Zbrushcoremini

MINI ME Get a taste of what the established 3D tool Zbrush can offer, without paying a penny

Price Free Company Pixologic Web pixologic.com ★★★★★ RATING

Zbrush comes in three flavours: Zbrushcoremini, Zbrushcore and the full Zbrush. The upgrade path is clear and it starts with the free version that we’re reviewing here.

The first thing to note is that this version has a limited toolset. But that’s intentional: Zbrushcoremini is designed to give you a taster of working in 3D, without worrying about any heavy-hitting features.

You can only sculpt, and you can only do one type of sculpting called dynamic tessellation. The full version of this tool in Zbrush is called Sculptris Pro and it basically gives you extra geometry (triangles) where you need it as you sculpt. If you add creases, it gives you more triangles. If you smooth an area, it takes them away. It’s a well-used technique in lots of 3D software and even in VR with programs such as Shapelab VR. It’s perfect for this free release because it’s aimed at people who haven’t done this before and may not even know what ‘this’ is. They can just sculpt and make something cool, and that’s sometimes enough. In a recent update the program received new Chisel Brushes that effectively give you stamps, enabling you to add scales, noses, claws and so on by dragging on the surface of a model.

Zbrushcoremini has a limited material set, all the basic brushes you get in Zbrush, and features like symmetry and occlusion. It’s a great way to start your Zbrush journey.

Zbrush Core Mini has just enough basic tools to get you going. It’s ideal for anyone who’s never tried digital sculpting.

Zbrushcoremini is essentially Sculptris Pro (a Zbrush tool), which gives you polygons when you need them. If you sculpt details, it gives you more polygons.