Making Custom Vector Brushes (VDM) in ZBrush

In this ZBrush video tutorial, we show you how to make awesome custom vector brushes (VMD) in ZBrush.
1. Make a regular plane and subdivide to around 250k polys
2. Store a Morph Target (optional)
3. Make a polygroup for the edges (optional)
4. Sculpt the desired shape.
5. Position the model facing the camera, perspective off.
6. Switch to the Layer Brush - set it to Drag Rect and Z-Intensity to 100
6. Brush - From Mesh
Tadaaa!
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[@ammonn9930]

One of the greatest timesafer . I spend 1 week to create diffrent parts of human and animal stuff and its worth 😄🤘

[@ammonn9930]

Dont go to flixzone for evryone read this! This are bots and if you visit flixzone they will hack you..... pls put flixzone on blacklist!

[@irkendragon]

When I follow this step by step I don't get the 3D symbol over top the generated alpha, and there's a square outline around the VDM when I drag it out. I can get rid of the square outline by turning OFF smooth when subdividing the plane (which this video says shouldn't be a problem, but it was). However the 3D symbol still doesn't show up, and I'm missing information from any area of the VDM that overhangs the mesh. So it's behaving more like a regular alpha. I found that the difference lay in NOT using a regular "plane3D" tool to sculpt on, but in using a Brush3DTemplate ZPR within Lightbox>Projects>Misc. When I captured detail from one of those template planes it creates a proper 3D Alpha. This is with ZBrush 2021, so some things may have changed in VDM creation since this video was made.

[@roobeerrrtt1633]

Unbelievably better than the stupid pixalogic video. They not only have VERY wrong information but also comments are turned off, So no one can correct you. Thank you guys for this video. Beautiful work always!

[@antiorganicsdesign953]

Thank you so much for this tutorial! I have just started experimenting with making my own vector brushes, and got super frustrated with the 'plane to grid' issue. You guys are awesome! P.S. Definite yes on more Zbrush content! :)

[@zopzop8747]

So no way to messh with existing geometry? Cheerz!

[@NoChainsStyle]

Yeah, it was very useful. I didnt study at school so this stuff helps me a lot.

[@mordecai1484]

Is there a way to append newly created VDM brush to a selected group? I want all of my similar VDm brushes to have in one group like chisel3d Group.

[@piyushyeshi3099]

Your website is great

[@TheTomma99]

Excellent tutorial ! Bravo ! (In my opinion the Pixologic way of POLISHing is also good, but it creates polygons, in the base plane, which are moved up , by Y axis, and they are caught up in a process of storing the brush, thats why your are getting those artifacts when using a brush)

[@mdoumdou4085]

Good job! But I do not know begin from : Brush ---To Mesh and other step,and I do not know where to find my brush! Thank you so much!

[@godzil666]

Thanks for the tutorial and for delivering nice products to our industry.

[@bencoomer2000]

That's really cool...

[@FlippedNormals]

Thanks Ben!

[@lucasmoreira3237]

I loved it! Thank you.

[@MVARTZ]

Hee😁 Thanks great video again! I've been trying to work on a stylized fur VDM, works decent, but whenever I drag a new one out, fairly close to the previous, they sort of melt together and create really nasty artifacts. Did I do something wrong? Do you guys have a possible solution?

[@BLT12Three]

During the relax plane to grid demo, shouldn't the mask be reversed so that the borders are being deformed rather than what has been sculpted in the center?

[@rayunited2010foryou]

When I am selecting the layer brush like in 9:50, I don't see 3D in the brush alpha. Can you help me if I am doing something wrong? Alos, what would I do if I need to make hard surface VDM brushes by inserting custom hard surfaces as subtools and using them as VDM brushes rather than insert brushes?

[@GeorgeWinterborn]

Maybe someone can help me with something I may be doing wrong. When i create the brushes, they're not as tall as the original model. Additionally, overhangs don't come out, they just create a sheer drop off of geometry. Also, these guys created things like ears and noses, with internal geometry. When I do that, it doesn't work at all. I have perspective off, so there's nothing like that going on.

[@irkendragon]

There are some things that are either incorrect or outdated in these instructions. I find you need to create your VDM's on one of the provided Brush3DTemplates (Lightbox>Projects>Misc), and that capturing the 3D detail doesn't work if you sculpt on a regular plane3D from the quick selection mesh list. At least in ZBrush 2021 that's what worked for me.

[@GeorgeWinterborn]

@@irkendragon Thanks, I’ll try doing it that way

[@JamesBrisnehan]

This is really cool. I wonder if I can use this technique to create a relief sculpture and other decorations for a project I'm working on.

[@christopherleblanc5187]

Great tutorial! Quick question though... when I'm finished creating my brush I'm waaaaaay over the polycount you guys recommend. So I use decimation master to bring it back down. Unfortunately this seems to destroy my morph target so I can't brush the edges back to true flat anymore. Result is of course a giant square around my model that doesn't conform to whatever I'm pulling it out of. Any ideas how to maintain a morph target even after decimating? When I go into the morph target menu it only gives me the option to "delete" the MT...so it seems to believe there's one in there already. It just doesn't let me use it.

[@alessandropierpaoli4705]

you can't use morph target after decimation master because the mesh is not the same as before

[@3dniator7]

VDM's are so amazingly useful

[@FlippedNormals]

Yes they are!

[@peterwurzel1703]

Nice just in time for my personal Project! Thanks a million!

[@alexc7857]

That fur is awesome.

[@Lilian040210]

I made a brush, and if I set intensity to 100, it comes out too strong, kind of stretched...

[@mastafoo886]

Can you make custom VDMs in Zbrush Core?

[@JeffydimWitt2nd]

So saving the brushes long term, we just duplicate the layer brush and then rename it? It will be in the brush menu on the next start up? Sorry if its a dumb question, I just don't want to mess it up! lol

[@jonathanamadorart]

Hey @FlippedNormals, I have a question. The horn you made was fairly simple, going straight outwards. If I want to make a more complex horn, that curves and maybe splits at certain points, how do I go about that while being restrained to the polycount? Can I dynamesh and such or is that a no no?

[@monicagreco5577]

I tried to dynamesh and the resulting brush wasn't great, it didn't retain any of the cavities I had sculpted

[@TTTristan1]

@@monicagreco5577 Did you end up finding a solution to add more geometry? It's incredibly frustrating that I can't find a solution in any tutorial so far... Like, you'd think this would be pretty damn crucial for some VDMs.

[@samdavepollard]

very nice tutorial extremely helpful many thanks

[@martinds93]

I still dont get the name of the first guy talking... "headindlfjnskljd morgan"

[@FlippedNormals]

Henning & Morten! :)

[@martinds93]

@@FlippedNormals Great, nice to meet you. :D Love your content, i always listen to you when sculpting or doing any artistic stuff

[@npc.artist]

Mine never get 3d alpha I don't know why ;_;

[@lucied8149]

Could you make a complete tutorial about how to make a complex horn like the one you added at the end? I try in loops but everytime i fail to make it work together.

[@dotexe4981]

Thank you for this tutorial! I hope you (or someone in comments maybe) can tell me how I would be packaging a whole set of brushes to put it online for other people to use. Should it be in .zpr? orrr? How does that work exactly?

[@parasarlenka823]

Hello, thank you for sharing your knowledge! I had a doubt but not regarding VDMs. The head sculpture you used your VDMs on, I noticed how smooth it is, while I'm sculpting, I don't get that level of smoothness in my sculpture, what should I use or what should I follow to get the rich smooth look on my model (I attain smoothness by using smooth brush :( ) Thank you again!

[@TheGeneralSoundwave]

CAPTURE BRUSH: 9:05

[@irkendragon]

How do you prevent the brush from creating the plane you sculpted on when using DragRect? It drags out my horn but also the plane.

[@TomasMcAdam]

Amazing!!! Thanks guys!

[@charllay7282]

I'm having trouble with the alpha, it isn't 3d no matter what so it just acts like I'm dragging a normal alpha out on the mesh

[@tristanheymans6437]

Hey, you guys just made a site with lot's of tutorials on there. Do you also have a way of paying a fee every month to watch the tutorials? Like some sort of subscription? Great video like always 👌

[@netrarajpun]

Is there any way to mask out the VDM details or give it a different polygroup? Thanks

[@cantabrian1009]

EPIC. Thanks guys!

[@rahulrichard912]

Awesome brushes.. 👍🏻

[@kirk711]

hello henning, is it possible to make vdm brushes with 3d scans?

[@Fengtos]

weird. saw a different tutorial on this where they did use the relax plane grid, but didn't have these issues. tried it myself and I think I had the same issues as you guys.

[@KarelChytilArt]

That relax is Just for that little frame around that plane (different polygroup). Pixologic has special planes for it in lightbox.

[@pakman4600]

Hi sirs i saw your video about reprojection i cant layout my low res into high res what i do

[@duller5447]

Do you guys think that zbrushcore worth it? I am really concern because Im thinking in buying it and I don’t want to regret it.

[@bmagart9025]

How can I get the default Layer brush back?

[@FlippedNormals]

Re initialize zbrush should do the trick

[@bmagart9025]

FlippedNormals thanks!!!

[@putteneersjoris]

is there a way to merge this with an existing object? instead of purely working on the plane?

[@FlippedNormals]

Unfortunately not, you have to work from a place.

[@putteneersjoris]

@@FlippedNormals thats too bad, I got it working in mudbox more or less

[@gennapohl8079]

Hey guys, thanks for creating so many excellent tutorial videos :D I've come back to reference this one like five times. I've made a few of these without issue, but the last couple I've worked on have been having an issue that I haven't been able to pin down a solution for in a google search. Instead of creating a 3D alpha, I'm getting a 2D alpha (following all the same steps as far as I can tell) which just creates the top surface of the shape with a bunch of projected lines dragging below it. The only thing different is that I'm trying to create an antler brush, so there's a lot of overhang that wasn't there before. Have you guys run into anything like that, or know of a way that I could tell zbrush that it needs to be a 3D alpha?

[@alphachannelentertainment5566]

@L V i just found the info for this im guessing that a year later you have probably found the same stuff but incase anyone else is looking for this information theres a link to make the VDM brush work in 3D space kzbin.info/www/bejne/fHOTaKh9l6udm5o

[@shamanik1320]

Really cool, anyone know if Blender supports this and what I would do to store and make use of it?

[@emeraldeelentertainment8988]

I don't think it is possible but there are modelling techniques and the usage of modifiers and vertex groups that let you blend geometry to a mesh, then boolean it together.

[@radar536]

It is only possible in ZB 8+?

[@dimitrydanchev4546]

Thank you

[@samuelauzols8808]

hello did Someone know how to do this in blender ?

[@antiorganicsdesign953]

Followup question, in case you check this :) I tried to make a more complex twisty horn, and the surface just gets... Well, like this: i.imgur.com/lqJOPm9.jpg At first I tried remeshing, but after that I wasn't able to turn it into a brush. Is there a way to avoid or fix that stretched topology (?) somehow? Would making two copies, one very detailed and then reprojecting that to the more basic one work? Thanks!

[@vladimirche9981]

God bless you! (if there is one)

[@kokoze]

Noice

[@Kullervo456]

Would love to know if this can be done in Blender as well. If so how?

[@crimsonBen]

Noice ^2

[@GIGATRON11]

allot of wasted time not quic an efficient video, lots of talking about other things just show how to fast and easy plz

[@dhanashekaranm4725]

#HelloGuys you are really good value content on KZbin but in a interview or general video show ur face becoz seeing the monitor all time make us to skip the video

[@darkknight4353]

how do i export as ZBP so i can use it later?