

www.scottspencer.com for a really good Maya and Mental Ray Displacement
video tutorial.

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 My most used Hotkeys

• MOVEMENT
Centering of Object- alt double click outside model
Rotate – left mouse click anywhere except on character
Snap- left mouse click to rotate and hold shift to snap in direction you
want
Pan- alt and left mouse click
Zoom- alt and left mouse click, then let go of alt and move mouse forward
or back

• HIDING OR SHOWING POLYGONS

Hiding outside green box– control and shift at same time highlight part of
character you want to work on, box turns green, figure 18 and 19.
Hiding what’s inside red box- control and shift at same time then let go of
shift box turns red, figure 20 and 21.
Unhiding- control and shift click around character

• SCULPTING / MASKING
Right mouse click - shows draw size or different modes
Draw Size- right click or use Draw Size at top of screen, this is essentially
your brush size
Z Intensity – intensity of brush
Zadd or Zsub- The push or pull on your object
To use Zadd or Zsub- select the buttons at the top or by default it is
on Zadd, and if you want to use Zsub hold alt and it will subtract
Smoothing of object- shift plus left mouse on part you want to smooth.
X, Y, Z – mirrors sculpting onto X, Y, or Z axis, (not an option in projection
master)
G – Brings up projection master
Masking- control and left mouse button and create box around portion to
mask
Mask Invert- control and left mouse button outside character
Mask removal- control and left mouse button and create grey box outside
character

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A Hotkey list from the help menu of ZBrush 2.

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Some of my Favorite References

Books

1. Anatomy For Fantasy Artist, Author: Glenn Fabry

2. Anatomy For The Artist, Author: Sarah Simblet
3. Drawing Cutting Edge Anatomy, Author: Christopher Hart
4. Drawing Cutting Edge Comics, Author: Christopher Hart
5. Human Anatomy Made Amazingly Easy, Author: Christopher Hart
6. Strength Training Anatomy, Author: Frederic Delavier
7. The Book Of Muscle, Men’s Health, Author: Ian King and Lou Schuler

Dvd’s

1. Digital Tutors
2. Gnomon

Magazines

1. Flex
2. Muscular Development

Websites

Anatomy
1. http://www.3d.sk/
2. http://www.fitflex.com/gallery_ronnie.html
3. Ear modeling: Must use IE, Firefox won’t work on this site
http://www.antropus.com/english/tutorelha1.htm_
4. Feet Modeling: http://www.3dtotal.com/team/tutorials/mayafeet/mayafeet1.asp
5. Low Poly Character Modeling:
http://www.3dtotal.com/team/Tutorials/benmathis/benmathis_1.asp
6. Eye Modeling:
http://www.3dtotal.com/ffa/tutorials/max/joanofarc_p2/modeling_of_the_eyes1.asp
7. http://www.steelfitness.com/BETA/photogallery/2001arnold/ronniecoleman/mensindex
.asp
8. http://www.steelfitness.com/BETA/photogallery/2001arnold/ronniecoleman/mensindex
.asp

ZBrush
1. http://www.3dlinks.com/oldsite/tutorials_zbrush.cfm
2. ZBrush Central http://206.145.80.239/zbc/index.php?
3. http://zbrush.cjb.net/
4. http://3d-palace.com/video.php?vid=72
5. http://www.raph.com/3dartists/tutorials/t-3dsmax.html
6. http://www.scottspencer.com
• The tutor who got me started with ZBrush

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