ZBrush 2023 Releases

ZBrush 2023 is now available! This new version delivers dramatic developments that give artists the ability to create high quality renders with our first steps toward integrating Redshift. You will also be able to explore new and enhanced workflows, as well as enjoy architectural changes to take advantage of the power of M1 and M2-powered Macs.

ZBrush 2023 FEATURES

Enhance your ZBrush experience with these additions:

Redshift in ZBrush
Redshift brings world-class rendering to ZBrush! This new integration delivers exciting workflows to render high-quality images within ZBrush. Redshift for ZBrush supports Standard, MatCap and Redshift materials for increased realism.

As an added benefit, you can even apply ZBrush native filters to your finished render, just as if it was a ZBrush render.

Maxon One and Redshift subscribers can take advantage of the full power of Nvidia and Apple GPU's for rendering, while all subscribers enjoy pixel parity when using CPU rendering on any compatible system.

New and Improved Sculpting Tools

Slime Bridge
Now artists can use the power of the ZBrush masking system to create complex geometric connections and designs from one masked island to another. Controls for Tension, Bridges, Calipers and Branches make it easy to instantly create sinewy, slimy connections between any two surfaces.

Sculptris Pro
The latest additions to this already robust tool allow artists to intuitively select mesh density in desired areas.

Dynamic Symmetry
Local Symmetry utilizes the Gizmo to let you keep symmetry within the ZBrush workspace while moving models off the center axis. Users can also control the symmetry line of action while manipulating the placement of assets anywhere within the ZBrush world space. Move your object anywhere in space while retaining its symmetry axis.

Mask Region
Fill complex masked shapes with ease thanks to Auto Region. You can even fill multiple masked areas with the push of a button.

Apply Last Action
The **Apply Last Action to All SubTools** function allows for application of material attributes, color information and any other "undoable" operations to multiple SubTools with the click of a button.

ZRemesher

Retry
The industry's best automatic retopology gets even better with options to store and compare the results of different settings on things like topological order and construction.

Keep PolyPaint
Optimize meshes at any point in production with the new option to Keep PolyPaint -- seamlessly projecting the existing color onto newly constructed meshes.

Crease Edge UV Unwrap
Crease Edge automatically detects the most efficient hard edges and "creases" where UV seams should be placed for UV map generation.

Added:

• Apple Silicon support. ZBrush will now run natively on those devices, generally improving performance.Redshift Bridge now included with ZBrush.
• Redshift Materials added to ZBrush Material palette.
• Save and Save Next added to File menu, to the Project file menu and the Tool menu.
• Slime Bridge menu added to Tool Palette.
• “Retry” and “Keep Polypaint” added to ZRemesher menu.
• “Picker” option added to Stroke> Sculptris Pro. This functions similarly to the Dynamesh resolution picker.
• “Mask Region” menu added to Tool> Masking.
• “Create (Unwrap)” options added to Tool > UV Map.
• “Apply Last Action to All Subtools and Folders” added to the Subtool palette.

Modified:

• Local Symmetry (L.Sym) is now controlled by the Gizmo manipulator center, allowing for symmetrical operations even after a mesh has been rotated off-axis.
• ZRemesher now caches data which improves performance in certain situations when using it repeatedly on the same mesh. This will be most effective on higher resolution meshes.
• General ZRemesher performance improvements.
• Shift-clicking with the Gizmo manipulator on a vertex will now center the camera on that vertex similar to the ZModeler "Set Camera Perpendicular" feature.

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ZBrush 2023.0.1 - February 1, 2023

Fixed:

• ZBrush crashes when sending to Keyshot.
• Space Mouse now works again on Apple Silicon devices running in native mode.
• Redshift related error message when generating Vector Displacement Map when Redshift is not installed.
• Problem with Tiff import.
• Text3D & Vector Shapes plugin now works as expected on macOS.
• Some missing functions restored to ZModeler.
• Error when using the Subtool Master Multi-Append or Multi-Insert functions on macOS.
• BasicMaterial2 restored to Default Materials.
• Some image formats would not import on macOS if the image was over a certain size.

Modified:

• Adjusted “Dynamic Sym” to add a macro in the Macros menu which can be hotkeyed and used to toggle Dynamic Symmetry mode on or off.
• Rendering options have been made available to users through the Render >> Redshift menu.
• Please see this article for more information on Global Illumination rendering in Redshift.
• The classic behavior for Local Symmetry mode for Local Symmetry to simultaneously scale separate meshes uniformly from center has been restored and can be activated by disabling the “Dynamic” toggle on the Local Symmetry (L.Sym) UI button. When “Dynamic” is active it will use the newer behavior allowing the Gizmo manipulator to determine the center.
• To avoid conflicts with UI functionality on macOS, CMD-W now initiates a program shutdown. Previously this key could be used to assign a polygroup, but the shutdown would occur at the same time.
• The polygrouping functionality has now been removed from the shortcut entirely. Control-W can still be used to assign a polygroup the same way it does on Windows.
• Redshift error logging is now enabled with ZBrush in order to better facilitate solution of issues.

Note for KeyShot 11 users on MacOS: A hotfix has been released for KeyShot that fixes how it handles live linking on M1 and M2 machines. Please update your KeyShot version in addition to the ZBrush update.

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ZBrush 2023.1 - March 29, 2023

We have released the first major upgrade for ZBrush 2023, bringing it to version 2023.1. This release includes both new features and bug fixes:

Added*

• Proxy Pose sub-palette added to Tool > Geometry. Proxy Pose enables users to pose a lower resolution proxy of their mesh on the fly and transfer that pose back to the high-resolution mesh. This is useful for high-resolution meshes that would not perform well when posed directly, and that may have suboptimal topology with no lower levels of subdivision available.
• From IMM feature added to Alpha Palette. This allows the creation of alphas from IMM and VDM Alpha 3D brush geometry.
• “From Alpha” and “From IMM” added to the Stencil palette. These features can work with Drop3D.
• Drop3D feature added to Document Palette. This feature will enable the use of Sculptris Pro when applying an alpha, allowing it to be cleanly applied to any mesh regardless of overall mesh resolution.
• Undo and Redo functions added to the Lighting palette.
• Undo and Redo functions added to the Material Palette.
• The Undo History will now work with “Adjust last” and Proxy Pose via marked history states.
• 3D Layers updated to work with Proxy Pose.

Modified:

• UI font rendering on macOS has been improved, though differences will still be apparent on some hardware configurations. Preferences > Interface > UI menu now contains an option to adjust the level of font anti-aliasing.
• Dynamesh will now attempt to fix some mesh errors when performing the Dynamesh operation.

Fixed:

• An issue that prevented the user from loading a stored Startup Material when a Startup Document had been saved.
• “See-Through” slider is now functional again on macOS. On macOS this feature only works if the program window is not in fullscreen mode.
• Local Symmetry was using the Gizmo manipulator center in some situations, even when Dynamic mode was disabled.
• Crash related to ZSphere Adaptive Skin preview.
• Geometry twisting or inverting when generating Adaptive Skin from ZSphere with Dynamesh disabled.
• PolyGroupIt would fail to work if the subtool name contained spaces.
• Movie > Export would fail if the destination file path contained non-latin characters.
• Issue affecting multiple formats where meshes offset from center would import with an unexpected position.
• Crash associated with opening multiple ZSphere files in succession.
• Crash when rendering Redshift materials on Array Mesh.

* Subscription users receive everything on this page, including the new features listed in the "Added" section. Perpetual licenses receive the Modifications and Fixes, but new features are reserved until the next paid upgrade.

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ZBrush 2023.1.1 - May 15, 2023

Modified:

• Marquee- based selection and masking brushes now work with Dynamic Local Symmetry.
• GoZ now supports Autodesk Maya 2024 and 3ds Max 2024.
• Reduced Redshift Matcap preview from 512x512 to 256x256.
• ZRepeat It plugin updated.
• USD Plugin: I/O improved for some programs. In Maya it should no longer be necessary to Freeze Transformations to maintain position with USD, and an issue with Y and Z offset values was corrected.

Fixed:

• Crash when subtool pop-up activated with less than 3 subtools.
• Hotkey conflict with Dynamesh “Polish” feature and Proxy Pose.
• Curve Bridge brush was altering the export scale setting.
• Crash when loading another project while Gizmo was active.
• Hide Mask shortcut (Ctrl-H) now works as expected.
• Crash when using IMM brush with Stencil feature.
• Bug with GoZ subdivision export
• Crash related to Redshift rendering without the Floor.
• Crash when using Stencil feature with Sculptris Pro.

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ZBrush 2023.1.2

Fixed:

• Proxy Pose now keeps UVs
• IMM brushes using Gizmo center with Local Symmetry even when Dynamic mode was disabled
• An issue preventing users from being able to manually enter values for Redshift materials.

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ZBrush 2023.2 - July 20, 2023

KEY FEATURES

Anchors Brush
The Anchor Brush provides an intuitive way to deform meshes. It works by applying anchors onto a mesh while allowing for a variety of actions to be performed with or without symmetry. Some actions include Inflate, Twist, Move and Rotate.

Spotlight Enhancements
The Spotlight feature receives updated sliders providing increased control over the impact of alphas on surfaces. Mid-Value and Blur sliders join the already robust feature set. Spotlight provides artists with the ability to load, manipulate and transfer color and sculptural detail to the surfaces of ZBrush models.

Morph Brush Enhancement
The Morph Brush is expanded to include compatibility with Undo History. The Morph Brush allows use of any instance of the Undo History as a morph target.

Added:

• Anchors brush added to Brush menu. (See Above)
• Spotlight MidValue slider added to Brush> Samples. (See Above)
• Spotlight Alpha Blur slider added to Brush> Samples. (See Above)
  
  

Modified:

• Tool> Contact now allows one Subtool to be snapped to another by drawing a Transpose Action Line from the intended snap point on one Subtool to the target point on another Subtool, storing the contact point with the C1, C2, or C3 buttons, then clicking “Apply”. More accurate placement can be achieved by setting all 3 contact points.
• The Morph Brush has been enhanced. (See Above)
  
  

Fixed:

Corrected an issue preventing the full rotation of a mesh along the curve of some Curve brush types. It should now be possible to completely rotate, rather than twisting, a mesh along a curve by pressing and holding Control while dragging on the end point with the Curve Edit cursor.

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ZBrush 2023.2.1 - Aug. 3, 2023

This hotfix corrects a couple issues with the previous update.

Fixed:

• Space Mouse was causing models to snapshot to canvas if sending navigational input and canvas input at the same time.
• Crash while running the ScreenSaver on some Windows systems.

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New!

ZBrush 2023.2.2 - Aug. 10, 2023

This version contains various localization text updates.

Fixed:

• A startup crash on macOS if the user was not logged into the Maxon App.
• CurveAlpha and CurveAlphas brushes could not switch the selected Alpha.

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